Skingenious® | Ingenious Skin Strategies

faq

•I know that chronic inflammation can cause premature aging. What are the sources of chronic inflammation in our everyday lives?
•What are some comedogenic ingredients?
•What's so bad about Sodium lauryl sulphate - it's in everything!
•How do you know if a product contains Chiral ingredients?
•Are cosmeceuticals chirally correct?
•What are Cosmeceuticals?
•What is Chirality?
•What does chirally correct mean?
•How important is chirality?
•Why is it so important?
•What makes Skingenious products so effective?
•Why is natural better?
•Why is chirally correct better than natural?
•Do you have to pay a steep price for a good product?
•What's wrong with using artificial colours?
•What does 'non-comedogenic' mean?

I know that chronic inflammation can cause premature aging. What are the sources of chronic inflammation in our everyday lives?
Environmental pollution - chemicals in our air and water such as air pollution from many sources including secondhand smoke, hairsprays, air fresheners, insecticides, cleaning agents, chlorinated water, etc. Too much sun.
Contact chemicals - those we put on our skin such as artificial colors, artificial fragrances, preservatives, other toxic substances or anything that interferes with our bodies ability to function properly. Artificial food additives such as aspartame in diet drinks (it can make you sick, but it also makes you more sensitive to the sun), fd&c colors, (artificial colors), hydrogenated oils, canola oil - the list is too numerous, but you get the idea.
Food - we feed chickens hormones and antibiotics then we eat them or the eggs they lay, - and that ‘s not as bad as what we do to cows - the beef cows or milk cows, and then we wonder why rosacea and acne are so common. Our fruit and vegetables are grown in chemicals and laced with insecticides, our fish and seafood comes from contaminated waters. Allergens such as coffee can cause 'allergic shiners' - dark circles and puffiness under the eyes.
All of the above stresses our immune system and the immunity of the skin. The skin is the largest organ of the body - all of our organs are affected by the above, however our skin generally takes the most abuse. We slather it with chemicals often twice a day, - when we think we're doing something healthy for it by cleaning it and caring for it. It is the barrier for our other organs and so it gets exposed to more of the pollution. It is the most visible organ - we can often see the damage that is being done and often our response is to cover it up or disguise the damage, not try to correct it.

What are some comedogenic ingredients?
Typical comedogenic ingredients (ingredients that cause blackheads) are:
isospropyl myristate
isopropyl palmitate
myristyl myristate
sodium lauryl sulfate

What's so bad about Sodium lauryl sulphate - it's in everything!
It denatures protein (skin and hair is made up of protein) It is a mutagen. This means that it is capable of actually changing the information in genetic material found in cells. It is an eye irritant. One study to determine the effect of SLS in the eye found that SLS is rapidly taken up and accumulated by eye tissues and retained for up to five days ( and that it is particularly harmful to the developing eyes of young children. It was also found to cause changes in some proteins of eye tissues and can extend the healing time in injured eyes. SLS can damage the outer layer of skin, causing dryness, roughness, scaliness, fissuring, loss of flexibility and can reduce the barrier function of normal. healthy skin.

How do you know if a product contains Chiral ingredients?
Chiral ingredients have an 'L' or a 'D' preceding the name of the ingredient, e.g. D-boldine, L-ascorbic acid, L-lactic and so on. If an ingredient has a "DL" (i.e. DL alpha tocopherol) it is NOT chiral because the molecules have not been separated. Ingredients without a "D" or no "L", are most likely not chiral.

Are cosmeceuticals chirally correct?
Cosmeceuticals bridge the gap between cosmetics and pharmaceuticals in the effects they have on the skin – which is why all cosmeceuticals should be chirally correct but unfortunately most are not. Disregarding chirality when formulating cosmeceuticals is irresponsible because using the wrong molecule might not only be ineffective, it could even be harmful.

What are Cosmeceuticals?
Cosmeceuticals are the result of innovation in both the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries in a response to changing attitudes towards cosmetics. "Cosmeceutical" was generally accepted as meaning a product that offers both cosmetic and drug-like benefits.
The current definition:
"Cosmeceuticals are defined as hybrid products, derived from cosmetics and drugs that enhance aesthetic appearance and make therapeutic claims with respect to affecting structure or function of the body and/or mitigating,treating, or preventing disease".
This definition includes products such as Depilatories, Anti-dandruff, Skin care, Sunblocks and Skin Bleaching products. Prior to cosmeceuticals we had only 2 choices for looking more youthful-makeup or surgery. Thanks to cosmeceuticals we have a third choice - cosmeceuticals.

