There’s no doubt that having a sensitive and reactive skin can be upsetting. It’s not just the general red, hot, itchy dryness that can be stressful to manage but also the reactive hypersensitivity to common factors such as the weather, the foods we eat or the skincare and makeup we put on our skin.
If you have read my blog Pep-talking Your Way To A Younger Skin then you may already know that our skin’s health and vitality literally depends on trillions of cell-to-cell communications that ensure important functions like immune defence, injury repair and surface stability are carried out so that it is protected from the outside world.
Why the skin becomes sensitised:
To be able to communicate and function efficiently, the skin cells need a balanced environment. A combination of oily fats (sebum), glandular secretions, perspiration and cellular material form a protective barrier that covers the skin’s surface (called the Acid Mantle) and works to maintain optimal hydration and an ideal PH of 4.7 - 5.75. This slightly acidic environment ensures the regulation of bacterial growth (our microbiome) and keeps the protective proteins that form keratin (skin) hard and tightly bound together, guarding against allergens, irritants, bacteria and viruses from penetrating into the skin.
When the Acid Mantle becomes impaired, it can often trigger a cascade of cellular events that can result in the skin becoming sensitised. Both internal and external factors can have an effect on the stability of the Acid Mantle. Excessive sun exposure, environmental pollutants and harsh cosmetics can degrade the Acid Mantle from the outside while on the inside, hormonal changes, diet deficiencies and increasing age will disrupt the quantity and quality of the essential nutrients your skin needs to maintain a strong and healthy Acid Mantle.
Once the Acid Mantle is thin, weak or damaged, TEWL (transepidermal water loss - dehydration) occurs, throwing off the skin’s PH levels, unbalancing the Microbiome and disrupting cellular communication and function.
How Peptides help support a sensitivity skin:
Adding Peptides into your daily skincare routine will help strengthen your sensitive skin deep down at a cellular level, giving it the building blocks it needs to repair itself at the surface and making it less reactive to day-to-day triggers.
Made up of short chains of amino acids, Peptides are the building blocks of proteins and when applied topically, have the ability to penetrate through the skin barrier, diving deep into your living skin cells and commanding them to regenerate collagen and other proteins such as elastin and hyaluronic acid. Peptides act like a signalling switch within the skin, turning specific functions on and off as needed and in-turn are able to calm, sooth and strengthen a sensitive skin.
ASI Cosmeceutical Peptide Range:
Suitable for sensitive and reactive skins, ASI’s range of cosmeceutical Peptide skin care is formulated with potent and highly active peptides and growth factors to support and reverse skin sensitivity. The range includes:
What are the key Peptide ingredients?
Bio-Placenta (plant-based) – a non-animal, active ingredient with properties that include; accelerated healing of the skin, increased rate of skin renewal, helps to slow down thinning of ageing skin, reduces wrinkles, boosts collagen and elastin synthesis, and promotes skin rejuvenation.
Pepha®-Tight – Pepha Tight is a combination of a microalgae called Nannochloropsis Oculata and polysaccharides which provides immediate protection to the skin by shielding it against oxidative stress, stimulating the formation of type 1 collagen and strengthening the skin's connective tissue by actively repairing collagen fibres.
Matrixyl Synthe’6 (Palmitoyl Tripeptide-38) – is a powerful new skin soothing peptide that stimulates the synthesis of 6 major constituents of the skin matrix including collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid as well as regulates cell activity, wound repair and collagen tissue remodelling.
Oligopeptides - An Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) protein that helps to strengthen the skin by increasing the rate of skin renewal, boosting collagen and elastin production and slowing down skin thinning. It assists specialised fibroblast cell maintain the skin’s structural integrity and has a strong anti-inflammatory effect that helps to reduce redness and the over production of melanin - preventing hyperpigmentation.
Perfection Peptide - A new biologically active heptapeptide that stimulates the skin’s own self-defense mechanisms against oxidative stress, significantly reducing DNA damage and the depletion of specialised skin immune responders caused by UV radiation.
Copper Tripeptide 1- A powerful anti-oxidant peptide that stimulates the production of several important skin-identical ingredients like collagen, elastin and glycosaminoglycans to maintain the elasticity of the skin while repairing the skin’s barrier.
SH-Polypeptides - A cell signalling protein that stimulates cellular turnover and the synthesis of collagen and other extracellular-matrix components that surround cells and facilitate inter-cellular communication.