Ingredients
June 27th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
As we age, crucial DNA mutations accumulate in our cells, and the mechanisms that regulate cell division fail. Out of control cell division plays havoc with our bodies: it’s called cancer. As the general population ages, the incidence of cancer increases. Science had progressed enormously in the understanding and treatment of cancer, and some amazingly sophisticated therapies do exist forme some specific types of cancer. For many other types of cancer, a big part of the treatment involves removing and killing cancerous cells. Thus, surgery to remove cancerous tumors is often followed by radiation therapy. In addition to dealing with sutures still healing, the patients (us) have to contend with…
June 20th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
The product containing this extract will have a calming, and antibacterial effect. Why? Reason 1 gallic acid (antibacterial, anti-acne) Reason 2 isoquercitrin, a flavonoid with antiviral activity Reason 3 kaempferol, a flavonol with phytoestrogen activity Reason 4 quercetin. Among its capabilities: free radical scavenging, interferes with inducible nitric oxide synthase activity, and inhibits TNF-alpha release, anti-itch. Reason 5 quercitrin, a flavonoid that contains rhamnose Why? Because the benefits of any plant extract for your skin depend on the chemicals the extract contains! Boring? No! Think of the complicated, beautiful chemistry the plant does to be able to obtain these chemicals! They may work as UV filters for the plant that…
May 24th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Answer: Not just the name “ascorbyl” “ascorbate” Vitamin C is a chemical, its chemical name is L-Ascorbic Acid. We find out that something is a vitamin WHEN it is missing. No vitamin, no health. In particular, deficiency of Vitamin C results in scurvy, and the name “Ascorbic Acid” is derived from the Latin word for scurvy (scorbutus), a nasty illness whose (easy) fix, citrus fruit, eluded pirates and sailors until 1753. Why is L-Ascorbic Acid a vitamin? Most animals can make their own vitamin C, but humans can’t, because somewhere along evolution we lost a crucial enzyme, L-gulonolactone oxidase, required for the synthesis of L-Ascorbic Acid. This made L-ascorbic…
April 11th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Here it is: Essential 2020 Booster 4ml Ingredients Fragrance (Eucalyptus citriodora (Lemon Eucalyptus) Leaf Oil (and) Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Oil (and) Citrus limon (Lemon) Peel Oil (and) Lavandula hybrida (Lavandin) Flower Oil (and) Eugenia caryophyllata (Clove) Stem Oil (and) Backhousia citriodora (Lemon Myrtle) Leaf Oil (and) Origanum majorana (Marjoram) Leaf Oil (and) Origanum vulgare (Oregano) Leaf Oil (and) Cymbopogon martinii (Lemongrass) Leaf Oil (and) Salvia officinalis (Dalmation Sage) Leaf Oil), Punica Granatum (Pomegranate) Seed Oil, Tocotrienols, Tocopherols, Astaxanthin, Lycopene, Xanthophyll, Thioctic Acid, Beta-Carotene, Minthostachys Verticillata (Peperina) Extract. You can also read about these essential oils here Skin Actives Essential 2020 Booster is a blend of 13 essential oils that…
March 27th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
WARNINGS about essential oils Avoid exposure to UV (sun) as some of the chemicals these essential oils can be photoreactive. Chemicals in this blend are knows allergens. Discontinue usage if irritation is observed. Use only in dilute form and only in topical products. Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme Remember me to one who lives there For once she was a true love of mine From Scarborough Fair/Canticle by Simon and Garfunkel What are essential oils? They are not essential for our body (the way that essential fatty acids are). They are called “essential” because the contain the “essence” of the smell of…
February 9th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
The collagen in your skin is a treasure you must take good care of. Collagen on your skin? It could help. Collagen in pills? Not at all. Let’s look at collagen and what it does for your skin. From my book: What is collagen? Collagen is a protein, its very complex fibers (see figure) give the skin resistance to strain and traction. Collagen constitutes about 70% of skin mass, but total collagen decreases about 1% per year. It may look like a small decline, but as such a major component of the skin it will affect skin volume and its physical properties. Also, aging changes collagen structure. What was an…
February 2nd, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
