Skin serum secrets
Demystifying the often-bewildering world of skin science and why you can rely on the Gold Standard tick.
Industry guidelines allow beauty companies to make claims if they couch them in terms ‘may improve’ or ‘can help,’ but then with often bamboozling scientific jargon such as ‘in vitro trial on human fibroblasts’ to substantiate a product’s ability to increase collagen production.
“Yes, those trials do increase collagen, but only in a petri dish,” says Snowberry scientist, Dr Travis Badenhorst. “But, there is no correlation whatsoever between that in vitro trial and what the product will do on living, human skin.”
So, what can we rely on? Welcome to the Gold Standard Clinical Trial. This is the only trial accepted to show scientific significance, where neither the scientists nor the participants doing the trial, know whether they are using the real product or a placebo. And since the results of that trial cannot be manipulated by the brand owner, it is a trial, Dr Badenhorst says, that many skin care brands with products of no great efficacy, are understandably not keen to do.
For Snowberry founder Soraya Hendesi, proof by Gold Standard was the only way to deliver her promise of anti-ageing skin care that really works. Proving the point, in an eight-week Gold Standard Clinical Trial conducted by Dermatest Medical Research Institute in Germany, Snowberry’s New Radiance Face Serum with CuPEP™ reduced wrinkle volume by a remarkable average of 25 per cent. For this reason, the serum was the only antiwrinkle product globally, invited to be presented to the 23rd World Congress of Dermatology in Vancouver in 2015.
The New Radiance Serum has since become popular not just for the face, but also for helping to strengthen thinning skin on legs and hands; reducing redness and increasing moisture retention. The key ingredient, explains Dr Badenhorst, is the skin-remodelling Copper peptide-1 called CuPEP™. The serum also contains the natural glycan sodium hyaluronate, which is a hugely important humectant for hydrating the skin.
The even more capable Intensive Renewal Face Serum with eProlex® also resulted from the five years of research carried out at the University of Auckland by Dr Badenhorst’s team, which resulted in a world-first delivery system for skin-beneficial peptides. He describes eProlex® as a “peptide power-pack” designed to help avoid the premature ageing of skin, reinforced with highly skin-compatible macadamia nut and sunflower seed oils, vitamins B, C and E; and essential fatty acids omega 3 and 6.
Natural herbal oils play a very important part in the Snowberry range. Snowberry’s Renew Body Oil is a rapidly absorbed and luxurious blend of macadamia and pure harakeke seed oil.
Dr Badenhorst recommends Snowberry’s ‘Protect & Refresh’ anti-ageing skin care strategy, which starts with protecting the skin’s natural barrier function, especially from the damage caused by cleansers that contain aggressive foaming agents.
Skin neutral cleansers – and all of Snowberry’s are – are the essential first step. And then, he says, creams and serums must be formulated to ‘refresh’ the underlying cellular matrix, which can be damaged by UV rays, excessive sugar and alcohol in our diet, and smoking.