Another month gone ....the good news ...Summer is on it's way.....time to moisturise your skin as we start to get into our summer clothes and bear more skin!!!! Once again I have trawled the web to find what I believe to be a well researched article!! Thank you so much to Paula Begoun! She has an excellent website that you might want to dip into yourself every now and again! Next month I'm taking on cellulite creams.....cos quite honestly I don't beleive that a cream could take away my celluite. I would love to hear from you about which products you swear by.....let's share the good news!! Till next time....take care!
Carol-Ann
Moisturizer: What Makes a State-of-the-Art Moisturizer
Moisturizer is a ubiquitous term that has lost meaning over the years. With all the anti-aging, anti-wrinkling, lifting, firming, nourishing, organic, works-like-Botox, eye cream, and throat cream products touting their miracle formulations, it’s hard to know where moisturizers fit into the picture. In actuality, regardless of the name or claim, “moisturizers,” whether they are in cream, lotion, serum, or even liquid form, must supply the skin with ingredients that maintain its structure, reduce free-radical damage (environmental assaults on the skin from sun, pollution, and air), and help cells function more normally. When moisturizers contain the well-researched, effective groups of ingredients that can do these things, they are as close to “anti-aging” and repairing as any skin-care product can get.
Contrary to what the cosmetics industry at large would like you to believe, a state-of-the-art moisturizer does not rely on one “star” ingredient to enhance skin’s appearance or function, or to improve the appearance of wrinkles. Month after month, consumers are faced with new ingredients, each claiming superiority over any number of predecessors, although the majority have no substantiated, non-company-funded research to prove these assertions. This constant yet ever-changing list of “best” ingredients may keep things interesting for cosmetic marketing departments, but it rarely helps the consumer determine what is needed to maintain healthy, radiant skin.
All skin types will benefit from daily, topical application of antioxidants, anti-irritants, and water-binding agents that work to mimic the structure and function of healthy skin. Aside from antioxidants, cell-communicating ingredients, and ingredients that mimic the structure of skin, dry skin also needs emollients such as oils (non-fragrant, ranging from olive or evening primrose to borage or sunflower), triglycerides, and fatty acids (lipids such as cholesterol, lecithin, and linoleic acid).
Daytime versus Nighttime Moisturizers
Putting aside the claims, hype, and misleading information you may have heard, the only real difference between a daytime and nighttime moisturizer is that the daytime version should contain a well-formulated sunscreen. For daytime wear, unless your foundation contains an effective sunscreen, it is essential that your moisturizer features a well-formulated, broad-spectrum sunscreen rated SPF 15 or higher. Well-formulated means it contains UVA-protecting ingredients of titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, or avobenzone (also called butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane). Regardless of the time of day, your skin needs all the state-of-the-art ingredients I describe in the following paragraphs.
The brilliance of cosmetic chemists and advanced ingredient technology allows for the creation of all types of moisturizers (with and without sunscreen) that have elegant textures, silky applications, and superb finishes. The days of plain, water-and-wax moisturizers are over (though many lines still sell such formulations to unwary customers). Using these antiquated formulations is like using computers made in the 1980s. That would be cheating your skin by not giving it the best that’s out there to help it (dare I say it) “look younger.” The following is a list of the key elements of today’s state-of-the-art moisturizers, the kind I recommended highly:
Ingredients that Mimic the Structure of Skin
Ingredients that mimic the structure of skin go by several names including natural moisturizing factors (NMFs) and I have often referred to them in my books as water-binding agents. These are suitable for all skin types. "Water-binding agent" and NMF are general terms that refer to ingredients capable of keeping water in the skin or repairing the skin's intercellular matrix (fundamental external structure). There are many ingredients that have these functions. Humectants, of which glycerin is a classic example, draw water to skin and are one vital component of a moisturizer. But what good is attracting water to the skin if the structure isn't there to keep the water from leaving? It turns out skin cells usually have plenty of water if they don't become damaged, and healthy skin’s water content typically ranges from 10-30%. Once skin is irritated, over-cleansed, exposed to the sun, or dehydrated by air conditioning or indoor heaters its integrity is compromised and water loss ensues. This occurs when the substances that keep the skin cells bound together to create the surface structure we see as skin (the intercellular matrix) are depleted. This intercellular structure is made up of many different components, ranging from ceramides to lecithin, glycerin, polysaccharides, hyaluronic acid, sodium hyaluronate, sodium PCA, collagen, elastin, proteins, amino acids, cholesterol, glucose, sucrose, fructose, glycogen, phospholipids, glycosphingolipids, glycosaminoglycans, and many more. All of these give the skin what it needs to keep its cells intact. Just adding water is meaningless if the intercellular matrix is damaged. When a moisturizer does contain a combination of these NMFs and water-binding ingredients, it can help reinforce the skin's natural ability to function normally, improve skin’s texture, and with continual use of products containing the ingredients mentioned above, can eliminate dry skin.
