Added value to skin care

People tend to go to their dermatologist and tell them that their skin is highly irritative and reactive, up to a point that it profoundly affects their quality of life. Yet the dermatologist typically does not recognise the problem. After all, the skin isn’t visibly inflamed or particularly dry.

Fifty percent of all people perceive their skin to be sensitive, which at least partly explains why this segment of the skincare market has grown so tremendously. Importantly, people with sensitive skin are particularly interested in skincare products which were developed for their specific problem. They want their products to not just work well for their skin, they also want them to be extremely mild, without irritating their skin. 

Mildness and effectiveness

Good sensitive skincare products essentially have two main qualities, i.e., they address hyperreactive skin in two ways. First and foremost, intelligent design is, or at least should be, a key trait of these formulations. They normally do not contain any ingredients, or combinations of ingredients, which might lead to irritations. Certain fragrance compounds and preservatives are the “usual suspects” here. In this context it is important to state, however, that when a cosmetic product contains raw materials which are legally allowed in permissible concentrations and a thorough safety assessment of the cosmetic formulation has been performed, the product can be deemed to be safe and approved for general use.

Certain people, however, might still be sensitive to specific ingredients. This is one of the reasons why the INCI list of cosmetic formulations must be available at the point of purchase. By checking the INCI list, the person who is sensitive to a certain ingredient has the choice to not buy the product.

Better no trends?

It goes without saying that clever formulation design for sensitive skincare products is best when performed objectively and not based on the latest ingredients currently in vogue or general trends in the personal care market. Not all natural and vegan formulations or even “clean” cosmetic products are necessarily objectively and mildly formulated.

What can be learned from these trends, though, is the need for transparency concerning safety and sustainability. Sensitive skincare consumers have a strong need to understand what they are putting on their skin and where the ingredients come from. This need is a great opportunity for cosmetic brands. “Greenwashing” and fear mongering, unfortunately, are commonplace in the personal care market, and the consumer might not be as naive as many brands think.

Improvement of skin situation

The second important trait of effective skincare products designed for sensitive skin caters to the consumers’ need to be provided with real and effective care for their sensitive skin. Mildness of the formulation is one thing, but the formulation is also expected to provide sensitive skin with the means to function as well as normal healthy skin.

As mentioned above, having sensitive skin can be a large burden for people and has a real impact on their quality of life. The consumer who has sensitive skin wants to improve their quality of life and overall wellbeing. Active ingredients which can be added to the mildly designed formulation can show and have shown to provide essential benefits to skincare products for sensitive skin. Yet these active ingredients should indeed be active and relevant to the actual needs of sensitive skin.

Active ingredient design

In analogy to sensitive skincare formulations, active ingredients which should provide sensitive skin with the tools to become less sensitive and reactive, and act like normal, healthy skin, also must be objectively designed. Any development of an objectively effective active ingredient starts with two different categories of questions. The first category focuses on consumer relevance of the active ingredient: How is sensitive skin perceived by the consumer? What impact does sensitive skin have on the consumer’s wellbeing? What does the average consumer do to treat their sensitive skin? What do they expect from the products they buy to care for their skin? The answers to these (and many more alike) questions help to set goals for the active ingredient’s performance.

The second category of questions encompasses the scientific aspects of sensitive skin. What are the biological processes which lead to skin being overreactive to external influences? What external influences commonly induce irritation? How does the irritation come about? How come these influences can penetrate the skin’s barrier? Is the skin’s barrier function weak? Which cells are involved in the initiation and onset of the irritation? Is the skin microbiota involved? How? Which inflammatory mediators and neuromediators are involved? Here, too, many more questions can be asked, but answering these scientific questions is essential.

Active ingredient proof

When the scientific questions are answered, including a cell-biological proof of concept where the active ingredient has been shown to act effectively, the active ingredient still is only a concept. Designing and performing scientifically valid and consumer-relevant clinical in vivo studies and obtaining results bridges the gap between the two categories of questions which were defined above. Only an ingredient which has shown to work, is a real active ingredient, which can be trusted to work well in smartly designed cosmetic formulations.

The above-described approach can be extrapolated to any other skin issue. There are numerous active ingredients on the marketplace, for any skin issue (or, it must be said, scientifically, non-issue). It is important to realise, though, that there are no ingredients which can be a “Swiss army knife” of active ingredients. Thoroughly designed cosmetic formulations will always contain a combination of active ingredients which act in complement to and synergy with each other.

Examples of ingredients

Combining three active ingredients potentiates a sensitive skincare product so that it effectively reduces the hyperreactivity of skin and provides it with the means to act more healthily.

Annona Cherimola Fruit Extract1 acts on the inflammatory processes inside the skin: specifically, on the detrimental interaction between keratinocytes, fibroblasts, and immune cells, addressing inflammatory mediators and neuromediators alike. An important side effect is that, by its action on neuromediators, specifically Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP), it can help in reducing the virulence (“aggressiveness”) of a prominent member of the skin microbiota, Staphylococcus epidermidis. 

The active showed that it was able to reduce skin sensitivity. It reduces pruritus and visible irritation, leading to a healthier complexion. Most importantly, the volunteers with sensitive skin reported that, after using a formulation containing it, their quality of life and wellbeing was improved. It can be considered as the core active ingredient in sensitive skincare formulations.

Added-on active ingredients can make a formulation even more effective. Lactococcus Ferment Lysate² is such an active ingredient. It regulates all the processes in the epidermis, the top layer of skin, to obtain a strong physical and microbiological barrier function. Indeed, the skin microbiota plays enormously important roles for skin, good and bad. Healthy skin has healthy microbiota, as was proven in vitro and in vivo.

A second add-on might be Linolenic Acid³. This plays many important roles for skin. It is produced in skin itself, but skin with an endogenous bad barrier function, e.g., with atopic dermatitis, shows a lack of linoleic acid and linoleic acid derivatives, such as ceramide 1. Where Lactococcus Ferment Lysate works on the skin cells to improve overall skin health and the skin microbiota, an ingredient like Linolenic Acid provides the skin cells with an important raw material with which they can produce an even better barrier.

Conclusion

Sensitive skin is a real issue, and consumers expect effective and mild care for their skin. Sensitive skincare products are best designed objectively and intelligently, taking both consumer needs and scientific aspects into consideration. Active ingredient development goes through a similar process of objective design. To obtain optimal results, it is best to smartly combine active ingredients.

References:

1 AnnonaSense CLR, INCI: Annona Cherimola Fruit Extract

2 ProRenew Complex CLR, INCI: Lactococcus Ferment Lysate

3 Vitamin F forte, INCI: Linoleic Acid, Linolenic Acid