The answer is very complicated, so I hope you will you will bear with me. But first, why is the “how” important? Because if we know how estrogen supports the skin, then maybe we can help alleviate the damage we can see in the mirror when estrogen goes down. Estrogen does a lot for our bodies, including the skin and scalp. Estrogen deficiency (like in menopause, natural, or surgical or chemical) leads to ageing and delayed skin repair. Many women go through early menopause, or have to contend with the effects of removal of the ovaries, or deal with estrogen suppressants (to control the growth of a tumor that responds…
January 25th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Figure: Portulaca oleracea, common name purslane. I don’t know much about Pliny the Elder, but he said something to the effects that :Nature distributed medicine everywhere”. This is true, but what it means is that many plants contain chemicals that have medicinal effects on humans. This does not mean that every plant contains chemicals that are beneficial chemicals, in fact many have poisonous chemicals and others have no medical effects at all. And certainly, some plants may have beneficial effects for one or another human organ, but not for our skin. Pliny the Elder said that purslane, Portulaca oleraceae, could be used as an amulet to expel all evil. This…
January 25th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
First, as always, INCI, the list of ingredients that tells you what’s in there. Progeline is a trade name for an ingredient that contains glycerin, water, dextran (a polysaccharide used in artificial tears) plus an undefined peptide, trifluoroacetyl-tripeptide-2. And then, as usual, “claims”. The people who sell it say that it “modulates progerin, a marker of senescence”. First, I will tell you what I know about progerin (you can find more in Wikipedia). And then, you can tell me whether would you trust a mystery synthetic peptide to “fix” it for you? Before progerin, there is Lamin-A, a nuclear fibrillar protein. Lamin A is a major structural component of the…
January 19th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
I am here, writing this post while drinking my morning coffee, so I can’t pretend to be impartial. How safe is it? Very: it is used to stimulate breathing in premature babies. What can it do for your skin? Figure. Caffeine. The dry data The purine alkaloid caffeine is a major component of many beverages such as coffee and tea. Caffeine and its metabolites theobromine and xanthine have been shown to have antioxidant properties. Benefits Caffeine decreases the risk of skin cancer promoted by UV irradiation, apparently by slowing down repair of DNA mutations caused by UV making it more precise and preventing mutations that may lead to cancer.…
January 18th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
We get attracted to plant extracts for many reasons. Besides advertising, there are cultural influences (what did your grandmother use when you were sick?), the attraction of the exotic (if it is Korean, it must be better), and even the common name of the plant (dragon’s blood, anybody?). As a scientist, I have to be more careful with how I choose plant extracts as an ingredient for our Skin Actives products. Yes, I look at plants that were used for centuries by different peoples. I read the publications that deal with the ethnological use of the plant extracts, but that is only the beginning. Maybe the ancient people who used…
January 18th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
The flowers of Helichrysum italicum are so tempting for marketing. Immortelle (in French), everlasting (in English), siempreviva (in Spanish). Words are powerful, and together with our brains, always looking for magic in a world that does not offer it, is a great combination that can be used to sell you, the potential customer, anything. It seems obvious that the essential oil of this flower has nothing to do with extending human life, it is just that the clusters of yellow flowers retain their color after picking and are used in dry flower arrangements. Another name for this pant is “curry plant” but you could not sell a product with that…
January 1st, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Answer: We understand the seriousness of the problem and we face it differently. The key concept is that the skin is alive and quite capable of doing its job, until it isn’t. What has changed? The skin ages, or is damaged, or the environment changes and overwhelms the defenses. Our answer: we replenish the skin’s natural defenses, by carefully following the established antioxidant system already at work in our skin. We don’t innovate in the sense that we don’t build from scratch, we only refresh, “top-up” the natural order. We can achieve this because we understand how the skin functions: its anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology. Amazing scientific advances…
December 24th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
