August 13th, 2010
The expression in Spanish is “no tiene abuelita” and it refers to the person who talks too much about his/her achievements, beauty or whatever. This because if she/she had a granny, then the granny would be telling everybody how great the person is.
It is not nice to tell you how great I am (or our company is). But there are exceptions.
It seems to me that because I am not telling you how great some of our products are you may be missing on a really great thing.
My point is that we have some extraordinary products, not because we make them but because they contain some extraordinary actives at the right concentrations, and I would like to see more people benefiting from them.
Examples:
1) Mitochondria cream, THE product to prevent wrinkles and skin aging.
2) Antioxidant cream with coffee extract: we stress the coffee extract because more people may know about it but this cream contains some antioxidant enzymes that you cannot find anywhere else. If any of your friends/family members has a skin problem related to immunity (like vitiligo) this is the one to go for.
3) Be kind rewind cream, the one to use if you have sun damage or damage by other stressors.
4) Emulator oil: don’t complain about your nails, just make them healthier
5) Anti-inflammatory cream, to alleviate eczema, psoriasis, etc.
And now, on another subject: did I ever tell you how gorgeous my grandchildren actually are?
Tags: eczema, inflammation, psoriasis, vitiligo
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August 10th, 2010
Just a reminder that this product really works. We are so used to skin care companies marketing campaign that it is hard to believe when the news are good.
A reminder: Twilight is a combination of retinyl ester to promote cell renewal and actives that allow that renewal to actually happen.
For those of us that would love to use Retin-A but can’t withstand the irritation, Twilight is the product to use.
Use for scars, wrinkles, sun damaged skin and more.
Tags: Retin-A retinoic acid anti-age wrinkles
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August 2nd, 2010
I wish my Biochemistry students at MSU cared as much about chirality as the consumers of skin care products!
The impact of marketing is clear in the questions I get via email.
Some molecules exist in mirror forms (D and L). These molecules have at least one asymmetric carbon atom, i.e. a carbon atom that has each of its four bonds occupied by four different atoms or groups of atoms. Ascorbic acid is one such molecule. L-ascorbic acid means that the compound’s stereochemistry is related to that of the levorotatory enantiomer of glyceraldehyde.
Please see – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chirality_(chemistry)
Regarding chirality of ascorbic acid and skin care, there are two questions
1) Does it matter whether a chemical is D or L? Yes, it does, because the special distribution of atoms is part of the structure of the chemical and will determine some of its properties.
2) Does it matter whether you are using the L- stereoisomer or a racemic mix of ascorbic acid on your skin? No. When no enzymes are involved either isomer will do. You need a minute amount of L-ascorbic acid, a cofactor for enzymes involved in the hydroxylation of pro-collagen amino acid residues. A racemic mix of ascorbic acid will have will have more than enough L-isomer to do the job and it is much less expensive. We have chosen our ascorbic acid to be very fresh (reduced) and in very fine crystals so that it can do a better job.
Natural ingredients are the “right” chirality. If I “worry” about a particular chemical’s chirality, I get the “correct” chirality. If I am not worried about it, I don’t bother getting it. It matters, for example, for vitamin E. A low percentage of people can become allergic to the “wrong” stereoisomer of vitamin E.
Because I am a biochemist, I am very familiar with chirality, stereoisomers, etc.
Chirality is first taught with amino acids (all the amino acids in proteins are L-) and soon after with sugars (most sugars in humans are D-). So sodium hyaluronate, if anything, would be a D-, but the nomenclature is not really used for polysaccharides. Same for superoxide dismutase, biochemists don’t use L- or D- for proteins (although proteins are made of L-amino acids).
I find it easy to tell whether a text has been written by marketing people or by scientists, the language is so different! Marketing people use “absolute” terms. A real scientist knows enough to know that he/she (in this case) does not know enough to promise you “purity”.
Why do we tell you that an ingredient is L- or D-? Because for those ingredients it is part of the chemical name.
When a chemical is made in the laboratory by organic synthesis, it will be a mix of the two steroisomers. If a chemical is made in the laboratory by fermentation, the chiral composition will depend on the microbe and the main synthetic pathway. Incidentally, some chemical may have several stereoisomers, if the have more than one “asymmetric” carbon.
About chiral technology: the term should be reserved for very specific work done by organic chemists trying to direct organic synthesis towards a particular stereoisomer. As far as I know, that technology is not used for skin care ingredients, because it would be too expensive. It makes a lot more sense, at least for the time being, to purify the ingredient from natural materials, usually crops like wheat or rice.
