FAQs for Beginners

How to layer products

After a shower or bath, the skin will be more permeable to water soluble actives. Take advantage of this by using serums first. Then you can layer on top oil-based serums or creams.

Exfoliators (acidic like alpha/beta, protease-based like pumpkin enzyme or physical like exfoliation kit) will increase skin permeability, take advantage of this and apply let’s make collagen serum immediately after an exfoliation.

Don’t mix serums together in the same bottle, they are O.K. as they are. Some cannot be mixed, like water-based (CHAS) and oil-based (ELS) serums.

Which actives should not be used together
There are not many rules here.

-Be nice to proteins (like epidermal growth factor, keratinocyte growth factor, SOD), by keeping them cold (NOT frozen) and not mixing them with acid solutions. For example, rinse well your skin after using the alpha/beta exfoliator, one of the few acidic products we sell.

-There is a theoretical point about vitamin C derivatives and metals like copper and iron, so don’t add copper peptide to CHAS serum.

General shelf life of products and refrigeration needs

Please keep refrigerated all serums and creams that contain proteins, like let’s make collagen serum and restoration cream (proteins are more stable when refrigerated, NOT frozen). For serums and creams, 6 months is a good estimate of shelf life. They are shipped to you very fresh, so you can count the 6 months from receipt. Remember that a cream will not work unless it is applied to the skin, so don’t just buy SAS products, USE them!

Powder actives are fine in a cool, dark place, and keep the tubes closed. Some actives (like carnitine) will absorb moisture more readily, so it is important that they are kept well closed. Most powder actives will last for years.

What are preservatives?

Nobody likes to use preservatives: they don’t help your skin or make you younger. But preservatives prevent the multiplication of bacteria and mold in the skin care product. If it were just a matter of throwing away a half-use product because there is some mold growing in it, I would not bother using them. But it is a lot more than that: even when you start with a perfectly clean product, spores are floating in the air, and nasty bugs, capable of causing very dangerous infections, could grow in the product unless the correct preservative (or mixture of preservatives) is included.

Clients ask me why we at SAS use preservatives in our products. My answer is that preservatives give me the peace of mind I need, because I know that our products will not cause a skin or eye infection

There has been a lot of bad press about parabens, and I feel pressed to come in their defense. Why? Because the arguments against parabens are bogus when the “evidence” is examined. Parabens have some estrogenic activity, but so are thousands of chemicals which we consume daily in our food. What matters is how strong is the estrogenic activity a chemical has. Strength in this case is measured by the concentration of the putative analog required to displace the natural ligand, in this case estrogen. If you need very high concentrations of the estrogen-like chemical to dislodge the estrogen from the receptor, then the activity is very low and unlikely to be of significance in real life. This is what happens with parabens: they have very low affinity for the estrogen receptor.

Parabens have a long record of safety. They are non-allergenic, effective at very low concentrations and they don’t contribute a smell to the finished product. Smell is one of the problems of natural preservatives containing a mixture of extracts from oregano, rosemary and more. The smell can be a overpowering (at least to my nose), plus several of the extracts are allergenic. In the words of Dennis Sasseville “The history of preservatives goes back to the 1930s, and ironically, the parabens, which the industry has sought to replace with "safer" alternatives, are still the most frequently used biocides in cosmetics and appear to be far less sensitizing than most of the newer agents.”

We (people who do like parabens) may eventually lose the "media war" against, as more people are convinced to avoid parabens. In this case, the general public will suffer, because there are no good substitutes for parabens that will work for all products. The result will be new preservatives coming to the market too early, without enough testing, because preservatives are essential to keep skin care products safe. Then, in one or two decades, or even sooner, we may start seeing side effects from unproven preservatives.

It is worth mentioning that preservatives are just part of the equation. It is important to start with a clean product, i.e. to limit the bacterial and fungal presence as much as possible. It has been shown that the concentration of parabens required to inhibit fungal growth depends on the initial concentration of the organisms. In short, if you are planning to make a serum, work clean, disinfect everything you will use with rubbing alcohol (let it air dry, do not blow on the utensils!) and add the preservative at the time of preparation, NOT as an afterthought one week after making the serum.

