These days every over-the-counter product seems to make anti-aging promises — learn why incorporating HA into your anti-aging strategy can make all the difference.
Many of us have spend hours trying to decipher the labels on moisturizers, serums and antioxidants to figure out which product is actually going to make a visible difference to our skin. Let our skincare team help.
Hyaluronic Acid 101
Hyaluronic acid is a common item on the ingredients list of skin care products, but there are several misconceptions around how it actually works to smoothen skin and overcome wrinkles.
First things first
Hyaluronic acid is a sugar that exists naturally in the skin. Its role is to attach to collagen and elastin so that they remain in various layers of the skin—the result is plumpness and volume.
The problem
As we age, hyaluronic acid loses its ability to attach to collagen, and is produced in lower quantity. Skin therefore starts to appear hollow, saggy and wrinkled.
Traditional treatments
Clinical — On its own, hyaluronic acid is too large a molecule to penetrate the skin topically, so researchers and clinicians developed HA fillers. These injectable treatments to restore the loss of facial volume.
At home — Cosmeceutical companies also started adding HA into moisturizers with the promise of turning back the clock. However, depending on the product it may be limited to surface level moisturization.
Why topical HA products can help
These topical solutions can provide synergy with your in-clinic HA treatments and amplify your current anti-aging skincare regime.
Of course, when we think of wrinkles we tend to think of the face. But topical HA products can be used to tackle a variety of afflictions including:
Crow’s feet
Laugh lines
Lip creases
Tech neck
Aging hands
At Carruthers & Humphrey we are excited about HA Intensifier by SkinCeuticals. A newly-introduced product that focuses on bringing that youthful plumpness back to the complexion. Recently, we hosted some of Vancouver's beauty gurus for a sneak peek at this new corrective serum at the end of this post.
Here’s what it does
While traditional skin care products could be used in tandem with HA fillers to stimulate HA production and maintain skin’s elasticity, the topical HA treatments alone don’t largely impact the skin’s hyaluronic acid levels. HA Intensifier includes two additional ingredients that work alongside hyaluronic acid to finally achieve deeper skin results.
The effects of these ingredients (pro-xylane, and purple rice and dipotassium glycyrrhizate) are two-fold: one stimulates the production of hyaluronic acid and acts as a molecular magnet, so that HA can start to re-attach to collagen fibres. The other prevents the natural breakdown of hyaluronic acid.
That’s why SkinCeuticals has aptly named this product HA Intensifier — because it intensifies your body’s natural hyaluronic acid production and slows its eventual breakdown.
