Skin Actives Products
March 9th, 2024 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Its chemistry: azeloyl glycine is an example of good organic chemistry modifying a natural ingredient to advantage, i.e. for a good reason and with a good result. Azelaic acid is a saturated dicarboxylic acid found in wheat, rye, and barley. Like most (but not all) chemicals, azelaic acid can also be made in a lab by a good organic chemist. Azelaic acid is used to treat mild to moderate acne; it works by killing acne bacteria that multiply within blocked pores. It also decreases inflammation in rosacea. The mechanism of action is thought to be through the inhibition of a protease that converts cathelicidin into the antimicrobial skin peptide LL-37.…
February 29th, 2024 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Why synergy? “Synergy is an interaction or cooperation giving rise to a whole greater than the simple sum of its parts.” The term synergy comes from the Attic Greek word συνεργία synergia from synergos, συνεργός, meaning “working together.” Most advertising for skincare products tells you about a (secret, new, magical) ingredient that will make all the difference. This is, scientifically speaking, rubbish! Let me explain. Suppose we are discussing one of the ingredients that approximate most a “miracle,” epidermal growth factor. There are thousands upon thousands of scientific articles describing many more experiments documenting how EGF influences the skin. And yet, EGF will do nothing unless the cell its influencing…
February 2nd, 2024 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
What can these do for your skin? New T-zone serum and clarifying cream: fight acne the Skin Actives way! Always look at the ingredient list to find out what a product can (or cannot) do for you. What are the new ingredient lists telling us? In the T-zone serum, not much change. We added Tremella fuciformis, a.k.a. snow mushroom, and Zinc PCA. Follow the links to posts describing their benefits. New T-zone to control sebum production by oily, acne-prone skin. It’s a typical Skin Actives product: complex and different from everything else in the market. The secret is in the ingredients, the way it should be. Water, Potassium Azeloyl Diglycinate,…
December 18th, 2023 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
During the last twenty years, we have worked hard at Skin Actives so that your skin and hair can reap the benefits. What did we achieve? It’s pretty amazing. We created new ingredients, and in record time, we incorporated them into new products. This unique achievement is made possible by great logistics and effective formulation. In contrast, other companies may still advertise their products based on ingredients discovered in the 1970s. It’s true that Skin Actives, after 20 years, still manages to be a “well-kept secret,” but that’s because other companies make big advertising splashes, for example, by adding putrescine to their formulations (and calling it fancy names) while we…
November 19th, 2023 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
The cons of menopause and aging In part I, I listed the benefits of menopause, but let’s not ignore reality: menopause and aging change the body in ways that are not pleasant. I know there isn’t a remedy for every malady brought about by menopause (or aging); there isn’t. But there have been enough scientific advances to improve life and let you enjoy the pros. Skin First, let’s celebrate the definitive departure of acne. You may get a spot here and there, but that’s not acne. If you get too many, maybe check the ingredient lists of the products you put on your skin: coconut oil is a bad idea,…
November 17th, 2023 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
The original name for this serum, 20 years ago, was “let’s make collagen.” It was soon shortened to “collagen serum” for convenience, but this serum never contained collagen, an insoluble protein that would settle at the bottom of the bottle and do nothing for your skin. From the get-go, the serum’s purpose was to push your skin to make its own collagen. You can read all about skin collagen in my book, but in my blog post on collagen, you will find more than enough to understand why collagen has to be made inside your skin. Skin Actives Scientific Collagen serum, our #1 bestseller, started as a list of actives…
October 7th, 2023 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
My favorite Skin Actives product changes with the day. I don’t mean “day of the week,” but rather what bothers me on a particular day. My main concern is comfort, but I also like to see myself in the mirror and not get scared (except for Halloween, when I wear my witch hat). Why comfort and not beauty? When I was in my 30s I wore high heels and didn’t care much about the blisters. Now, I have a different perspective on life, the universe, and everything! For comfort: Every Lipid Serum on my desk and bathroom. If something hurts or itches, I use the version with CBD. If not,I…
August 27th, 2023 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Scars and sports injuries can be sensitive when the rain comes or the weather changes in other ways. For many people, pain can flare up in the cold of winter. So, how does cold weather affect pain, and what can be done about it? The causes There are several theories behind this familiar problem, including: Lower temperatures cause tissues to contract, putting pressure on nerves. Different tissues contract at different rates, for example, scar tissue. This is why the site of a previous injury could experience pain in cold temperatures. Pressure changes – air pressure in winter drops. With this drop, the gases and fluids in joints expand, putting pressure…
July 15th, 2023 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
I would like to start a program within Skin Actives to send care packages to friends or family members needing one. You would provide us with the mailing address and details of the recipient, and we would invoice you for the products I think would be best. The products would be shipped to your recipient with a card with your name and wishes. I could also include a letter with details about the ingredients in the product. A very individualized experience. What do you think? Email me at hannah at skinactives with your comments. Thank you
March 15th, 2023 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Gold will do nothing for your skin except adorn it. Right now I am wearing a gold chain with a pendant. Why do we use gold for adornment? Because it is practically inert in or on our bodies (gold crowns for teeth used to be common if you were rich). Conversely, silver will react with the skin and the environment and oxidize quickly enough. To benefit the skin or the body, you need interactions, which gold can’t give you (silver will interact but without benefit or worse, google argyria). Good interactions that is. For example, metals that our enzymes need to help catalyze chemical reactions to keep us alive. Gold…
