Beginners skin science
October 20th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
…there comes the illusion sellers to take your money. Yes, you can sequence a person’s DNA. You can sequence the DNA of your intestinal flora. You can sequence the DNA of your skin flora. And? While methodology for DNA sequence makes my efforts just (!) 20 years ago look ridiculously primitive, the fact that now it’s possible for a machine to sequence your DNA for a few dollars doesn’t mean that this information can make you live longer or prettier or younger. It’s hard to count the many ways that fast and cheap DNA sequencing has improved our lives. I will just mention one: it allows for the better understanding…
October 20th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
In my opinion (this is Hannah), there are three cornerstones to skincare: mitochondria, antioxidants, and protection from UV. And these needs, protect skin from UV and strong oxidants, and protect the integrity of mitochondria, are NOT age specific. What do mitochondria do?Let me explain why mitochondria are so important and so worth the best possible care we can afford. Mitochondria provide energy as adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the form of energy our cells can use to do “housekeeping,” grow, and divide. This is true, not just for us humans, but for all eukaryotes (organisms with nuclei). Mitochondria use molecular oxygen to extract a lot of energy that would otherwise be lost,…
October 11th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
This is a very common affliction. I try the anti-allergy pills and when that doesn’t work, I go first for the tear-like eye drops, and if that doesn’t work my next and last step is anti-allergy eye drops. You may have a different strategy. Incidentally, some people are allergic to the preservative used for eye drops, you can simply use sterile eye drops that don’t contain preservatives. Now, hear me out. In my experience, the problem is caused partly by the dry skin of my eyelids. Magic remedy? Sorry to be boring but it’s again the nourishing serum with CBD. I apply it on my eyelids and massage very lightly.…
October 8th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Some companies give an estimate of how long it will take you to see an effect. Don’t believe the numbers. You can only get numbers with a large quantity of “subjects” and a double-blind test, which these companies didn’t do. On the other hand, I can give you anecdotal evidence that I saw. The active acne in my grandson’s chin went down (yes, it was like a hill) overnight with Zit ender. I had a nasty scratch caused by dry skin followed by scratching (don’t!) and in a couple of days of using nourishing serum with hemp extract, it disappeared. But this is because they were the right products for…
October 6th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
It bothers me that a great presentation, with good visuals and rubbish science, can be so compelling if you don’t know the facts. A cute young woman explains why EGF cannot penetrate the skin and how the skin turns from stratum basale (she uses the Latin name, making it sound even better) into skin flakes, and she makes a good video. Even if it comes to the wrong conclusion. And, no, I will not provide the link, because that’s the way that fake science spreads around. Myth: the skin is impermeable. If you look at a small section of the cartoon representing the skin you may think so, but our…
September 27th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Figure: The Trotula. Miscellanea medica XVIII – Wellcome Library, London, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31154428 Don’t complain about how women’s medical conditions are treated these days. It was worse in the XII century. “Book on the Conditions of Women and Women’s Cosmetics” a.k.a. the Trotula, were popular between the late twelfth and the fifteenth centuries. For the next several hundred years, the Trotula texts circulated throughout Europe, reaching its greatest popularity in the 14th century. The Trotula is a good guide to what women’s health care looked like then, and a good reason to be happy to live now and here, and not then and there. The name may suggest a female author…
September 3rd, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Oxidation is good (most of the time) We are not plants, so we can’t make “food out of air” like in photosynthesis, by which plants make carbohydrates out of carbon dioxide and water using light’s energy. No, we humans (and all other animals) need to eat carbohydrates and other stuff made by the plants and oxidize them using respiration. This is the way we get ATP and reducing power to live on and make exactly what we need to grow and reproduce and keep making more humans. If oxidation is good, why do we need anti-oxidants? Once we make our beautiful proteins and nucleic acids, and our skin, etc. we…
August 28th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
But first: what is purging? It’s the forced removal of something undesirable, like poison, or political enemies. It’s not a nice word and I don’t like to hear it used for anything, including the skin. Our body has organs that work in concert to keep the dynamic balance that is life. Quacks that pretend to know better than our kidneys or colons or livers are likely to end hurting us while they fill their pockets. It is important that we remember that some people have no problem lying through their teeth and if they have the “talent” they can convince anybody of anything. Ask for credentials, trust but verify. Naivety…
August 22nd, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Does it matter how far a molecule will go inside the skin? It depends. Sometimes medications are better if applied topically. If you apply a medication (hormone, for example) in a patch, it is very important that the medication will penetrate the skin in a consistent way, otherwise, the dose reaching the blood would vary too much to be useful. Extensive studies are conducted to ensure that the composition of the patch is the right one to facilitate the absorption of the medication, including “delivery systems”. For skincare Some ingredients should stay “outside”, like sunscreen ingredients (zinc oxide, oxybenzone), for example, or substances used to substitute for a damaged skin…
August 21st, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Before you embark on a program to increase collagen in your skin, you may wish to learn more about collagen And before you ask, no, plants don’t have (or need) collagen. Why do you want more collagen in your skin? collagen is important! Collagen fibers give the skin resistance to strain and traction and make about 70% of the skin’s mass. Total collagen decreases about 1% per year; it may look like a slow decline but a decline of such a major component of the skin will affect skin volume and its physical properties. Also, aging changes the structure of collagen. What was an organized pattern in young skin, can…
