The Get Well is reader-supported. When you buy through the links on our site, we may earn a commission.
It Takes a Lot to Get Me to Spend Money on Skincare
There’s just so much marketing noise out there these days and too many people claiming to have found “the secret.” My first reaction is always to be skeptical. Plus, when my face starts to get a little too dry and dull, I’m usually content with stealing some of my wife’s products anyway.
But as I get older (and as she gets more angry with me), I’m realizing that I actually would like a way to slow down the signs of aging. I mean, it’s hard to care about wrinkles until they start showing up, but once they do start showing up, it’s impossible not to care about them. My wife suggested I start with a face serum because apparently they’re made to get down deep into the skin and address a lot of those anti-aging concerns.
She’d heard of one specifically for men called The Good by Caldera + Lab that both lived up to her non-toxic standards and had some pretty crazy clinical trial success. I saw it won a GQ award for “Best Natural Face Serum,” which was good enough for me.
The Good had a lot of hype around it, but the results remained to be seen. Since they offer a 60-day guarantee, I figured it couldn’t hurt to test it out.
The Big Picture on Caldera + Lab’s “The Good”
Caldera + Lab came out with The Good in 2019 with the idea of creating high performance men’s skincare products by combining pharmaceutical-grade science with pure, plant-derived ingredients. Since then, they’ve expanded to offer more products, and have recently started to pop-up in some high profile men’s magazines like GQ, Men’s Journal, and the Wall Street Journal.
They even made their way to the red carpet grooming team of Patrick Mahomes:
The Good is a multi-functional face serum, so they say that it works to improve skin tone and reduce the appearance of wrinkles, moisturizes, and helps the skin look smoother and firmer. So, in other words, it gives you healthier and younger looking skin. It’s also 100% plant-based, organic, non-toxic, and contains 27 active botanicals wild-harvested from the Teton Mountain Range.
The website says they use things in The Good like fireweed, dandelion, and apricot kernel oil. That just sounds awesome, but it’s also probably one of the reasons for the $97 price tag. According to my wife that’s actually very reasonable for serums this high-quality, but I was still expecting some serious results for that cost.
The Reviews (and the Trials) Seem to Speak for Themselves
I immediately gravitated toward the 1500+ 5 star reviews on The Good… people really seem to love this thing. A lot of the reviews mentioned younger looking skin, so it definitely gave me a good feeling going into it.
And if that didn’t ease my apprehensions enough, then the clinical trial results definitely did. They lay them out right there on the product page, and they’re promising to say the least. From a third-party, US-based trial, 96% of participants reported healthier looking skin, 81% reported looking younger, and 87% showed improvement of fine lines & wrinkles.
By the time my bottle was delivered, I was already gassed up to start aging like a fine wine. But the proof’s in the pudding, as they say…
Time to Test “The Good” Out
The first thing I noticed was the design on the bottle. It has a solid black finish (that apparently protects the botanicals from the sun) with a super clean, etched in label. I gotta say, it looked right at home right away in the medicine cabinet.
The second thing I noticed was that it actually smelled like the mountains. There’s no added fragrance in it, so the wild smell must’ve been coming from the botanicals… either way it’s super calming. I followed instructions and applied a dime-sized amount at night to let it do its work while I slept.
After just a few minutes of it settling in, my face didn’t look oily or greasy which, I admit, I was a little worried about. It was too soon to tell after day one of course, but I did love the way it felt. Before the first week was over, though, I started to notice my skin tone balance out and my face felt smoother. So far, so good—living up to its name.
Fast Forward a Few Weeks…
And I’m completely sold on this serum. Using it has become a calming ritual I look forward to every night, and I swear the smell even helps me sleep better. My skin tone has been looking much more balanced, and I’ve noticed a really significant improvement in the fine lines and wrinkles on my forehead and around my eyes.
My wife says my face looks somehow softer and tighter at the same time, and she also loves the smell. (I caught her using the serum herself multiple times… the thievery comes full circle.) The cool thing about top-level skincare is that the results only build over time, so I’m stoked to continue to get all the anti-aging help I can get.
Needless to say, I already ordered more. There’s even a 20% discount when you use their subscription service, which is a nice bonus.
They Might As Well Call This Serum “The Great”
Because before my “trial” has even finished, my skin is feeling tighter, smoother, and clearer, I know I’m only putting pure, wild-harvested ingredients on my body, and my face smells like a mountain range. Turns out it’s not a miracle, it’s just science (plus the power of mother nature).
Seriously though, if you’re a skincare skeptic like I was, The Good is a perfect entry point into taking your self-care seriously. With Caldera + Lab’s rigorously clean and sustainable production practices, you know you’re only using the good stuff.
You can always get your money back within 60 days if you’re not into it (you don’t even have to send the bottle back.) Try out The Good and experience for yourself the results of investing in your health, your appearance, and your confidence.