Organic, natural, synthetic

Scientists learn to use words carefully. Marketing people use words carelessly. This difference does not matter much unless you dislike to pay too much for a product or to be "taken". I don't like to be "taken", fooled, or pay too much for anything.

A client wrote to me asking how to use our sea kelp bioferment (one of our best-selling products) with an organic cleanser she bought elsewhere. She likes using organic products. Here is the ingredient list she sent me: “Water, shea butter, succinic acid derivatives, karite tree fruit extract, laurel berry deriv., coconut methyl glycol, essential oils, beta glucosamine, beta fructan, amino guanidine".

Sounds good, especially the laurel berry and the coconut. Except that there is no such thing as laurel berry derivative in the INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients), used by the industry to put some order in the labels. The "laurel berry derivative" is probably sodium lauryl sulfate, a detergent that people don't like to see in the label because it is a known irritant, Unfortunately, it is the best ingredient when it comes to giving you bubbles for very little money, and manufacturers love it. This is an example of the "organic" label being used by people who have no problem lying.

Organic conveys a meaning of wholesomeness. When used for food, it means that the crop has been grown without adding synthetic fertilizers and that no pesticides have been used. The FDA has some rules about how to use the word for food products, but when it comes to cosmetics, there are no rules, so many irresponsible people will take advantage of the consumer (no rules means no punishment). My advice: whenever you see the word "organic" in a skin or hair care product, look at the ingredient list and make sure you know how to read it.

What is "natural"? My own definition: natural is something that has been taken directly from nature and has not been modified chemically.  Why is "natural" a marketing word? It sounds good, but in reality there is nothing that makes natural chemical better than a synthetic one. In other words: a chemical is not defined by how it was obtained but by how the atoms are arranged in the molecule. There is no way to differentiate between a synthetic and a natural chemical. Moreover, whatever the feeling the word natural conveys, natural can be bad. Just think "poison ivy".

Again, if you are faced with a product that is advertising "all natural", read its ingredient list. Most manufacturers use synthetic chemicals that have been optimized for use in cosmetics after many decades of testing. There is nothing wrong with that, as long as customers are not lied to.

Some manufacturers don't even know that they are using synthetic chemicals. For example, most botanical extracts used in the industry are made using hydroglycolic solvent: water plus propylene glycol, and include synthetic preservatives. By ignoring this fact, the manufacturer can list a "liquorice extract" and make you think you are using a natural product when in fact the extract has little liquorice in it and contains synthetic chemicals.

We at Skin Actives Scientific use many natural products, and many of them are organic. But we do not want to reinforce the idea (wrong, in our view) that natural is good and synthetic is wrong, so we don't emphasize the origin of the chemical.

What about DMAE?

DMAE “firms” the skin, and it is one of the few “plumping” actives. I am having trouble remembering any others, except for our own Celestite. Because plumping is so effective in hiding wrinkles, DMAE has become very popular. It has also been used for decades without any problem. The problem with DMAE is that its mechanism of action is unknown. This is true for most actives, so it should not be a problem per se, but it exposes DMAE to claims from people who say DMAE is bad for you. There have been a couple of such scientific papers, and the quality of that research is so bad (yes, there is such a thing as bad quality scientific research) that no conclusions can be extracted from the results. So I have to say to our clients “use DMAE for short term only” and make up the rest of plumping and firming using actives that are better known.

Marketing “lingo”

“Nanoparticles, liposomes, energy, communication, peptides, youth proteins, decades of research” are words and phrases marketing people write to convince you of buying products that are disguised as technologically advanced. They also sell you products to solve problems that don’t exist, based on myths they invented.

