Dr. Sivak’s Lab
January 6th, 2016 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Why do you need anything? Aren’t your lips just like your skin? Not really. The skin of the lips, with their three to five cellular layers, is very thin compared to typical face skin, which has up to 16 layers. The lip skin does not have sweat glands or hair, so it does not have the usual protective layer of sweat and body oils which keep the skin smooth and somewhat protected. For these reasons, the lips dry out faster and become chapped more easily. And why the color? In people with light skin color, the lip skin contains fewer melanocytes (cells which produce melanin, which gives skin its color).…
November 10th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
The graph above describes most biological processes that depend on the supply of nutrients or substrates. I first encountered it as a student of photosynthesis, trying to understand how the effect of light intensity and the concentration of carbon dioxide affected the rate of photosynthesis of a leaf or an alga. In this graph, “A” would have been carbon dioxide and “B” light intensity. You can keep increasing carbon dioxide concentration but then you reach a plateau. At that point, more carbon dioxide will not change the rate of the process, you will have to increase light intensity. Let’s use the graph to describe, for example, the division of skin…
October 12th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
I was recently made aware of yet another new “miracle” cure for hair loss. A molecule of unknown structure, with two trade names, unknown side effects and vague benefits, being used by L’Oreal to make money off of people desperate to stop hair loss that have never heard of our Hair Care Serum. It’s just one more example of the industry appropriating scientific sounding language to sell products of doubtful efficacy. It is nice when science is done properly and results in the discovery of remedies that improve the lives of millions by ending nasty parasitic illnesses. It is even better when the scientists who do such good work get recognized with…
October 2nd, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Let’s discuss Sangre de Drago, Dragon’s Blood, because it sounds so very exciting. Exciting, yes. But would we use this plant product in SAS produts? No. Why? Dragon’s blood, the red latex obtained by wounding the trunk of Croton lechleri, is an almost perfect active for a skin care product. It has some attractive properties, a fantastic name and a nice story. This red latex can be used in an emergency as a liquid bandage: apply to an open wound, and it will help stop bleeding and prevent infection. Sangre de Drago (what a beautiful name!) is used by indigenous cultures of the Amazonian basin for it’s wound healing properties.…
August 19th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
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 water-based serums first. Then you can layer oil-based serums or creams on top. Exfoliators (acidic like Alpha/Beta, protease-based like Pumpkin Enzyme or physical like Exfoliation Set) will increase skin permeability, so take advantage of this and apply Collagen Serum immediately after exfoliation. Don’t mix serums together in the same bottle, they are O.K. as they are. Some cannot be mixed, like water-based (Antioxidant Serum) and oil-based (ELS) serums. Some will allow for mixing but the actives in the mix will interact with each other and…
August 11th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
The ingredient lists on the labels of skin care products look, at first sight, practically undecipherable. However, it is possible to understand what is in that product if you try hard enough. It’s not easy though; it helps if you know some chemistry, but if not, you can still figure it out with some patience ( if all else fails, you can post on our forum and I will help.) A good start is to try and separate the ingredients into two lists: one of ingredients that make the base cream (or serum) and the second which lists the actives. For a very basic cold cream you will find just a…
July 21st, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
The Good, the Bad and the Very Bad. We see these beauty articles nearly every day: Reader’s Choice, Best Picks under $20, Beauty Editor’s Favorites, Best Eye/Lip/Anti-Aging (You name it.) Every beauty publication out there is giving us endless lists of “Must-Have” products we need ASAP. It makes you wonder, what is the motivation for publishing these lists? The products on these lists change so frequently, what about the “Must Have” from the last list? Nowhere to be found… Gone forever. Are companies paying for these product placements? Are editors desperate to put out brand new content? Are thei really testing these products before they tell millions of readers to…
July 20th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
From: Otto Wilhelm Thomé Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885, Gera, Germany More than one thousand years ago, humans in different continents discovered that the leaves and bark of the willow tree could alleviate aches and fevers. With the advent of modern chemistry, in 1828, salicin, the major salicylate in willow bark, was isolated by Johann Buchner. A few decades later, industrial production of synthetic acetylsalicylic acid, trade name Aspirin, was introduced in Germany by Bayer. In skin care, we use two chemicals of this family: salicin and salicylic acid. Salicylic acid belongs to a diverse group of plant phenolics, compounds with an aromatic ring bearing a…
June 17th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Fermentation is a metabolic process that converts sugar to acids, gases, and/or alcohol. It occurs in yeast and bacteria, and also in oxygen-starved muscle cells, as in the case of lactic acid fermentation. Fermentation is a process that has been used by humanity to preserve foods, changing chemical structure and taste, for millennia. Pickles, wine, beer, bread and much more are made using fermentation.