Tags: alpha lipoic acid, ascorbic acid, chirality
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July 29th, 2010
Bacteria and mold have good taste in skin care: the richer the product the fastest they will eat it up, making the half-eaten product a danger to our health. The solution to this very real problem is to use antimicrobial preservatives, which will allow your skin care product to remain free of microbial growth while sitting on the store shelf for 6 months (or more) and even after your dip your not-too-clean-finger in that eye cream.
Unfortunately, there has been so much propaganda regarding anti-microbial preservatives that the industry had to find a way around it. The solution they found is NOT to exclude preservatives from their formulations, because this would simply allow microbes to fester in their rich skin care formulas.
What solution have they found? Hiding the preservative somewhere in the ingredient list. Not very honest, but honesty is overrated, right?
Finding the hidden preservatives is a good exercise for me, and I can usually find them listed somewhere in the middle of the ingredient list, rather than at the end, where their low concentration would place them and where people will usually look for them.
The industry has two other “solutions”:
1) don’t list the preservatives at all,
2) include them in a botanical extract so you don’t have to list the preservative. An extract is usually made of water and some alcohol, but microbial preservatives added at high enough concentrations will be enough to keep the whole formulation microbe-free.
When you see “aloe vera gel” or “aloe vera juice”, it is extremely likely that these extracts include the ubiquitous parabens, effective and safe antimicrobials. Manufacturers then feel free to promote their products as “natural” because they are not actually listing the synthetic ingredients.
What you don’t see can’t hurt you, right?
Tags: mold, natural, parabens, preservatives
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July 26th, 2010
Love this (from the NYT) by Thomas Friedman
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/opinion/25friedman.html?src=me&ref=general
As the environmentalist Rob Watson likes to say: “Mother Nature is just chemistry, biology and physics. That’s all she is.” You cannot sweet-talk her. You cannot spin her. You cannot tell her that the oil companies say climate change is a hoax. No, Mother Nature is going to do whatever chemistry, biology and physics dictate, and “Mother Nature always bats last, and she always bats 1.000,” says Watson. Do not mess with Mother Nature. But that is just what we’re doing.
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July 6th, 2010
Scientific methodology is a tool to answer scientific questions, just like a typewriter (how quaint!) allows you to write a letter. But the contents of the letter still depends on the writer.
Of the many scientific advances in methodology, peptide synthesis may not look very cool, but can be very useful in the study of receptors and the development of medicines.
The skin care industry has appropriated this methodology to develop new ingredients that are useless or, even worse, potentially damaging to the skin.
Every day, several synthetic peptides are offered to formulators as an inexpensive way to personalize a bland product. What is missing is quality information of the effect of the synthetic peptide on the skin. A theory will suffice, because the industry is based on selling a product that the FDA will accept as “physiologically inactive” while the consumer is told that the product will change his/her life.
What we end up with is a pentapeptide (a chain of 5 amino acids) that we are told can kill the acne bacteria because the original protein, one hundred times the size of that peptide, has antibacterial activity. A protein chemist will know that this is rubbish, but the consumer will not. Herein lies the fraud.
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June 29th, 2010
Every day I received at least one email from a client asking for help to alleviate skin damage that should not have happened.
Examples: home acid peels, laser, Clarisonic, Thermage, microneedling, picking at acne lesions, and many more ways of inflicting stress on our already abused skin.
Why do we do these things? I think this self-inflicted damage belongs to the category of eating disorders, smoking and stuff that it is too complicated to understand. But before you go and buy a Clarisonic, stop and try to use common sense. How much cleaning does your skin really need?
We can add to the list of “abuse”: eyelash extensions, a perverse way of losing your own eyelashes, use of noxious chemicals (where on earth do the buy DMSO?), acid peels bought on-line and much more.
The good news is that some of this damage can be repaired. Ask us what our actives can do for you. While you work on repairing your skin, re-growing your eyelashes, etc., explore the reasons why you can’t leave good enough alone.
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June 17th, 2010
Several times a week I receive emails asking me for a recipe of a vitamin C serum. We already sell an excellent CHAS serum, but for some reason some people want a recipe with ascorbic acid. I assume it must be because of the acidity of ascorbic acid (our CHAS serum is non acidic).
