You are here: Home / Information / Getting Under Your Skin

Getting Under Your Skin

Posted by on July 30, 2010 · 10 Comments 

We’ve all bought a jar of ‘wrinkle be gone’ cream after being impressed by its ‘sounds impressive’ ingredients and we have all dutifully slapped it on, thickly. After a few days of this manic love-affair we have all stood next to our ‘magnify me’ mirror, took a deep breath and surveyed the landscape looking for the new us.  Was our money well spent? Do we look 10 years younger?  Maybe…..

Being a complete science nerd all I want to know is ‘how did THAT hydroazoliposome wotsit get into MY face?

Well I must say that is not an easy question to answer as getting stuff under your skin is a bit of a scientific  and biological challenge. You see the thing is this,  believe it or not your skin is designed to keep things out so it is actually quite difficult to get things under it. Yes if we rub garlic on our feet we can smell it on our breath within a few minutes and yes an aromatherapy massage can reach the parts that an ordinary rub down just can’t touch but it’s not like that for everything.  All that your average skin cream can hope to do is serve as a moisture trap or a barrier cream, working at or on the surface to prevent or modify moisture loss. To get actives in takes a little giggery pokery!

Firstly the actives have to be very small so that they can get through the little nooks and crannies of the skin – things like collagen and elastin are often way too big to get through under normal circumstances. Secondly the physical conditions must be right with regards to formulation pH, melting point and solubility of the active – all chemistry and all important but often difficult to balance in a cost-effective and cosmetically acceptable formulation.  After that you may still need other chemicals to help the active to penetrate through the skin or even need to use another gadget to help it on its way (electric current, heat or light).

Ok, so let’s assume that the cosmetic chemists and brand owners have thrown everything at their formulation and got everything right on paper. What next?

Well the guys at Monash University’s Pharmacy department are experts at measuring skin penetration and I have just been reading a great little study that I want to share with you.  Anita Schneider and Barrie Finnin set about investigating the  penetration powers of three common actives in vivo (living tissue) after noticing that many cosmetic actives are only tested in vitro (in test-tube or laboratory conditions).  They looked at  Niacinamide, Genistein and a tripeptide using real human skin gathered from abdominal surgery and tracked their journey through the skin samples, nice!


So what happened?

Well, first of all the actives were tested in a saturated solution rather than a real-time formulation meaning that the odds should be stacked in the favour of skin penetration. Then the active solution was placed under an occlusive barrier on the skin meaning a) it can’t  go anyway and b) the skin will start sweating making it easier for the active to get through.  So, with perfect conditions the testing got underway!


Results.

The test showed that Niacinamide did penetrate quite easily through the stratum corneum making it a very useful and powerful antioxidant for skincare use.  Genistein only penetrated the skin to a small degree and the tripeptide got nowhere near to penetrating at levels that could stimulate collagen synthesis.


So where does that leave us?

Well, I love the fact that people like this are taking the time to do this type of work as there is nothing better than real life evidence. The fact that only one out of these three common actives got through in high enough levels to do any good was not that surprising as it really is hard to get stuff into the skin. However this doesn’t make me any less likely to give products a go. Why? Well, cosmetic chemists are cleaver people and where there is a will there is a way! I am sure that the rise of nanotechnology, high-tech delivery systems, novel emollients and electric currents will help stack the odds in our favour.

And after all, the proof is in the pudding, if you think you look and feel better then go for it!

The study was published in the Australian Journal of Cosmetic Science Vol 23, No 6, pages 18-24 and Anita from the university can be contacted at anita.schneider@pharm.monash.edu.au

____________________________________

Amanda Foxon-Hill is a consultant Chemist and Science Communicator with over 12 years of experience in the global cosmetics industry. She is a peer-reviewed writer, after dinner speaker and lecturer with the Institute of Personal Care Science. She is also passionate about working towards a more sustainable and “greener” future and regularly facilitates natural personal care workshops for the public via her ‘Realize Beauty’ business.  Amanda also consults to the cosmetics industry on all aspects of green chemistry and product development and advocates the promotion of sensible science to consumer groups via her blog.

Print FriendlyPrint Friendly
Be Sociable, Share!

More about the author:  Guest posts are provided through article submissions. Read more from this author

Related posts:

  1. Care & Feeding Instructions for Your Fall & Winter Skin
  2. Fragrance – When the Science is Only Skin Deep
  3. Skin is Our Largest Organ – Part 2

Filed under Information · Tagged with , , , , , , ,

  • Pingback: Tweets that mention Getting Under Your Skin #information #amandafoxonhill #anitaschneider -- Topsy.com

  • cathieg

    I heard years ago that what goes ON the body gets absorbed 10x faster than what goes IN the body (by mouth) since it by passes the stomach acids. Is this true?

  • ter456

    Thanks for a great post Amanda. Well, it looks like science prevails once again. I always wondered why those exhorbitantly priced peptide creams that I have tried have never worked, at least not on me. Yea…for Vitamin B3..I use that ingredient in my facial toner, so that is great to know.

  • http://twitter.com/thebeautybrains thebeautybrains

    Nice post Amanda. I wonder how their results would be different if they used living human subjects. Could they somehow apply the product and then check blood levels of the ingredient. Or maybe they could somehow harmlessly chemically tag the active and search for it in the bloodstream.

  • http://twitter.com/RealizeBeautyEd AmandaFoxon-Hill

    Hello people and thanks for the comments. Cathieg – That isn't a universal truth which means that while SOME chemicals may get through the skin quicker and more potently than when ingested MOST will either not get through at all or will get through as partly metabolised bi-products or in smaller quantities than that applied. That is why we still have to suffer lots of injections rather than getting our drugs via patches. This will of course change in the future when technology catches up.
    The Beauty Brains – YES YOU CAN :) Some chemicals can be traced using rare isotopes (that are safe) but this is expensive and quite difficult to do. I took part in a trial that did this with Zinc Oxide for nanoparticle research. It worked well but was a difficult experiment to control.
    ter456 – Thanks and don't give up on the peptides just yet, there are lots of new ones that have a fair bit of data behind them. The trouble is that most companies give in vitro rather than in vivo results making it harder to assess the real benefit.

  • http://www.facebook.com/SoapyGuy Dennis Abbeduto

    Try sticking your hand in a glass of vodka and let me know how fast you get buzzed.

  • Dene Godfrey

    I would just like to add to Amanda's comments to make the point that your source of information cannot have been very scientific as this is not a logical statement (and I am criticising your source, not you!). How can the rate of skin absorption be related to the fact that it is bypassing the stomach acids? By the time something ingested reaches the stomach acids, it is already inside the body. The rate of skin absorption can only be related to the porosity of the skin and the chemical nature/size of the ingredient in question!

    This is a typical scary statement passed around the internet, and probably initiated mischeviously, as this has no factual or logical basis.

  • Dene Godfrey

    Sorry, Dennis, but that didn't work for me. Do you have any better ideas? lol (Great point – I will almost certainly use that one myself in the future!)

  • http://twitter.com/BeautyInnovate BeautyInnovate

    Although most active ingredients do not penetrate through the skin to effect the fibroblasts in the dermal layer and most ingredients will only act on keratinocytes in the epidermal layer of skin, many actives have shown to stimulate growth factors that will “communicate” with the dermal layer and stimulate proteins that can help stimulation of elastin and collagen fibers in skin, so it is hopeful! Also for ingredients to penetrate through skin… might raise more concerns. Great article, thanks!

    • http://personalcaretruth.com Lisa M. Rodgers

      BeautyInnovate -

      Thanks so much for your comments.

      Lisa

Content Protected Using Blog Protector By: PcDrome.