January 26th, 2023 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Emulating natural substances: the natural moisturizing factor The horny layer (stratum corneum) of the epidermis has no live cells but is biochemically very active. The components of the natural moisturizing factor (NMF) is a mixture of amino acids and derivatives with a high binding capacity for water. NMF keeps the skin hydrated, but frequent washing will remove this valuable resource. Skin Actives offers an NMF emulator that can be used to prevent and alleviate skin xerosis and other skin problems caused by the loss of NMF. The epidermal stratum corneum Figure: The layers of the epidermis The stratum corneum (SC) is the outermost layer of the epidermis in the skin…
January 2nd, 2023 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Your skin may be hiding behind a cloud. Here is how to remove the “cloud” and see your skin again. And love it and take care of it. This is what you’ll need: Glycolic alpha/beta exfoliant (5 minutes): a combination of alpha hydroxy acids and salicylic acid, the exfoliant will remove the most superficial layers of the epidermis exposing “fresh” skin that looks more luminous. Salicylic acid will also work at keeping the pores open, discouraging acne bacteria from prospering. Collagen serum. This amazing combination of nutrients and signal protein will tell your skin to keep making the proteins and hyaluronic acid your skin needs to stay full and tight.…
December 7th, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Your nails are “just protein.” So how come you can improve your nail’s health and appearance? Just like you can improve your hair appearance and health, even though the hair is “just protein.” The same for eyelashes and eyebrows. Because although they are mostly inert protein, we can influence the process that makes them. You can do two things: improve the health and appearance as the nails are formed and prevent damage once they are formed. What are nails? Figure. Nail anatomy. From Edwards (1948) The horny plates that grow on the back of each finger and toe are the equivalent of the claws in our cats. In higher primates,…
November 18th, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Our new ingredient is a bioidentical protein with the power of Royal Jelly defensin-1, a.k.a. Royalisin. It has its own INCI name, Honey Bee Defensin-1 Why love it? 1) Uses the power of technology to make a valuable protein affordable and free of allergenic components 2) simulates re-epithelization 3) antibacterial 4) antifungal 5) accelerates healing 6) accelerates skin renewal 7) It does all of these while preserving the environment, allowing honey bees to do what they do best: pollinate so many beautiful flowers, preserve nature and make honey! Find it in our new serum, Regenerating Defensin Serum. Read more about bee defensin 1: What’s new in Skin Actives? Defensin…
October 21st, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
This is the gift that Nature gave us, but scientists made it achievable. Why? Because the serum is full of beneficial natural chemicals. True, herbalists and shamans may have been the first to use these natural products. But the pharmacologists identified the active chemicals, biochemists purified them, and protein chemists built the pure proteins. This is the ingredient list for our new Defensin serum. Water, Glycerin, Kefir bioferment, Algin, Rosehip Seed Oil, Jojoba Oil, Honey Bee Defensin-1, Epidermal Growth Factor, oleuropein (Olive Leaf Extract), Quercetin, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Fucoidan, Oryzanol, Seabuckthorn Fruit Oil, Dimethicone, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6, Pentylene Glycol, Sucrose Laurate, Propanediol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Benzoic Acid. What it could…
September 5th, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
If Winter is tough on your skin because of the heating and the dry air, Summer is surely tougher. To the dryness of air conditioning, add the UV radiation of those days at the beach (or on your recliner in the backyard). Not all is bad news. Our skin is NOT a wall, for better and for worse. Skin can heal itself if you give it a chance and will do even better if we help it. We should have been protected with sunscreen and applied more after swimming removed most of it. We should have been applying moisturizers of some kind. But even if we did, we still have…
July 3rd, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Why are Skin Actives ingredient lists so long? It’s not because of “label value”, the skincare industry practice that uses plant Latin names to hide the “baddies” and make you think you are getting value for money. Not at all. Each ingredient in our list has a good reason to be there. We at Skin Actives understand how complex the skin is. To address a skin problem, or to improve skin health, or reverse skin aging, we need to address that complexity, and this is how our ingredient lists become so long. Look, for example, at how eczema develops (for a more detailed explanation, please see this post). You have…
July 2nd, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
What happened to our bodies after more than two years of a pandemic? Covid 19 took so much away from us (and it keeps taking). I am thankful that with the aid of vaccines and boosters, hundreds of masks, and a lot of luck, I managed to avoid (so far) this terrible illness that killed one million Americans and countless others worldwide. Some things have changed: I am now less enthusiastic about kissing and hugging acquaintances. I am (still) wearing a mask to the supermarket (I am in that age group) and haven’t been to a party or gone to the movies. I also have a couple of what superficially…
July 2nd, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Actually, kefir bioferment for your scalp, not just your hair. It will improve scalp and hair and work as a pre-biotic, modifying, for the better, the complex scalp microbiota (when it goes wrong, think dandruff). The scalp makes the hair, a “finished product” protein, not live cells. We can help maintain the health of the scalp, so that our hair looks better and feels better. Still, the kefir bioferment has a nice conditioning effect on the hair, which will feel softer and more manageable. Bioferments by Skin Actives We use the name “bioferment,” an INCI name. INCI refers to “International Nomenclature for Cosmetic Ingredients.” By law, we must use the…
July 1st, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
What is alopecia areata? Severe alopecia areata (AE) can cause a total loss of body hair, including eyelashes and eyebrows, nose hair, and hair in the ears. How does this happen? AE is one of the many autoimmune diseases where our immune system malfunctions and doesn’t recognize molecules in our bodies, treating them as foreign and dangerous. What is JAK? The Janus kinase family of enzymes is involved in signal transduction by cytokines. Cytokines control cell growth and the immune response by binding to specific receptors. Once activated, these receptors are phosphorylated by Janus kinases, and the modified receptors recruit transcription factors that modulate gene transcription. Block these kinases, and…