Category: Skin Renewal

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WHITE TEA OR GREEN TEA FACIAL CREAM: WHO’S BIASED?

A question I’m often asked when a customer is choosing an anti-oxidant product, is which is best?  Many of the products, of course, are market driven.   In other words, it is whatever the trend for that moment that decides that products presence.  At the time , I was reading a study which found that green tea contained anti-oxidants called polyphenols that appeared to afford the protection against cancerous cells by starving growths, which was done by reducing the blood vessel growth near them, therefore stopping their supply line of nutrition and oxygen.   Pretty amazing stuff, I thought.  In  addition, this researcher, Dr. Santosh Katiyar who was studying the chemoprotective effects of green tea, found that green tea might also be effective against skin cancer if used topically in skin care creams. He was quick to point out that green tea was not a cure for skin cancer, but rather a preventive measure that needs further clinical testing and trials, but would have a profound impact on various skin disorders in the years to come. So what does a scientist do? Well he goes into his laboratory and attempts to create magic. To design a product that works; well, that’s what I did. 

Lets take a look at Green and White Tea.  First, Green Tea and White Tea are not fermented, in contrast to Black Tea, therefore, they contain much more active and intact polyphenol components.   The leaves of White Tea are picked and harvested before the leaves open fully, and at this time the leaves are covered by white fine hair, hence the name.  In comparison to the leaves of Green Tea, whereby they are allowed to grow to a fully form green leaf.  White Tea is also scarcer than the other traditional teas, and therefore quite expensive. In addition, White Tea Leaf also contains more concentrations of polyphenols than Green Tea Leaf. The results of studies with White Tea Leaf suggest a greater inhibitory potency in cancerous cells than Green Tea Leaf, because of increase polyphenol content. Our first anti-oxidant tea extract products were Green Tea Facial Wash and our Green Tea Facial Cream, which was later modified to the current White Tea Extract Facial Cream. 

So overall, what we did to our products was to increase the concentration levels of white and green tea extract actives.  This had been the cornerstone of our company from the beginning was to create cosmeceuticals products that worked due to containing optimal levels of active concentrates.

The thought behind creating our Green Tea Facial Wash, which is the second facial wash based on the formulation of our Original Facial Wash, was to create it with a lighter texture for two reasons: First, for ease of application to irritated skin. Secondly, when irritated skin is progressing through the healing and exfoliation process, the wash could be incorporated with our Oatmeal Herbal Masque for increase anti-inflammatory effects and for gentle removal of exfoliated skin debris.  The development behind this product was based on those people undergoing laser treatment or chemical peeling. We felt this was the ideal wash because it lightly cleansed tender skin while allowing the natural exfoliating of skin debris in the post-laser or post-peel healing stages. Further, we increased the extract levels over the maximum recommended for optimal effect. The Green Tea Facial Wash included active amounts of Green Tea Leaf Extract, noted for its soothing and anti-oxidant properties, and Chamomile Extract noted for its ant-inflammatory and calming properties. Originally, we started with Green Tea Extract Facial Cream which then evolved to the White Tea Extract Facial Cream, due to its increased levels of polyphenol. Our facial cream product had a whopping 20% concentrate of White Tea Actives.  What people didn’t know is that we could as very well place 0.1% white tea extract in our product and still said it contains white tea effectiveness as many in the cosmetic market place do.  But this was the nature of the cosmetic business we wanted to separate ourselves from.

So what was important, is when Green Tea and/or White Tea products were topically applied to the skin, it had the ability to modulate the biochemical pathways involved in skins natural inflammation process.  In other words, if you were in the sun at the beach all day, and incurred a sunburn, your skin would be inflamed and red. This inflammation and redness is directly due to the suns UV rays damaging skin cells.  How you’re body responds to this damage is the next question.  Will it heal up naturally or will it have damage some of your cells ability to replicate properly, possibly transforming some of those cells to skin cancer. That is the question.  The bottom line is that some current studies are suggesting the daily topical application of anti-oxidants such as white or green tea daily as a protective and preventive factor when outdoors and especially when spending lengthy recreational hours in the sun. Studies show that topical products that contain either Green Tea or White Tea polyphenols when applied to the skin interferes with the skins natural biochemical pathway by reducing the inflammatory responses.  So, I’m still asked which is best…. am I biased?  Really I’m Not, I still like both green and white equally.

