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Don’t buy a cosmetic product that contains an experimental (novel) chemical!

Revela ingredients: Water, Denatured Ethanol, Propylene Glycol, Glycerin, Propanediol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Caffeine, Serenoa Serrulata (Saw Palmetto) Extract, Apple Extract, Niacin, L-Lysine, ProCelinyl (furanyl methylthio methyl sulfanyl triazole), Biotin, L-Methionine, Inositol, Thiamine HCI (Vitamin B1), Xanthan Gum, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B5).

If you are about to buy Revela because you think that $90 is all you can lose, think again. Nobody knows what this novel chemical can do to a human body because humans had never encountered it before it was created and added to these products.

The loophole in medicine/cosmetics, as seen by the FDA is a temptation to people wanting to make a fast buck. Cosmetics don’t have to be approved by the FDA.

The question that will be answered eventually is: “what else does it do?” The ugliest but very valid example is thalidomide, which was rushed to the market. If you ever met a thalidomide survivor, you will demand extensive research before a novel chemical, a.k.a. not found in nature,  is approved for cosmetic use. It’s so easy to make a new chemical, it’s done all the time. But it’s interesting how people complain about petroleum-derived products, which are both natural and older than humanity but will spend money on a novel chemical, and apply it to their scalp.

This is no accident; this is how this company discovers new ingredients by design. Synthesize new chemicals, try them on cells in Petri dishes, and sell a new cosmetic. This strategy is OK when looking for new ways of stopping cancer or other lethal illnesses; the effectiveness detection step is followed by safety research to ensure it doesn’t kill the patient faster than it kills the cancer cells.

The public assumes that any ingredient out there has been approved by government agencies after reviewing some serious research. This is mostly true for products sold as medicines, and this is why thalidomide was not sold in the USA, where the procedure was followed, and thalidomide, a novel chemical, was not accepted because its safety had not been established. But the complex application/approval procedure doesn’t apply to products sold as cosmetics. This is a useful loophole when the company has a healthy respect for the biology of the human body.

What can we guess from the name of the ingredient?

A triazole is a heterocyclic compound featuring a five-membered ring of two carbon atoms and three nitrogen atoms with a molecular formula C₂H₃N₃. Triazoles exhibit substantial isomerism, depending on the positioning of the nitrogen atoms within the ring.
Triazoles are used as antifungals. The triazoles are potent inhibitors of ergosterol synthesis, the major membrane sterol of fungi. They block the cytochrome P450-dependent enzyme C-14 alpha-demethylase, which is needed to convert lanosterol to ergosterol. Fluconazole, for example, is used to treat fungal infections like Valley Fever, a nasty infection common in Arizona. And indeed, fluconazole has some serious side effects, and patients taking it must check periodically to ensure it’s not damaging their liver.
 
It might. It contains a few good ingredients, like caffeine, vitamins, and saw palmetto extract. My advice? Go for effective products with no “mystery” ingredients, like those we offer at Skin Actives. We use ingredients whose mechanism of action is well understood. See my book for more information.
 
Hannah
 
 
 
DISCLAIMER: These claims have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent any disease.