Anti-Irritants
Anti-irritants are another vital aspect of any skin-care formulation. Regardless of the source, irritation is a problem for all skin types, yet it is almost impossible to avoid. Whether it is from the sun, oxidative damage from pollution, the environment, or from the skin-care products a person uses, irritation can be a constant assault on the skin. Ironically, even such necessary ingredients as sunscreen agents, preservatives, exfoliants, and cleansing agents can cause irritation. Other ingredients, like fragrance, menthol, and sensitizing plant extracts, are primary irritants and are typically void of genuine benefits for skin, so their usage is negative, at least if you’re serious about creating and maintaining healthy skin.
Anti-irritants are incredibly helpful because they allow skin healing time and can reduce the problems oxidative and sources of external damage cause. Anti-irritants include substances such as allantoin, aloe, bisabolol, burdock root, chamomile extract, glycyrrhetinic acid, grape extract, green tea, licorice root, vitamin C, white willow, willow bark, willow herb, and many, many more. Their benefit to skin should be strongly considered because this is a rare case where too much of a good thing is better!
Antioxidants
Antioxidants are an essential element to a state-of-the-art moisturizer. A growing body of research continues to show that antioxidants are a potential panacea for skin's ills and ignoring this while shopping for moisturizers is shortchanging your skin. What makes antioxidants so intriguing is that they seem to have the ability to reduce or prevent some amount of the oxidative damage that destroys and depletes the skin's function and structure, while also preventing some amount of solar degeneration of skin (Sources: Cosmetic Dermatology, December 2001, pages 37-40; Current Problems in Dermatology, 2001, Volume 29, pages 26-42; Dermatologic Surgery, "The Antioxidant Network of the Stratum Corneum”; July 31, 2005, pages 814-817; and Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, February 23, 2005, pages 287-295).
The most common antioxidants used in skin-care products include alpha lipoic acid, beta-glucan, coenzyme Q10, curcumin, grape seed extract, green tea, soybean sterols, superoxide dismutase, vitamin A (retinyl palmitate and retinol), vitamin C (ascorbyl palmitate and magnesium ascorbyl palmitate), vitamin E (alpha tocopherol, tocotrienol), and extracts from lemon and rosemary.
A key point to keep in mind while considering a moisturizer with antioxidants is packaging. Although antioxidants have great ability to intercept and mitigate free-radical damage, their main irony is that they deteriorate when repeatedly exposed to air (oxygen) and sunlight. Therefore, an antioxidant-laden moisturizer packaged in a jar or clear (instead of opaque) container will likely lose its antioxidant benefit within weeks (or days, depending on the formula) after it is opened. Look for moisturizers with antioxidants that are packaged in opaque tubes or bottles and be sure the orifice (where the product is dispensed from) is small to minimize exposing the product to air.
Cell-Communicating Ingredients
This new group of ingredients is getting attention for their role in helping skin function more normally. Medical journals refer to these as “cell signaling” substances—but I think “cell communicating” is more descriptive of what they do in relation to skin care.
Whereas antioxidants work by intervening in a chain-reaction process called free-radical damage, “grabbing” the loose-cannon molecule that causes free-radical damage to nullify it, cell-communicating ingredients, theoretically, have the ability to tell a skin cell to look, act, and behave better, more like a normal healthy skin cell would, or to stop other substances from telling the cell to behave badly or abnormally. This is exciting news because antioxidants lack the ability to “tell” a damaged skin cell to behave more normally. Years of unprotected or poorly protected sun exposure causes abnormal skin cells to be produced. Instead of normal, round, even, and completely intact skin cells being regenerated, when damaged cells form and reproduce they are uneven, flat, and lack structural integrity. As a result of these deformities, they behave poorly. This is where cell-communicating ingredients (examples are niacinamide and adenosine triphosphate) have the potential to help.
Every cell has a vast series of receptor sites for different substances. These receptor sites are the cell’s communication hookup. When the right ingredient for a specific site shows up, it has the ability to attach itself to the cell and transmit information. In the case of skin, this means telling the cell to start doing the things a healthy skin cell should be doing. If the cell accepts the message, it then shares the same healthy message with other nearby cells and so on and so on.