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RED WINE: I’D RATHER DRINK IT THAN PUT ON MY SKIN…

There is no doubt that many of us love wine, of course, including myself.  Every year in our town of Riverside, California I would produce and submit a different facial cream that would be given to each individual  as a gift for our ‘Taste of the Town’ event.   As you probably may know, ‘Taste of the Town’ is an event  emphasizing great local food and of course great local wine.  One year I thought, my submission should be wine, red wine of course, because it had more anti-oxidant properties than white.  But on the drinkable level it didn’t matter to me.   This would be great I thought, people eating great food, drinking great wine and receiving a great facial cream made with real napa valley red wine, from “Trader Joes”.   Yes, ‘Trader Joes”.   That year it was such a great hit, but it just didn’t seem complete for me.  This was because,  ‘Taste of the Town’ was all about local food and wine, and the theme of my cream should correspond to just that…..that, my friends, was the beginning of the tradition of using local wines in my product to produce the yearly facial cream for this event. 

For the last twenty year I have been studying, testing and incorporating every type of ant-oxidant berry and related food into cream product. Of course, our friends were our guinea pigs, and they definitely told me if it was effective or not.  In researching about the benefits of Red Wine, I realized it wasn’t a new discovery.  I found out that Hippocrates, one of the founders of modern medicine, was the first to highlight the virtues of wine over 2500 years ago, claiming that wine is something beneficial to humans, as long as it is administered in reasonable quantities.  In the eighties, the scientific community tried to explain why the French suffer less from cardiovascular problems. Today, researchers explain that this “French Paradox”, is directly related to red wine consumption, thanks to the antioxidant and free radical scanvenging properties of the polyphenols and biphenols contained in red wine. These polyphenols have been shown in test performed on live cell cultures, to protect cells against the effects of oxidative damages. Therefore it helps skin tissues fight against the damaging effects of free radicals, therefore ensuring protection against extrinsic aging.  Extrinsic aging are those elements such as pollution, sun and weather etc. that just challenge our skin so much that it may not be able to respond and recover properly leading to aging skin by damaging our own skins elastin and collagen supply.

The search for a good wine to be in our product and to carry the BioKorium name came quite incidently, when our good friends Chris and Denyse Olsen,  from Cambria, California invited us to come to their harvest celebration.. Now, this was no ordinary winery, they built their winery from the ground up and planted each varietal syrah vine into the ground.   No easy feat, and you could tell from their final product.  That’s when I thought as a gift I would process their Syrah wine and incorporate into a handmade facial cream.  Well, when I was done I felt it was the best wine product that I ever incorporated into a facial cream, and so did they. I new it was exceptional because the end concentration of that wine did not smell “winy’, it had an overall clean smell for being highly concentrated.  So, from La Montañita Winery in Cambria, I distilled and condense there 2004 Syrah Wine to produce the wine extract used in this product. It is concentrated six times to increase the amounts of protective polyphenols, to be much more concentrated and effective that what is found in the market place. I then infuse the cream with vineyard field botanicals such as pomegranate extract, chamomile extract, sunflower extract, calendula extract, comfrey extract, sunflower and ivey extracts. It was now that I felt absolutely confident, of the true protective anti-oxidant properties of this concentrated product, now name BioKorium’s  La Montañita California Syrah Facial Cream.  So, I now tell tell our customers that if you like what it does for your skin, you may want to indulge in the real thing by visiting La Montañita Vineyard. 

In response to October Vineyard Harvest Month, BioKorium has substantially reduced our prices of our La Montañita Vineyard Line.

