Skin Actives Products
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 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 25th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Do men need skin care at all? YES. We “accept” men’s aged skin not because it looks or works better (than that of a woman) but because we (society) judge men by other standards than how smooth their skin is (money and power come to mind). If men do need skin care, do they need skin care especially designed for them? NO. Why do men need skin care? Because skin care is not just a matter of beauty but also health. You can’t wait until things get bad to go to a dermatologist for a lesion that may be skin cancer. You need to prevent damage and reverse skin aging…
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…
November 25th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Why combat dry skin? Dry skin is uncomfortable It is a bad barrier against the elements and microbes, and will not do a good job of keeping your body from losing water to the environment. Dry skin is an “entry” point to wrinkles, and will make the existing ones more noticeable. How NOT to combat dry skin. 1) Don’t remove most of the epidermis with strong acid peels or dermabrasion or whatever methods is suggested to give you “glow”. The glow will be from an inflamed epidermis that has lost its capacity to do its job as skin barrier. Do you really think that a cream sold in a store…
November 10th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
If the wall in your home has a crack in it, you call a painter. He will patch up the wall, prime it and paint over. The wall will look like new. If your left eyelid is a bit “droopy”, and your first instinct is to see a plastic surgeon, think again. Because your skin is alive and it is silly to think of surgery as the only option. Your skin is not like a wall: your skin is alive and capable of changing for the better. %0, 60 or even 70 does not mean that you have yo give up on skin care, on the contrary. Almost anything good…
October 24th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Warning: this is a “heavy” post that may feel to you like you are back in school and not in a good way (like for prom). You don’t have to read it but the objective is to convey to you the complexity of skin metabolism and molecular biology and why you should never look for a “magic” ingredient when it comes to skin youth and health. In short, life (LIFE) is complicated. Your skin is alive. Below the few layers of dead cells in the epidermis, perfectly designed for the tough job of protecting your body from pollution and damage, is the basal cell layer. Here is your stem cells…
October 1st, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
What is all that noise about ugly masks? A protein or carbohydrate solution in water will dry as a film, tensing your skin and make you look ugly until you rinse it off. Benefits? None. A leave on serum will give more time for any active ingredients to make its way into the skin. Hanacure all-in-one facial ingredients Mask: Water, Carbomer (thickener), Nelumbo Nucifera (Lotus) Leaf Extract, Yeast Beta-Glucan, Caffeine, Niacinamide, Ethyl Ascorbyl Ether, Hovenia Dulcis Fruit Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Honeysuckle Flower Extract, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil, Peony Root Extract, Sophora Angustifolia Root Extract, Rhus Semilata Gall Extract, Peach Leaf Extract, Ginkgo Biloba Leaf Extract, Caprylyl Glycol, Scutellaria…
September 25th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Why is it worth your while to make a skin care product yourself? I can see two reasons: 1) When what you want does not exist in the market 2) When what you want does exist but it is too expensive. However, first you should make sure that what you want is what your skin needs, and not something that has been pushed on you by advertising. When not to do DIY 1) Don’t make a product so that you can add to it all the peptides that are in fashion. Why? Because such a product is unlikely to benefit you or your skin. If the ingredients are not beneficial,…
September 24th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Look at your face and hands and see what last Summer, the one that just ended, did to them. Ouch! Pigmentation is more irregular, plus there is a new scar or two and, how about those new wrinkles? First of all, as the Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy will tell you: Panic is the worst advisor when you have any problem, especially a health problem, panic makes you take bad decisions. My suggestions 1) NOT suitable for sensitive skin: A good start would be a super light “peel”: 15% Vitamin C serum or alpha/beta exfoliator, but not both. More is less, in this case. Follow the instructions carefully. Rinse the…
September 19th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Remember: All protective mechanisms in the skin are interconnected and regulated by redox-dependent processes. What is glutathione? Figure: glutathione (a.k.a. γ-L-Glutamyl-L-cysteinylglycine), with that all-important SH group. When oxidized, two glutathione molecules are joined together to make a S-S bridge. L-Glutathione (gamma-L-Glutamyl-L-cysteinyl-glycine) is a tripeptide composed of the amino acids L-glutamine, L-cysteine, and glycine. Glutathione is part of the antioxidant defense system of the cell, together with superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutharedoxin, thioredoxin, alpha-D-tocopherol (vitamin E), ascorbic acid (vitamin C), and others. GSH protects cells by neutralizing (i.e., reducing) Reactive Oxygen Radicals (ROS*). This conversion is illustrated by the reduction of peroxides: 2 GSH + R2O2 → GSSG + 2 ROH (R…
