And #TuesdayTwirl
Dear friends. Have beauty brands been deceiving us for years with products containing ingredients that don't penetrate the skin?
It's all to do with a unit of measurement called a Dalton. It's a unit of mass used to measure the size of molecules.
What's significant about it is that some small beauty brands are claiming that research from Harvard University suggests commercial skincare products with "miracle" ingredients are actually biophysically too large to do the heavy lifting they are marketed for.
In skincare the bedrock principle of skin penetration is the "500-Dalton Rule." If a molecule is larger than about 500 Daltons, it cannot passively penetrate the skin barrier to reach deeper living tissue. This applies, apparently, to many of the popular ingredients used in skincare such as retinol, collagen, peptides and hyaluronic acid.
You may have seen a few ads on Instagram and Facebook from brands such as Frøya, Besque, Lumié and Eraé which include long wordy descriptions about Daltons. They use customer examples to claim how thousands of women are transforming their skin with their products formulated from seed and plant oils or other botanicals which supposedly penetrate the skin more deeply.
Dr Sarah Jenkins MD is quoted by Eraé as saying:
"For decades, standard advice for crepey skin in menopausal women has been retinoids, laser, and heavy moisturizers. These approaches often fail to address the root cause — structural collapse beneath the skin from hormonal decline. Queen Oil (from Eraé) contains the specific, clinically-studied botanical compounds I recommend to my patients to target that collapse directly."
I looked up Dr Jenkins but there are several doctors with this name so it was hard to identify the person quoted.
I wonder why journalists haven't looked into the Dalton claims because if they're true, we are being seriously deceived and gaslighted by the beauty giants. The bigger companies claim to do exhaustive research. Surely one of the basic tenets would be investigating how deeply ingredients can penetrate?
I discovered there are many, many papers on the Daltons subject. I cannot see how the beauty giants would be ignoring the data if it was meaningful. I wonder if this is just clever but deceptive marketing of a different kind.
I have been sceptical about the claims made for skincare for some time. I've noticed how big brands only ever publish qualitative research, using tiny samples of women. No 7 seems to be an exception. Frankly, over the years I have spent thousands on what I now believe is snake oil: luxury beauty products that have really made no difference to my skin.
I'm Not Fully Convinced
I am not yet convinced about the Daltons argument. I would like to see science writers and dermatologists weighing in. I have tried a skin oil which has, I notice, recently stopped talking about Daltons in its advertising. It had a temporary firming effect on my crepey arms. But it was just that, temporary.
To counter this the brand has an argument to hand which says that when women in their 50s suddenly experience "catastrophic collapse" in their body skin it's hormone related, and quickly responds to the oil. Indeed, you have to act fast as there's a window of time in which your skin can recover.
But if your crepey skin appeared very gradually, it's a sign of aging that would respond instead to normal dermatological protocols (which cost a fortune!) - laser, retinol, heavy moisturisers, as the dermatologist above referenced.
I searched to see if industry experts cover this topic.
Sarah Chapman, a well known facialist with her own product line, writes about the interaction of skin with products and includes 7 tips on getting the most out of what you buy.
Another dermatologist, Dr Cynthia Bailey MD, writes about how to choose the right skincare brand and says collagen, peptides and gold ingredients offer "little to no proof of real return-on-investment in skin care - don't even bother!"
I'd be interested to know what you think. Have you seen the ads or tried the "revoutiothe nary" oils or botanicals? It could be that we're simply being duped again with irrelevant research. Do let me know in the comments.
Today's outfits: pink is the colour of the month at the Kettlewell Colour Club. As a Spring, my best pinks are warm toned such as coral. These look wonderful paired with green, which is a combination that works for virtually every skin tone with appropriate variations in the hues used.
One outfit is "quiet colour", a statement pink jacket worn with shades of ivory and cream, and the other outfit features 3 punchy colours, lime, pink and yellow.
Regular Lemonade jeans, £85, from Perfect Jeans. Other colours and styles available. Pin tuck wide leg ankle grazer jeans in ecru from M&S, £38 (current). I'm wearing size 10 Short. Two other colours available. Confetti (pink) faux suede jacket, reduced to £111.30, Kettlewell. Oyster Ariella blouse, £149, Holland Cooper, current. Woven Mary Janes from John Lewis. Everything was bought by me.
#TuesdayTwirl Favourites
It's time for the weekly link-up for bloggers. Scroll down below the thumbnails to see joining instructions.
There was no new post from me last week (off cycling in Scotland) so the last link-up was a fortnight ago. Here are the favourites from then.
Newcomer to the link-up, Dutch blogger Greetje with her post Wide green and white floral skirt.
The ever popular Penny from Conversations with an Older Woman on A dress in my favourite colour.
You always write such great beauty posts, very interesting. I'm still stuck in peptides and retinol. And I'm using a no.7 neck creme you recommended months ago, it worked but only to a certain stage. But better then nothing. I have a terrible sensitive skin and use a centre for my skin from a dermatologist, dr. Leenarts. Good, but it doesn't make my skin firmer.
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