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MINERAL OIL: NATURAL OR NOT NATURAL, A MARKETING FALLACY?

I often am posed questions with regards to our products use of mineral oil, and how destructive it is to the skin. Though I have never seen studies to show otherwise. I found that representatives of the cosmetic industry have been passing the information of bad news of mineral oil. The perception that mineral oil as an undesirable ingredient continues through word of mouth, without any real basis in fact. Actually, mineral oil is a safe, effective, time-proven ingredient, preferred by many formulators. Yes, its inexpensive, but by far has effective characteristics that cannot be beat, the bottom line is that they work. Mineral Oil unfortunately gets a bad rap because it sounds so unnatural, but is actually as natural as any plant.  It is actually one of the most exceptional, least irritating, least problematic-causing ingredients for the skin.  Mineral Oil is of course a “natural” product, derived from purifying crude oil, and it’s  origins are derived from the degradation of plant material.  Therefore mineral oil in not sythesized, it occurs naturally in the earth, and is simply purified to the final state.

When mineral oil is incorporated into a cosmetic product, it requires less preservatives than using natural products. There is no doubt that there are impeccable qualities in “naturally” derived plant oils, but of course, need more preservatives to counteract growth of molds and bacteria, due to many nutrients that it contains.  In addition, mineral oil has little or no allergic reactions when compared to natural oils, and is number one recommended as a moisturizer for acne-prone skin.  Orally, mineral oil can be ingested with no side effects.  It is also known that hydrocarbons of a parafinic structure, such as mineral oil, exist naturally in human skin.

Mineral oil remains a key moisturizing ingredient due to (1) its well-documented reduction of transdermal water loss, and (2) its greater barrier to water vapor transmission than that of many other commonly used emollients.  In animal studies, it has been shown that mineral oil has no comedogenic potential.  More astonishing, when mineral oil was tested on humans, it was found to be completely non-comedogenic, compared to many plant derived oils.  Topical use of mineral oil does not represent a local or systemic toxicity risk to humans.  The most common function that mineral oil plays in cosmetics is one of moisturizing. It has been known for decades that efforts to overcome dry skin usually involve applying a moisture barrier to the skin surface which will retard the loss of water from the stratum corneum through evaporation. The reduction of this transepidermal water loss is what is meant by the term “moisturization”, even though no water is actually lost.

Remember, Petrolatum and Mineral Oil are natural products derived from degraded plant material from prehistoric times.  Be aware of mainstream marketing.  For example, just because a cosmetic company claims “oil free”, doesn’t mean it is.  Synthetic oils must be called “oil free”, because it was not derived naturally.  Only a natural derived products can be identified as an “oil”.  It is alway imperative not to believe everything that is mainstream marketed, but question and seek answers.

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FRAXEL LASER AND LASER TREATMENT: WHAT IS YOUR OPINION?

Fraxel laser treatment, affects a fraction of skin tissue at a time with thousands of microscopic columns-each one-tenth the diameter of a hair follicle. These microscopic laser columns penetrate deep into the dermis to create tiny wounds, which inadvertanly triggers your body’s natural defense system to heal those tiny wounds. Inadvertanly, the process expedites your body’s remodeling of collagen and elastin, which results in tighter, fresher, more youthful looking skin. The question is does it work? Fraxel laser treatment is also known as fractional photothermolysis. The word photothermolysis comes from three Greek root words – “photo” meaning light, “thermo” meaning heat, and “lysis” meaning destruction. Pretty destructive terms wouldn’t you say, I call it microwaving your skin. By sending laser light below the skin levels, with heat enough to damage or wound living tissue, in the hopes that your skin will by the inflammation process, heal, and regenerate newer better looking skin. Does this sound like anyway to attain healthy skin? Skin is not a TV dinner that can continually sustain reheating in the hopes that younger skin will arrive. It is my opinion, that continued reheating treatments by laser can only have repercussions in eventually damaging skin and promoting the aging process.