Myth #1: The skin is impermeable
If the skin is impermeable, you clearly need the last delivery system consisting of these nanoparticles designed by that famous scientist in Switzerland. Unfortunately, that famous scientist in Switzerland does not exist, or never published anything in a reputable scientific journal. Even worse, they are lying about skin properties: the skin is not impermeable and your don't need any delivery system to get an active into your skin. It may help if you apply the serum after a shower, but that is more or less it. Whatever you apply to the skin, it will be absorbed, for better and for worse.

Myth #2: There is a magic bullet
There is no magic bullet and no ingredient is going to rejuvenate your skin ON ITS OWN. Your skin is a very complex system and has complex requirements. As we age, our body starts to "short change" the skin, even when you are having a healthy diet and take your multivitamins. Simply, there are less blood vessels reaching your dermis delivering less nutrients to the skin. Just one ingredient will not make a big change. Why? Because as soon as your skin has enough of ingredient A, another ingredient, B or C, will limit the capacity of your skin to regenerate. 

Myth #3: clean, tone, moisturize
Cleaning is important, even if you do not live or work in a polluted city. But, what on earth is a toner? Forget about those alcohol rich toners, they will only damage your skin. And moisturize? You need a lot more than that. Use a cream that will help your skin to keep water in, pollutants out. Silicones (the ingredient that gives "silky feel" to creams and lotions) is perfect for this job, but will do nothing else for your skin and may even slow down absorption of valuable nutrients. So go slow on silicones and think nutrition. Hyaluronic acid, natural active peptides, essential fatty acids, niacinamide and other vitamins will help your skin long-term. And if you are planning to live a long and fruitful life, you'd better thing long term.

Myth #4: DNA and stem cells will help your skin

Any skin care product that includes these is trying to take advantage of fashion. You cells have your own DNA, which you inherited from your parents. Your cells will express certain genes, those that correspond to the organ (in this case, skin) and time in your life (a baby does not express the same genes than an adult).

DNA that belongs to fish, cow or whatever, when applied to your skin, may be used. Fortunately, it will not be used to make the proteins of the fish or the monkey. Our immune system will not let anything get to the nuclei of your living cells, otherwise it would play havoc. Havoc is what happens when foreign DNA does actually get to the nuclei of your cells: it is what happens when a virus cheats your immune system and manages to get in. It will take further action from the immune system to eventually get rid of the foreign DNA.

So what happens to the DNA that marketers get you to apply to your skin? Most of it will be washed away, some of it will be broken down and your skin may absorb the components: nucleotides, sugars, phosphate, etc.

Same thing will happen to the stem cells from cow, horse or whatever. If you immune system is working well, nothing will get in, unless it is broken down to skin food first.

This is one more example of how marketing uses "fashion" to promote useless ingredients. DNA and stem cells go directly to my "arghhhh" list. Yesterday in CSI NY the murderer was discovered because she had received a stem cell facial (from cow) before committing the murder. You can add this to the list of reasons why NOT to have a stem cell facial.

Myth #5: Natural is good, synthetic is bad

Just two words: "stinging nettle". Two more? "Poison oak". Plants can't run, and they have too many predators, starting with humans. Their defense? Producing chemicals that will stop (or deter) animals from eating them. "Natural" has lately become a buzz word, often emptied of any content. For example: "allantoin (comfrey)". It is true that you can find allantoin in comfrey, but the ingredient used in skin care products is likely to be synthetic. Not that it matters, the chemical extracted from the plant cannot be distinguished from the synthetic one, but this approach only perpetuates the myth.

Myth #6: Your skin needs extra oxygen!

No, it doesn't. Our skin gets more than enough oxygen from the air and through the blood vessels that irrigate the dermis. In fact, our skin gets too much oxygen, and oxygen is partly to blame for aging skin. The  "excess" does not result in more energy because our blood and mitochondria are saturated with oxygen (i.e. have as much as they need) but the extra free radicals will age the skin, increase mutations in our cells' DNA and break down the lipids in the cell membranes. So, if anybody invites you to an oxygen bar, run in the opposite direction. If somebody else wants to sell you a cream with hemoglobin (read: cow's blood) tell them that dead, yucky protein will do nothing for your skin. And run!