This is a good example of skin care ingredients that are adopted too quickly. The silly argument: it is natural (so is vitamin A!) as if natural chemicals couldn’t hurt us. Nature is not out there for our skin benefit, and the sooner you learn this lesson, the sooner you will stop hurting your skin with irritating and allergenic natural chemicals (balsam of Peru anybody?). The equivalent in synthetic drugs is thalidomide. And I don’t want to accuse bakuchiol of being a tragic ingredient because there is no indication that it is. But look at what bakuchiol is said to be: a replacement for retinoids without side effects. Somehow, it…
December 22nd, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
My favorite plants have little to do with skin care. Carnations, gladioli, jasmine (the one in Argentina is actually Gardenia jasminoides) because they remind me of my mother. From my later life, the orange flower (neroli) is my favorite because it remind me of Andalusia and good times spent with my dear friends. When it comes to active ingredients that are great for the skin, there are so many! I will give you a few examples. EGCG from tea (Camellia sinensis), antioxidant and chemopreventive, fucoidan from brown algae, antiviral, antioxidants and promotes collagen synthesis. I could go on for hours (or days). Plants don’t make these chemicals for our benefit…
December 22nd, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Nobody likes to talk about money (“it is so crass!”) but the question arises once and again. What are the relative contributions to the price of a skin care product? There can be a huge difference in the price of ingredients, even when the INCI name is the same or very similar. For example, a tea extract can be just what you make when you have a cup of tea, a tea bag left in very hot water for a few minutes. But this term can also refer to an extract that has been repeatedly purified to enrich it in epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a polyphenol responsible for many of the…
December 21st, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
One thing I know is that people are silly when it comes to assess their bodies. This often works against us, like with young people being misled about being fat. It is called body dismorphic disorder and it can become a major problem lead to death like with Karen Carpenter, the great singer. It also happens with our faces. We may think that everybody is looking at that big zit when actually it is so minor that only us notice them. The same happens with wrinkles. So, what “deserves” plastic surgery? We need to be careful here, because the “after” may be worse than the “before”. Look on the internet…
December 19th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
The scalp, usually hidden behind one of our precious possessions, our hair, is exposed to the same stressors than the rest of our skin, like UV radiation, reactive oxygen species (ROS*), heat, physical stress and more. On top of the usual suspects, add the long list of chemicals, usually unwanted, that are present in the hair “care” products we use. Hair coloring, perms, straighteners, plus hair dryers, chemical and physical stress endured by those wearing “extensions”, and who knows what else. It is not surprising that most people, starting at a relatively young age, have hair problems which are actually scalp problems, because hair is dead protein and all the…
December 17th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
The plant: Vitis vinifera Suggestions: You can listen to Libiamo ne’ lieti calici (La traviata) while reading this post. I say grape and you think wine. But you should also remember grape seed oil. And grape seed pronathocyanidins. And resveratrol! Besides the chemicals involved in basic everyday life, like chlorophyll, Rubisco, cellulose, etc., Vitis is full of “secondary metabolites”. The chemicals Vitis vinifera red cultivars are rich in anthocyanins that impart their color to the berries (generally in the skin). Anthocyanins can be found in the skin of the berries, hydroxycinnamic acids in the pulp and condensed tannins of the proanthocyanidins type in the seeds. Stilbenoids can be found in…
December 15th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Important: don’t thank plants (or Mother Nature, or Gaia) for the fantastic chemicals that benefit you. They are not made for your benefit. Conversely, those lethal poisons that may be hiding in the pretty fruits are probably meant for you or other predators. Chemical ecology studies the interactions between organisms and their environment that are mediated by naturally occurring chemicals. Many of us wake up in the morning looking forward to a hot water extract of the roasted seeds from Coffea arabica L., a.k.a. coffee. I like to drink my capuccino in the morning. It stimulates me (caffeine!) and it is a lovely way to start my day. Let’s look…