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GLYCOLIC ACID: HOW IT EFFECTS AND IMPROVES YOUR SKIN

BioKorium has been experimenting and applying Glycolic Acid to their clients and family for 15 years. We are convinced it is the safest way to remove debris from the skin. At BioKorium no two facials are alike, every facial is determined on the client’s skin condition on arrival. All BioKorium’s Creams and Salves are handmade and compounded by co-founder Dr. Javier O. Moreno, Pharm.D., R.Ph. These products are designed to work.  Facials at BioKorium are treatment facials. Results from BioKorium facials using Glycolic Acids are noticed immediately. Every product that we utilize serves a purpose and works.  At BioKorium we believe every woman and man over 40 needs to be on treatment products that work. If we can teach them at 30 the importance of treatment early on, we are ahead of the game. BioKorium Skin Care is not a luxury it’s a necessity.

Glycolic Acid is one of a group of naturally occurring fruit acids also recognized as Alpha Hydroxy Acids or AHA’s. AHA’s are among the oldest of skin care products. Milk baths were included in Marie Antoinette’s beauty ritual, red wine was often the choice of English aristocracy, and raw sugar cane was used on the skin of Polynesian women; all which contain forms of AHA’s.  Glycolic Acid is derived from sugar cane and is non-toxic. It has the ability to dissolve the glue from the upper layer of skin cells allowing a more youthful, smoother looking appearance to be revealed. Unlike other AHA’s such as lactic acid from sour milk or citric acid from citrus fruits, to name a few, Glycolic Acid has the smallest molecular size, therefore it can penetrate the skin more efficiently. It also has the ability to absorb water upon exposure to air therefore functioning to add moisture back into the skin. 5% Glycolic Acid is what we consider “baby glycolic” almost any one can use.

The cells of the Stratum Corneum start life in the Stratum Basal as Basal Membrane Cells. The transformation of the Basal Membrane Cells into Stratum Corneum Cells is shown in the figure to the left. The average transit time of the basal layer to your skin’s natural exfoliation process is approximately 8 weeks. The upper most layer of your skin is composed of the Stratum Corneum, which is a stack of 15 to 20 layers of dead skin cells. Structurally, this layer contributes to the overall elasticity and smooth appearance of the skin.  As we age, the rate in which the Stratum Corneum naturally exfoliates,  decreases, therefore the layer of dead skin cells at the surface increases.  This build up of cells, in conjunction with the decrease ability to retain water, leads to a series of age related surface irregularities. These include the lack of luster and smoothness of the skin, as well as in ones appearance.  The skin at the surface becoming  rough and dry, ultimately leading to the most visible sign of age dependent change……wrinkling.   The first important thing to bring back  is the health of the skin, the side effect will be increased vitality and luster, contributing to ones overall appearance.  Without the health of the skin, you will have neither.

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ACNE MYTHS

Cosmetic Companies want you to have bad skin, that way you are in desperation and always looking.  Looking, to find the answer to clearing your acne skin.  The connection between acne and mainstream acne products is “dehydration”.  What we don’t know about the care of acne is that over washing not only irritates existing acne skin, but can dry the skin by removing the skins protective layer of natural oils which actually prevents the spread of acne associated bacteria. These activities destroys the skins natural resilience and protective properties by destroying the skin natural pH.   Further use of scrubbing cleansers can makes things worse, by further stripping the skin and creating an environment where the skin will have difficulty recuperating to its natural healthy state.  The worst fallacy of acne is that it is directly due to what you eat, in turn, causing increase bacterial growth and oil build up.  Therefore you need to keep it clean, but no to the extent of your skin becoming dry.  People do not realize that the truth regarding acne, is that acne needs moisture, and we fail to moisturize acne skin.  We are taught that acne skin must be scrubbed and cleansed anywhere from twice to three times daily it order for it to go away. Not true! You not only will be destroying your skin but will only exacerbate your problem of acne. The answer is balance, use a low or non alkaline cleanser or facial wash, followed by a good hydration cream, or low percentage glycolic acid cream.