Sad news about Australia’s much loved skincare guru.

Michelle Doherty, Founder of Australian skincare brand Alpha-H passed away in Queensland on July 23, 2020.

Doherty founded Alpha-H on the Gold Coast in 1995, after battling cystic acne for most of her life. When antibiotics and topical creams didn’t help her skin concerns, she started making her own after discovering the exfoliating benefits of glycolic acid.

Since then, Alpha-H has become one of the world’s leading skincare ranges with her best-selling product ‘Liquid Gold’ selling thousands of bottles every single day, including a celebrity following. The award-winning resurfacing treatment uses a state of the art, low pH delivery system to help to diminish wrinkles, pigmentation and sun damage.

Although the brand has grown massively since its humble beginnings, all products are still made in Australia and it is still very much a family business. “We have global reach, with a select number of employees on the ground in key regions, but Alpha-H remains predominantly Australian-owned, made and staffed,” Doherty told the BBC last month.

Doherty deeply cared for the community she had created with Alpha-H. In a letter to “my Alpha-H community”, which she published earlier this year when COVID-19 had forced many of her stockists to close, she focused on the positives she could find, writing, “keeping in regular contact with our wonderful ingredient suppliers and global brand partners is making me excited about the future, when this will all be a distant memory. From new product launches to exciting opportunities, I know what’s to come will be worth the wait.”

We are deeply saddened that Doherty is no longer with us, and are in awe of what she has created and achieved during her lifetime. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and closest friends.