September 14th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Striae distensae or stretch marks are deep scars caused by the skin being stretched beyond its capacity to stretch, followed by ineffective repair of the damage. Latin does not make them any less noticeable. They may start as striae rubra, which are reddish streaks (indicating increased blood flow), and “mature” to as striae alba, which are hypopigmented atrophic bands. Location: abdomen, thighs, breasts, more or less anywhere when the skin was stretched too fast. What you see is skin that has less elasticity, more roughness, and lower dermal density than normal skin. At the molecular level What you see at the molecular level is that in normal skin, dermal collagen…
September 14th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
We need to start with the basics: what is a pore, and why they are so important. There will be some repetition here but I hope our readers will not mind too much. As usual, feel free to skip whatever is too boring, but, hidden within the boring stuff you may find some useful facts you have not heard about in the past. Celebrities’ photos how no pores. This is not because celebrities have no pores but because magazines use Photoshop to a ridiculous extent. Is this a problem? I think it is. False advertising makes women buy products that can’t possibly have the effect advertised, which was obtained with…
September 13th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Did you see the latest “personalized” Clinique? But the new gimmick takes some chutzpah: 15 products (5×3) is not personalized. What do you get for $39? You get 3.9oz (117mL) of a base cream, lotion or gel, plus 0.1 oz (3mL) of a concentrate that contains some ingredients with undefined anti-aging benefits like caffeine, taurine and whey protein. What’s the problem? I like Clinique moisturizers because they work for very dry skin because they contain mineral oil (you can add this to any base cream for 5 cents, though). But, Clinique has very few actives as such. Its products can moisturize and very little more. For example, Clinique’s concentrate for…
September 13th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
What is dull skin? It depends on who you ask. In my opinion, it is a non-existing skin condition, The opposite of dull skin, however, does exist, on babies and in Photoshopped pictures. The famous “glow” of the actresses photographed in the 1920s was obtained by careful lighting, make up and touch-ups. Photo: the great Greta Garbo. Now we have Photoshop and people still dream of the after-Photoshop skin of Julia Roberts. But remember that before Photoshop, her skin is just like yours and mine. . Photo: Julia Roberts: beautiful with or without Photoshop. What a smile! Incidentally, some insects can actually make light. It is called bioluminscence. The insect…
August 6th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Combination skin is probably the norm, in the sense that some areas of the skin produce more sebum that others. The so called “T-zone”, includes the forehead, nose, and chin, and tends to be more oily than the rest of the face. As people age, sebum secretion decreases, even in the T-zone. This is the main reason why the incidence of acne also decreases as we age, as the sebum fatty acids is what keeps acne bacteria going. What to do then, if you have combination skin? Just use the same products all over, and reserve some T-zone serum for the area of the forehead, nose and chin, as needed.…
July 31st, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
One should think that, as more people use sunscreen, skin cancer incidence would decrease. Actually, the incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer is increasing worldwide despite the increased use of sunscreens. In 2014, the USA Surgeon General estimated that 2.2-5.0 million people were treated annually for basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Why is there more skin cancer despite the use of sunscreen? I am not epidemiologist (and I have not seen explanations in the literature) but I can think of some reasons. The feeling of invincibility that sunscreen, makes people spend more time in the sun. The average age of the population is increasing. All things being equal, all…
July 20th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
There are several components to this “problem” and you may be able to control on some of them. But first: you have no control on who your ancestors were, so forget about under eye shadows if everybody in your family has them. The shape of the face may cause the light to play a trick. In my case, I am happy to look the way my mum and grandmother looked. Or brown hyperpigmentation of the lower eyelid skin along the shape of the orbital rim. A hint of makeup will fix this “problem”. About the other possible components: Keep away from prostaglandin analogs used by some skin care companies to…
July 18th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Ask your doctor before you get plastic surgery or laser treatment whether this product will help you. But, also, keep it in your fridge, ready for that burn/cut/accident waiting to happen. Accelerate healing with the actives in this cream, which includes the valuable epidermal growth factor. Incidentally, did you know that a hint of rose hip seed oil on the “ouchy”, applied immediately after the bump, will suppress or decrease the intensity of the bruise? Restoration cream The actives: sea kelp bioferment, pomegranate seed oil, rosehip seed oil, hydrolyzed collagen, hyaluronic acid, aloe vera leaf extract, glycerin, ceramide-3, coconut fruit juice, Boswellia serrata extract, Centella Asiatica extract, carnosine, fucoidan, Arthrospira…