June 17th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Natural or synthetic? Can you tell? And, more important, does it matter? A definition by the FDA: From a food science perspective, it is difficult to define a food product that is ‘natural’ because the food has probably been processed and is no longer the product of the earth. That said, FDAhas not developed a definition for use of the term natural or its derivatives. However, the agency has not objected to the use of the term if the food does not contain added color, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances. We have discussed this subject many times, but it keeps re-appearing in emails and questions. Probably as a result of…
June 17th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Solvents: propylene glycol, water and more A solvent is a liquid used to dissolve a powder, or, in a more precise definition from Wikipedia: “A solvent (from Latin solvō , “I loosen, untie, I solve”) is a substance that dissolves a solute (a chemically different liquid, solid or gas), resulting in a solution.” The solute dissolves because its molecules interact with the molecules of the solvent. Example: water will dissolve sugar but oil will not.
February 18th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Oxidation and aging When it comes to skin aging, there are two main culprits: UV light and oxidants. Much of the damage caused by UV light happens through reactive oxygen species (ROS*), so ROS* are key to skin aging and health. [Reactive oxygen species, ROS*, are chemically reactive molecules containing oxygen.]
February 17th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Rosacea is a chronic skin disorder that affects more than ten million Americans, with almost half of the sufferers aged between 30 and 50 years old. The disease has been called “the Celtic curse” because it affects people of Northern European descent more often. Women are more likely to suffer rosacea of the milder form, and men more frequently have the severe form, which involves deformity of the nose. Rosacea nearly always appears on sun damaged skin.
February 9th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
The basics The color of our skin is partly due to the pigment called melanin. Other factors are the content of diet carotenoids, the bluish-white color of connective tissue, and the abundance of blood vessels in the dermis and the color of blood flowing in them (oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin). Other minor pigments (minor unless you have a bruise) are bilirubin (the yellow hemoglobin degradation product that colors bruises) and the complete sequence, which includes hemoglobin to biliverdin to bilirubin to hemosiderin. The different skin colors among individuals and races do not reflect major variation in numbers or size of melanocytes, but rather different kinds and amounts of melanin produced by…
February 9th, 2015 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Let’s talk about preservatives How do we make a product that is microbiologically safe for the user? First, we start with very clean ingredients and work in a very clean environment: the objective is to limit bacterial and fungal presence to a minimum. But bacteria and mold are part of our environment and, sooner or later, spores will make their way into your skin care products.
December 31st, 2014 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Acne is a normal skin condition that makes us unhappy. Acne is a very common skin disorder in the USA, affecting about 85% of adolescents. The number of older people suffering from acne is increasing slowly, affecting 8% of 25-34 year-olds and 3% of 35-44 year-olds. Acne may be normal, but this does not make it any less painful, psychologically, for the people that have it.
December 31st, 2014 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
I keep coming back to this subject in our newsletters. Why? Probably half of the emails I receive have to do with pores: blocked pores, or large pores, or ugly, etc. It seems that we, women, are obsessed with pores. This is not surprising. Photography tricks, including sophisticated lighting and editing with Photoshop has convinced women that they can have baby smooth skin. We can’t.