Archive
A Year Of Skincare Science: 2012
There are many interesting conferences to attend in 2012, starting with:
The Anti-Ageing Conference in June, London
The Stratum Corneum 2012 in September, Cardiff
http://stratumcorneum2012.com/Scientific_Program.asp
The Skin Forum 2012 in September, Cardiff
http://www.skin-forum.eu/events.html
IFSCC Congress in October, South Africa
What’s New in the Skincare Science
I promised to share with you some insights from the Stratum Corneum conference I attended in the US a week ago. So, here we go.
Stratum corneum, as many of you will know, is the top-most layer of the skin and for a long time it has been thought to be only a “passive shell” that holds in all the more important organs. Nowadays we understand that this wonderful and smart layer protects us from the environment, senses what’s around us and also gives away information about our own well-being. It shows very well what is going on inside – whether we are in love, embarrassed or chronically ill.
The leading skincare companies are, as ever, competing to show that they are the most progressive in research. These are the top themes:
What Matters Most in Ageing of the Face – The prestige skincare brand Estee Lauder have looked in the past at what role day-to-day psychological stress plays in skin ageing and how our skin reacts. Now they are trying to figure out what features really matter to the people around us in terms of ageing, i.e. what features of our face they focus on the most. Learn to relax your face in the evening!
Taking Care of Dry Skin in Winter – Topical for this time of the year, much research is still devoted to dry and sensitive skin. Primarily the Dove brand (Unilever) and Nivea (Beiersdorf) are looking into the worsening of winter dryness – tightness and redness that people with dry skin experience in cold weather. Glycerol and urea are beneficial, although my favourite is hyaluronic acid. Look them up in the list of ingredients on the packaging of your moisturiser!
Olive Oil in Skincare is Not Beneficial – Olive oil is a staple ingredient of many natural and organic skincare products. New research from the University of Sheffield shows that, although it opens up our skin to enable active compounds to penetrate deeper, it also allows the water from our skin to evaporate more and makes the so called “skin barrier” incomplete. That is detrimental to all skin types as our skin becomes more open to allergens and environmental insults (sun rays, dust, bacteria). Use other plant oils when massaging your face!
More to come next week..
Attending a scientific conference in the US