July 28th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
We, humans, and the many bacteria that live in us and on us have evolved together for millennia. This stuff may sound yucky but what is actually is yucky it’s when the bacteria are not there. Our body needs them, they are crucial to the immune system and epidermal development and differentiation. Microbe colonization of our skin is no longer perceived as a threat but as a factor to be evaluated depending on the circumstances. Bacteria are so enmeshed with the human body that, for some purposes, they could be considered part of it. This relationship starts as soon as a baby makes its way through the birth canal, collecting…
July 10th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Using actives available from Skin Actives, it is possible to improve many make-up products. There are, however, some make-up products that can’t be “redeemed”, mascara is one of them. In fact, mascara is terribly effective at destroying eyelashes. Why? Let’s look at an ingredient list: The following is an example of a mascara “disguised” as care product: Water, Synthetic Beeswax, Paraffin, Stearic Acid, Acacia Senegal Gum, Triethanolamine, Butylene Glycol, Carnauba Wax [cera Carnauba], Glyceryl Stearate, Polybutene, Triacontanyl Pvp, Phenoxyethanol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Dehyrdroacetate, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Tocopherol, Glycerin, Tourmaline, Rose Damascena Flower Oil, 1,2-hexanediol, Caprylyl Glycol, Benzoic Acid, Myristoyl Pentapeptide-17, Sodium Benzoate, Iron Oxides, Fragrance (Citronellol, Geraniol, Citral, Eugenol). Even…
July 9th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
I enjoy watching the videos from Epicurious, “4 levels of…”. They show how to make a variety of foods at different levels of expertise, and a food scientist explains how the flavors develop and the composition and interaction of different ingredients. You will find them here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcjhYlL1WRBjKaJsMH_h7Lg Have fun! Hannah
July 1st, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
There is more than hair loss as we age or are “hit” by menopause or illness. The hair becomes more fragile and thin; you will notice a change in the way it “waves” when you comb it. The good news is that Skin Actives can help in both these aspects. Our hair serum (patent pending) is the most complete topical treatment for hair loss, and it also increases hair thickness. If you like scalp massage, make sure you get triple benefits by applying hair serum first and and then some ELS with the massage. The bonus? You nails will also be stronger, because your nail beds need the same nutrients…
April 28th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
What causes uneven skin? Life does. From the day we are born, our body accumulates changes and scars as we grow up and grow old, but nothing is as visible as this scar or that sunspot on our face. Our skin changes color in response to the sun, the environment, and stress in general, including the products we apply to our skin. Skin pigmentation is a very complex process that involves different types of cells that originate in different parts of the embryo, several biochemical reactions, and transport across the cell and between cells. With so many interconnected processes, it is not surprising that things can go wrong. In my…
April 18th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
I don’t know of any papers that address this issue in skincare. But we know that microbes can adapt to the environment and even mutate, giving us bacteria that become resistant to antibiotics. I also know that even if products stay the same, the skin doesn’t. You may think that your kin has become “resistant” to an ingredient used to decrease sebum secretion, while what actually happened is that your skin has changed in response to the hormonal cycle. A product may have been bad for you from the start, and your skin may be responding to a constant change in acidity. Frequent peels will decrease the efficacy of the…
April 18th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
We ignore the menstrual cycle at our own peril because it matters. Acne is common in postadolescent women, and an increase in lesions may be noted in the last 7-10 days of the menstrual cycle. Why? Changing hormones across the menstrual cycle produces measurable variations in immune function and susceptibility to disease. The skin and scalp have estrogen and progesterone receptors in both the dermis and epidermis. Levels of estrogen and progesterone fluctuate during the cycle and influence numerous characteristics of the epidermis, including lipid secretion and sebum production, skin thickness, fat deposition, skin hydration, and barrier function. Dermal collagen content, which contributes to skin elasticity is also affected. Estrogen…
April 15th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
The question should be: how did you choose your favorite ingredient? If the answer is “everybody was talking about X” then you probably chose wrong. Ingredients that “everybody was talking about” included the following: a toxic plant extract (yes, believe me), idebenone (a CoQ10 analog that was allergenic for some people), media discarded from laboratory cell cultures, a copper salt that decreases hyaluronic acid synthesis, myriad non-biological synthetic peptides with unknown effects, a strong oxidant (benzoyl peroxide), plant stem cells, etc. This list includes ingredients that will do nothing for your skin and others that will damage and age it. Please remember that what makes people talk about something is…
April 12th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
It’s obvious (or it should be!). A good diet is necessary for health. Your heart, your lungs, your bones depend on a good diet. No proteins in your diet? No heart! You will find a long list of ailments that follow the deficiency of any vitamin. Why? Vitamins are chemicals we can’t make ourselves but, at the same time, are essential to the functioning of our body. For example, all of the water-soluble vitamins and two of the fat-soluble vitamins, A and K, function as cofactors or coenzymes. Coenzymes participate in numerous biochemical reactions involving energy release from food, as well as the accompanying anabolic reactions. In addition, vitamin cofactors…
April 9th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Do yourself a favor and don’t use a magnifying glass. Why? Even if your skin looks great, your stressed brain may tell you differently. Start by being nice to yourself, and that starts by avoiding the magnifying glass. You can use it to look at interesting insects or to do embroidery (I am told that embroidery is great at relieving stress!). Think moisture. Start by cleansing your skin with a mild cleanser that will not strip your skin of valuable lipids and proteins. Skin “cleaned” with detergents and alcohols will dry it and kill cells, including stem cells that reside in the basal layer and the pores. After rinsing the…