What is Chirality?
Chiral (Ki-Rul) from the Greek word (kheir) meaning hand. Most biologically important molecules are chiral, meaning they exist in the left and right-handed mirror image forms, analogous to our left and right hands or left and right handed spiral staircases. Louis Pasteur first noticed that there was a difference between molecules of the same compound in 1848, when he was conducting experiments on wine fermentation for the French wine industry. He accidentally recrystallized a ‘strange racemic acid’ and discovered that it was actually a mixture of two chemically identical yet mirror image forms of tartaric acid. Ever since that time an equal mixture of L (left-handed) and D (right-handed) molecules has been called a racemic mixture. He later observed that solutions of one ‘hand’ rotated the plane of polarized light in one direction, e.g. clockwise (also known as D-for Dextrorotatory, or rotating to the right) while solutions of the other rotated it in the opposite direction, anti-clockwise (L- for Levorotatory, rotating to the left). Years later, Lord Kelvin, the great English physicist, named these compounds ‘chiral’.

What does chirally correct mean?
Further research has shown that chiral compounds and their properties are part of every biochemical process in the human body. They are the root cause of why some products or ingredients work and others do not. Life always favors one hand over the other. Bio-living matter contains an equal number of L and D molecules, yet a characteristic signature of life is that it uses only one hand (the L or the D) to achieve a specific result. When compounds are synthesized in a lab. a 50/50 (racemic) mixture is made,containing both the L and the D - but the body or skin can only benefit by either the L or the D. While the L may be give desired results the D may be causing problems - or visa versa as the case may be.
Biology is homochiral: animals are made of proteins containing only L-amino acids, coded for by right handed helical DNA containing only D sugars. In other words, the L-amino acids must link up with the D sugars to give the desired results. When a product is chirally correct, it means that it contains only the molecules with the ability to give the desired results (either the D or the L form).

How important is chirality?
The pharmaceutical companies have spent upwards of 80 billion dollars on chiral research and to make their drugs chirally pure. The FDA has mandated that chirality must be taken into consideration when manufacturing any new drugs.

Why is it so important?
Thalidomide - the notorious drug that caused heartbreaking birth defects in the early 60’s, was prescribed as a sedative for pregnant women. When scientists finally resolved the drug in 1979, separating its two "hands", they discovered that only the L form causes fetal deformities,whilst the D form and the racemic DL form both exhibited equal sedative activity. The drug had always been prescribed in its racemic form, which contained the L molecule responsible for birth defects. If they had chirally purified the drug, by removing the L form, Thalidomide would have been safe..
The bottom line?
Important biological compounds exist in 2 mirror image forms and the actions and effects of the twins can be strikingly different when in the presence of other compounds which are themselves chiral, like the human body. This applies equally to compounds intended for internal use and to topicals like skin care. If a product does not take the chirality of its active ingredients into consideration it cannot be effective on a highly evolved, complex biochemical organ like human skin, whose very structure is chiral.
To be truly effective, products must be chirally correct. Just as you cannot put your right hand into a left handed glove, your body will not accept a left handed compound to do the job a right handed one is supposed to do, and visa versa. Chiral chemistry sets the rules that determines how or whether ingredients perform as desired or otherwise. While molecules of one hand are necessary to life (e.g. L-amino acids, certain D sugars, etc.) this selectivity means that the molecule of the opposite hand will usually exhibit different effects, ranging from useless to toxic, as in the case of L-thalidomide.

What makes Skingenious products so effective?
One reason is the ingredients with which they are formulated. Skingenious products contain the highest concentrations of effective, active ingredients. Unlike so many products on the market that contain only token amounts of wonderful ingredients, Skingenious products virtually overflow with state-of-the-art ingredients. We’re also proud of the ingredients that are missing from Skingenious products. They’re free of artificial colors, artificial fragrance and artificial preservatives.
The second reason is that Skingenious products are chirally correct. When a skin product’s ingredients are chirally correct the ingredients have the ability to link up properly with the skin’s receptors and with that perfect link-up of ingredient to receptor, the product can deliver the most effective results possible with the fewest possible adverse reactions. Chirally correct ingredients have the ability to deliver outstanding results - far superior to products containing racemic or non-chirally purified ingredients.
The third reason is the way in which Skingenious products are formulated. To deliver the freshest products and avoid the necessity of using artificial preservatives and other "inactive" agents, we make the products in very small batches. They are often cold processed. When "cooking" is necessary we never "overcook" the goodness out of them.
And lastly – when developing a product, we leave "price" out of the equation. We believe it is more important to offer only the finest, most effective product than to ensure the product’s ability to be priced competitively. An ineffective product is terribly expensive, no matter how little it cost, while a truly effective product is a true bargain, regardless of how much it cost.