So here is the recipe:
DIY C serum
Ascorbic acid serum with ferulic acid and phloretin
tsp: teaspoon. All measurements are approximate, unless you have a laboratory scale and can measure grams and milligrams. Use level teaspoons, NOT full teaspoons.
1 tsp ascorbic acid (actual weight about 5 grams)
1 tsp Sea Kelp Bioferment
1 tsp rosehip oil
3 tsp distilled water (you can get this at the supermarket, actual weight about 15 grams)
1/8 tsp Ferulic Acid
1/8 tsp phloretin
¼ tsp antiox booster or less, “to taste”
1/4 tsp vodka or pure ethanol (NOT denatured)
Hyaluronic acid ½ teaspoon or less (“to taste”, it will thicken the serum)
pH about 5
Use 2 small glasses.
Glass with phase 1 (water)
Put ascorbic acid in glass, add water, stir frequently and let it fully dissolve. If not completely dissolved after 10 min, add a hint more of water. This recipe uses ascorbic acid at its limit of solubility, which is 33 grams of ascorbic acid to 100 grams of distilled water (there is no need).
Glass with phase 2 (alcohol and oils suspension)
While you are waiting for the ascorbic acid to dissolve, you can proceed with the rest. Put the ferulic acid and phloretin in the 2nd glass, pour the vodka in and stir, now add the sea kelp bioferment. Add the antiox booster and rosehip oil and stir.
When the ascorbic acid has fully dissolved, mix the contents of both glasses together, stir well.
This is not a real solution but a suspension, so mix well every time before use.
Finally, sprinkle the hyaluronic acid powder, this will thicken the mix. Mix well.
Keep refrigerated, this serum contains no preservatives and bacteria and mold will love it!
Discard if color changes to brown (will indicate that ascorbic acid has oxidized).
Final volume about 1 fl oz, or 30 mL, so the final concentration of ascorbic acid in this water/oil mix is about 16%.
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June 10th, 2010
Some time ago I explained why, in my opinion, skin aging can be reversed. In short, if you measure aging by skin functionality and texture, then the use of retinoids, let’s make collagen serum and anti-age cream (among many other products from Skin Actives and several other companies) can make your skin younger. Not just look younger, but be younger.
Last Christmas/Hanukkah, my son gave me as a gift of 10 sessions with his personal trainer, Scott Webb. I have no words to express my horror when Jonatan told me. I used to be a fairly active person until 25 years ago. I did not enjoy exercise, but I did some hiking here and there and even some light weight training. That activity (and life as I knew it) ended with the diagnosis of severe, chronic asthma that took me to the E.R. several times. Gradually, new medications came to market and now my asthma is under control. But even with my asthma under control, life never went back to what it was. In fact, I had not run or even walk much for about 25 years.
I had already accepted my limitations, and now my son wanted me to do physical training? I managed to procrastinate long enough, but Jonatan would not accept my excuses and I started taking my sessions last April.
After just 10 weeks of training, I can walk 1.5 miles without stopping, my ankles don’t hurt anymore, I don’t have back aches or headaches and I can leg press 110 pounds. To me, this is astonishing. If this is not getting younger, what is it? If my muscles, lungs and every muscle in my body can do more than they did 2 months ago, then I am younger than I was 2 months ago.
Maybe I should not be so astonished. I had suggested that it was possible for the skin to get younger, then why not the whole body?
I am very grateful to my son who could see my potential when I couldn’t, and very grateful to Scott Webb for knowing so much about the human body that he could get me this strong after 25 years of practically not moving.
I am not very good at following instructions, but I can recognize an expert when I see him. I am good at what I do, and Scott Webb is very good at what he does.
How to contact Scott Webb, personal trainer, located in Gilbert, AZ
SWebbTraining@gmail.com
www.ScottWebbTraining.com
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June 9th, 2010
 The pretty blue color of our new Ultra sea kelp bioferment is from phycocyanin, a pigment in blue-green algae that helps the organism harvest energy from light. In our case, there will be no light harvesting (!) but the extract will provide extra nutrients and benefit skin with allergy problems.
References:
Remirez, D., Ledon, N., Gonzalez, R. (2002) Role of histamine in the inhibitory effects of phycocyanin in experimental models of allergic inflammatory response. Inflammation, 11: 81-85.
Kim, HM, Lee, EH, Cho, MM, Moon, YH. (1998) Inhibitory effect of mast cell-mediated immediate-type allergic reactions in rats by Spirulina. Pharmacology, 55: 1071-1076.
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