As long as there is a receptor site and the appropriate, healthy signaling substance, a lot of good, healthy communication takes place. But a cell’s communication network is more complex than any worldwide telephone system ever made. The array of receptor sites and the substances that can make connections to them make up a huge, complex, and varied group with incredible limitations and convoluted pathways that we are still finding out about. And as far as skin care is concerned, it’s an area of research that’s in its infancy. No doubt you will be hearing more and more about cell-communicating or cell-signaling ingredients being used in skin-care products, despite the lack of solid research. The good news is that, theoretically, this new horizon in skin care is incredibly exciting. (Sources: Microscopy Research and Technique, January 2003, pages 107–114; Nature Medicine, February 2003, pages 225–229; Journal of Investigative Dermatology, March 2002, pages 402–408; International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, July 2004, pages 1141–1146; Experimental Cell Research, March 2002, pages 130–137; Skin Pharmacology and Applied Skin Physiology, September-October 2002, pages 316–320; and www.signaling-gateway.org).
All of the elements above are prime factors that contribute to making what I (and many cosmetic ingredient researchers and chemists) consider a state-of-the-art moisturizer. It is important to know that there is no single “best” moisturizer available. Instead, there are many brilliant formulations, and consumers can find a truly elegant product for their skin type, be it a serum-type moisturizer for use on combination or oily skin, or an emollient-rich product to help remedy dry skin.
Emollients
For those with truly dry skin, not caused from irritating or drying skin-care products, emollients are lubricating ingredients that are critical for making skin feel hydrated. These provide dry skin with the one thing it's missing—moisture—in the form of substances that resemble those the skin produces for itself. Emollients are ingredients like plant oils, mineral oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, petrolatum, fatty alcohols, and animal oils (including emu, mink, and lanolin, the latter probably the one ingredient that is most like our own skin's oil). All of these are exceptionally beneficial for all cases of dry skin, and easily recognizable on an ingredient list.
More technical-sounding ingredients like triglycerides, benzoates, myristates, palmitates, and stearates are generally waxy in texture and appearance but provide most moisturizers with their elegant texture and feel. Overall, emollients create the fundamental base and texture of a moisturizer and impart a creamy, smooth feel on the skin. Silicones (seen on the label in terms ending in “siloxane”) are another interesting group of lubricants for skin. They have the most exquisite, silky texture and an incredible ability to prevent dehydration without suffocating skin. All of these ingredients spread over the skin to create a thin, imperceptible layer, recreating the benefits of our own oil production, preventing evaporation, and giving dry skin the lubrication it is missing.
For Those with Normal to Oily Skin or Minimal Dryness
You may be wondering what to use if you don’t have dryness but still want to give your skin the ingredients it needs to look and feel better. Moisturizers in cream, balm, or ointment form are bound to be problematic if you have any degree of oiliness, and so are many lighter-weight lotions. What works instead is to look for water- or silicone-based fluids (including well-formulated toners) or serums that are loaded with beneficial antioxidants, anti-irritants, and ingredients that mimic the structure and function of healthy skin (including water-binding agents such as glycerin or lecithin and cell-communicating ingredients such as niacinamide or adenosine triphosphate). Using such products will give your skin what it needs without layering on emollients, thickeners, or other heavier ingredients that are elemental for dealing with dry skin but often troublesome for combination or oily skin. If you have combination skin but suffer from very dry areas, you may have no choice but to address the dryness with a more emollient moisturizer. The key is to only apply it to the dry areas and make sure it doesn’t migrate to oily zones.
What about sunscreen? Great question, because this is a daily essential for every skin type! Because most sunscreen formulations apply and perform best when formulated in lotion or cream-based emulsions, this can be a tricky area to navigate for someone with oily skin or oily areas. The good news is that silicone technology has made it possible to create ultra-light sunscreens that allow the active ingredients to remain suspended and spread easily (and uniformly) over skin. They aren’t as prevalent as standard sunscreen creams and lotions, but such products are available from most of the major skin-care players, including Clinique, Estee Lauder, Neutrogena, and Olay. Many smaller, niche lines offer such products too, including companies such as DDF (Doctor’s Dermatologic Formula) and Peter Thomas Roth.
(Other sources for this article: Current Molecular Medicine, March 2005, pages 171-177; Applied Spectroscopy, July 1998, pages 1001-1007; Skin Research and Technology, November 2003, pages 306-311; Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, March 2003, pages 352-358; Skin Pharmacology and Applied Skin Physiology, November-December 1999, pages 344-351; and Dermatology, February 2005, pages 128-134).
Paula Begoun
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