Skin Actives Products
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 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…
April 4th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
What is a toner in skincare parlance? A liquid, mostly water, with additions like ethanol or surfactants, is used to remove oils and sebum. The objective: to strip the skin of oily substances and whatever else a cleanser may have left behind. Remember, however, that sebum has a purpose: it lubricates the skin and prevents water loss from the skin, so a toner may well be a waste of money or, worse, a waste of a valuable skin resource. A “typical” toner, whatever its price (you can buy one for $200) it will contain water, ethanol (or another solvent), surfactant (synthetic or saponins). The water may be replaced by floral…
February 16th, 2021 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Make your nails grow faster when you have been biting them or accidentally trimmed them badly Make them grow stronger when you are ill or on a diet You decided you want pretty nails! They break easily You are having toenails problems! Your nails protect your fingers and you use them more than you realize for multiple tasks within the house and office. Skin Actives has the products you need: Nail serum with ROS Bionet and apocynin Nail and Cuticle oil serum Read more about nails here Claims on this page have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat or…
December 20th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
2+2=4 One can pretend that reality does not exist but then a virus reminds us that it does. 2020 has been a tough year for all of us, and too tough for some. I feel lucky that I did not lose anybody to Covid19 and that a vaccine is around the corner, less than a year after we found out about the new virus. Having read the books by Laurie Garrett, The Coming Plague, in 1994, and Betrayal of Trust, in 2001, I was not surprised when the pandemic came. I was, however, dismayed by the lack of awareness of many about what the virus was about to do to…
November 3rd, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Damage from what? The environment! We are talking about high energy beyond what our skin can cope with. There will be energy from ultraviolet radiation that damages macromolecules (like DNA) directly plus the reactive oxygen species (ROS*) formed when the UV reaches the skin and reacts with molecules capable of producing those. These UV-produced ROS* add up to those present in the air. Yes, our skin has evolved beautiful mechanisms to defend us from those dangers but evolution did not prepare us for suntans or for city pollution. Prevent! Start by preventing damage by UV and ROS* (both produced by UV action and those present in the air) with Sunscreen…
October 25th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
I heard that some people had skin problems brought about by mask-wearing. I heard about acne, skin irritation, and increased sebum secretion. The constant use of a mask may bring acne and skin irritation, but the problem may be related to how we treat the mask itself. Some tips: You may prefer a cotton mask or a synthetic (soft) one. Try different shapes to see which is a good fit and make sure that they cover the nose and mouth but are still comfortable as you may have to wear them for many hours, at work, or at school. Wash your mask with a non-allergenic detergent and rinse well. Brand…
October 9th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Why? Because our products support your hair, lash and eyebrows and don’t disrupt endogenous regulation. Look at the ingredient list and don’t get scared! Why so long? Most of the ingredients are nutrients, like amino acids, vitamins (Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine HCl, Riboflavin, Thiamine HCl), essential minerals e.g. Disodium Selenite, Stannous Chloride, Zinc Sulfate), plus lots of antioxidants, both plant-derived (Tocotrienols, Tocopherols, Astaxanthin, Lycopene, Xanthophyll, R-Alpha Lipoic Acid, Beta-Carotene) and antioxidant proteins (catalase, thioredoxin, etc.) that ensure your scalp is well-defended from pollutants. What else? Supplements to your own growth factor, like keratinocyte growth factor, plus essential fatty acids (rosehip and pomegranate seed oils). Anything else? Yes, a few ingredients with…
October 9th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Anybody who wants to ensure the fast healing. I explained in my blog , and book, why more (of anything!) is not always better. For example, high concentrations of copper, complexed with a peptide or as a salt, will inhibit collagen synthesis. In other cases, more of a particular ingredient will not be deleterious but will not benefit you either; it will, however, be a waste of money. Let’s be clear: the EGF concentration in Skin Actives “normal” products is sufficient. In fact, Skin Actives products containing growth factors have been helping SAS customers for more than 15 years. But, if you are in a situation where you want to…
October 1st, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Yes. Here is why. Once upon a time, people thought of their skin as a passive “wall” that should be polished so that it will glow. Instead, think of it as a complex organ that contains neuronal networks, it is constantly self-remodeling itself, and modifying non-neuronal cells and mini-organs like the hair follicle and sebaceous glands. It is also a place where immunological machinery is involved in inflammation and immune defense. and a factory of growth factors, vasoactive chemicals, and hormones. The skin is a “feeling machine”, and it has to be because it is the means by which we interact with our environment. Figure: the skin is a complex…
September 10th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
The Ordinary Peeling Solution: Glycolic Acid, Water, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Water, Sodium Hydroxide, Daucus Carota Sativa Extract, Propanediol, Cocamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Salicylic Acid, Potassium Citrate, Lactic Acid, Tartaric Acid, Citric Acid, Panthenol, Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer, Tasmannia Lanceolata Fruit/Leaf Extract, Glycerin, Pentylene Glycol, Xanthan gum, Polysorbate 20, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Ethylhexylglycerin, 1,2-Hexanediol, Caprylyl Glycol. Very ordinary. Why? more of the same: an inflated number for concentration of acid when in reality most of it is a salt. More ordinary: a list of acids that are here just for “label value”. Also, present as salts. Useless! The red color is also a “value” thing. The acids are not colored.…
July 26th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
What are mitochondria? Let’s go back in time to high school and try to remember the good stuff (and forget the bad stuff). We are made of cells. Our cells need the energy to keep going. We are not plants so we depend on food to get energy. Our mitochondria convert that food into energy we can use to live. That’s all! Of course, there is a lot more exciting stuff you can learn about mitochondria but I already told you why you need the mitochondria in your skin happy so that it can do its job. Unfortunately (you knew that this was coming, right?) older skin has older mitochondria.…
July 10th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
‘I had never known that the world was beautiful until I reached old age.” Alvise Cornaro (1467 – 1566) in The art of living long. The Fountain of Youth, a myth persistent in the human imagination throughout the ages, was at times a river, or a spring, or any other water source that reversed the aging process and cured sickness when drunk or bathed in. We can’t blame Herodotus for dreaming about it, as did the Chinese and the Arabs (who created the word “elixir”). You can’t blame people for dreaming, and you can’t blame the Chinese emperors for sending explorers to look for the fountain of youth. Whoever…
July 9th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
There are so many reasons to take care of our sun-damaged skin. Our skin is your protection from the environment, it prevents the loss of water, damage by solar energy, penetration of noxious chemicals and infection by microorganisms, and virus. How do you recognize skin damaged skin? No need to do any hard work: any skin surface that is ever exposed to the sun is sun-damaged. Exceptions? None. It is true that dark-skinned people have some more protection given to them by some extra melanin, but that’s it: some extra protection. Not total indemnity! To understand more about the damage that UV inflicts on the skin, compare the skin of…
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 10th, 2020 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
I will admit to being vain. I always had great hair, even when I thought it wasn’t great hair because wavy hair was not in fashion and women went to a lot of trouble to get straight hair (I didn’t). In my family hair loss for men and women is common, and I felt lucky that I had avoided that trend and my genes were the “lucky hair” ones. A couple of years ago, after surgery, I lost a lot of hair and I panicked, and for the first time I had to use our hair serum with KGF. I again felt lucky when the serum reversed the hair loss…
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…