Why is natural better?
To put it simply, chemicals cause stress simply because they are not natural to our skin or body.
Chemicals are often not recognized or utilized properly by the skin or the body. An example would be lactic acid. Synthetic lactic acid contains both the D and the L molecule. The body (and skin) only recognizes the L form. Natural lactic acid contains only the L form which is the one the body can use. It's obviously better to use the natural L form - why would you use the form in which one half of the molecules are ineffective? It is the same with vitamin E. Natural vitamin E is D-alpha tocopherol. Synthetic vitamin E is DL alpha tocopherol. The body can only use the D form. With the DL form you have half the molecules that are either worthless or can cause an allergic reaction.
Artificial color and artificial fragrances (or flavors in food) are often not recognized by the body. This causes stress to our systems because the body doesn't know how to react to these ingredients and often stores them in an organ or fat. Over years these chemicals can accumulate and reach a toxic level. In short, they pollute our bodies and/or our skin. And think about this - the skin can often absorb these chemicals.

Why is chirally correct better than natural?
Here’s one example:
Limonene is an active compound in citrus fruits. In nature, limonene always has both left handed (L) and right handed (D) molecules. Natural limonene is DL limonene. Let’s compare the different properties & uses of these naturally occurring ‘twin’ molecules:
• D-limonene (right-handed) is the version used for industrial cleaners & degreasers. It’s used as a tire solvent (for recycling tires), it’s known to cause allergic reactions, it promotes mutations in human embryos & promotes free radicals.
• L-limonene (left-handed) suppresses tumor growth (particularly melanoma) & fights free radicals.
Would you prefer to have in your skin care - the natural limonene with both the harsh D molecule and therapeutic L molecule, or only the therapeutic D? Those concerned about their skin would prefer only the D-limonene in their products. Chiral technology, makes it possible to give you a product that is better than natural because it separates the molecules allowing us to remove the undesirable molecule and use only the desirable one.

Do you have to pay a steep price for a good product?
If you're asking, "do you get what you pay for", then the answer is no. Ingredients and technology determine how good a product will be and unfortunately too many skin care products, regardless of price, are composed of what we call "roses and Vaseline". By that we mean they're comprised of petrolatum (Vaseline), mineral oil, wax, a great fragrance and only token amounts of active ingredients. Use of these products may give you what you believe to be good results because the petrolatum and mineral oil will make the skin feel moist, the wax will coat the skin making it appear smoother and the fragrance makes you feel good. Unfortunately, these ingredients are also clogging the pores, and interfering with the skin's ability to breathe and eliminate - 2 very important functions of the largest organ of our body. If you doubt what I'm saying, just check out the ingredient list of the products in the stores.
Recently, I discovered a very elegant cream selling for $450 an ounce. The main ingredients? Petrolatum, mineral oil and waxes, - and lots of fragrance. Another "therapeutic" cream selling for $125 was so loaded with wax, that the only way it would spread was to hold it between my fingers for a few seconds in order to soften it . Of course, the salesperson was quick to tell me that this was a very special treatment cream which was why it couldn't be spread over the face without first holding it between the fingers. Yeah, right. Great marketing story! And for those of you who believe it is possible to purchase an effective product for $12. , think again. Manufacturers are charged a hefty fee to place their products on the shelves in the major stores. They therefore need a substantial markup. That $12 product probably cost no more than $1.50 to make and that's including the packaging, etc. How good could it be? You may even think it to be very good because of all the wonderful herbs it contains. Yes, there are 20 different beneficial herbs listed on the label, and it does contain all those herbs, but not in the way you might think. It contains only a few drops of an infusion of those various herbs. In other words, 20 different herbs were brewed into a "tea" and then a few drops of the "tea" is added to the product formula. If the product is inexpensive, the manufacturer cannot do it any other way.

What's wrong with using artificial colours?
Almost all FD&C (food, drug & cosmetic) and D&C (drug and cosmetic) colours are made from coal tar. Coal tar has been shown to cause cancer in animal tests and there are many people who are allergic to coal tar.
Certain dyes such as Azo dyes, aka as monoazo dyes, are toxic and are absorbed through the skin. Still they’re widely used in cosmetics. The anthraquinone family of coal tar dyes, which includes Ext. D&C Violet #2, prevents the growth of cells, and causes tumors in lab rats, as well as causing skin rashes.
Quinoline is derived from coal tar and is known to be highly toxic and carcinogenic. It contains formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and aniline. D&C Yellow #10 and #11, and many other artificial colors are made with quinoline.
Triphenylmethane dyes (aka tritan) are used to color many cosmetic products. They’re highly toxic and carcinogenic.
Beware of FD&C Green #1, #2, and #3, and FD&C Blue #1. Xanthenes such as FD&C Red #3, D&C Red #2 and #19 (aka Rhodamine B) and D&C Orange are toxic and cause phototoxicity of the skin which can lead to skin cancer.

What does 'non-comedogenic' mean?
A comedone is a 'blackhead'. When an ingredient is non-comedogenic, it means it does not cause blackheads.