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Foreign hello and welcome back to the Treatment Room podcast. I am so happy to be back with you and so happy. It's summer. Are we loving the vibes? I'm loving the vibes. I feel so excited to be settled in Orange county for the summer because this time last year I was getting ready to move and I feel like I got a little bit robbed of summertime. And this year I'm taking full advantage. I have set up my little patio furniture. I'm going out there every morning with sunscreen and a hat, of course, enjoying having my iced coffee, hanging out with Chai. We've been going on evening walks and I just, I love the warm, balmy summer air. I love planning trips in the summertime little summer outfits. I love packing skincare for a vacation, buying new summer skin care, which I feel like I need to do an episode on summer favorites. So if you would like to hear that, please let me know. But all in all, I am just feeling so good and I hope you are too. Thank you for tuning in to another episode with me. I have had a lot on my mind and today I want to drop some knowledge because I have been seeing some absolutely wild trends on social media and when I see these trends, I'm like, immediately, no, there's no way people are believing this and this is going to end in a matter of days. I have. I stand corrected because I have seen some of these trends lasting months and I'm seeing them On Instagram, on TikTok, I'm hearing about them in podcasts. It's truly wild how quickly bad recommendations can spread. So this is why I'm here. I want to provide some insights and I think this episode is needed because if you're seeing me on social media recommending clinical products or if you are my client and I am saying I would recommend you invest your hard earned money in a product of this caliber. I think I should explain why I'm doing that and what actually makes good skincare effective. What separates the $200 clinical serum from the banana peels, the gold masks, the beef tallow? You know, if I'm telling You, I would recommend this $40 sunscreen. Why is it superior to beef tallow? Why would I recommend you get a clinical treatment such as Botox when you could simply rub a banana peel on your face? And I will say I get the appeal of DIY skincare, and I've been there. I've used the DIY skincare, and my skin has, frankly, never been worse. I think it's really important to educate on what makes, you know, good skin care effective and safe for use. Because, yeah, if you can simply rub something on your face that you can find in your kitchen or a grocery store, of course you would, you know, rather do that. It's more accessible, it's more affordable, and it feels like something that is naturally derived. It's from the earth. It's a whole food. So it must be good for your skin because it's good for you. There is such a distinction in quality formulation. So today I want to talk about delivery systems. This is a topic I have been, I'll say educating, but also ranting about on social media because I feel like it's not talked about enough. And if you are the average person on the street, you probably assume your skin functions like a sponge. It absorbs what you apply topically, right? Wrong. Our skin is not a sponge. If it was, we would drown in the bathtub. So I want to talk today about delivery systems and our skin structure and again, what makes, you know, good skin care good. So let's start with delivery systems and what they are. A delivery system is basically just a method that distributes active ingredients in a skincare product to the deeper levels of the skin where they can affect change. The analogy I have been using on Instagram is comparing delivery systems to roads or freeways. And active ingredients are the cars. We need the roads, we need the freeway so the cars can get where they need to go. And in the case of our skin, that is the deeper layers of the skin. So our skin has four different structures. It's not just one soft tissue that just absorbs whatever we apply topically. If it did, it would be incredibly dangerous. Our skin's main purpose and function is to protect us. You know, we think of it as just, you know, something that we want to make glowy and beautiful for Instagram. But our skin's real purpose is to protect us. Protect us from pathogens, microbes, uv, toxic chemicals, all these things that could harm us if they just absorbed right into the skin. Our skin is a mixture of protein, oil, and water. It is designed to keep things out again, if everything we applied topically just absorbed with ease, we would be in a lot of danger. And so, because our skin is designed to keep things out, this is great as a defense system for our safety, but it really presents a challenge to skincare companies. And this is part of the reason why the skincare industry, and especially clinical skincare, is a billion dollar industry. Billions of dollars. Like these skincare companies in and of themselves, some of them are valued at billions of dollars. So it is a huge industry and all of these companies are competing with one another, basically trying to solve the billion dollar question, which is how do we get past our skin's innate protective barrier? So all of these companies are throwing down, duking it out, competing with each other, trying to figure out how they can make the best formula. And part of that is having the most effective delivery systems that can get the active ingredients into the deeper levels of the skin. They want to figure out how they can do this in the most effective, fastest, safest, least risky way possible. So again, this is the billion dollar question. How do we get ingredients to penetrate where they can actually affect change that consumers are looking for? Consumers are looking to address fine lines and wrinkles. They're looking to address tone and discoloration, texture conditions like acne and rosacea. So to do that, to truly correct these skin conditions, you need to get past that superficial outermost layer. And our skin, again, it's very good at protecting us. It's a very complex water resistant structure. So figuring out topically, how do we deliver ingredients transdermally beyond this superficial outermost layer. This is heavily researched by all of these big pharmaceutical companies that are looking for innovation with drugs and skin care. So delivery mechanisms are so important for these companies and this is why they really investigate all the methods and all the ways they can increase efficacy of getting their active ingredients past the skin's protective layer. Let's talk a little bit about the structure of the skin, which consists of four main layers. I'm sure you remember this from esthetician school, if you are an esthetic. See, so it'll be a little refresher. We have the outermost layer, the stratum corneum. What we all see when we look at our skin, then we have the epidermis, the living tissue, then we have the deeper dermal layer, and then lastly the subcutaneous connective tissue. That deepest layer of the skin, the stratum corneum, consists of a very strong layer of dead skin cells. These are basically dehydrated keratinocytes that are embedded in lipid layers. And in order to reach the living tissue, we need to get active ingredients past this protective barrier. When we talk about beef tallow, applying, you know, maybe some avocado to your face, some honey, some Greek yogurt, these everyday items you can find in your kitchen. You know, if you were to look up the benefits of Greek yogurt, avocado, honey, you would see all these vitamins, all these amazing qualities that you would think, oh, this is so healthy. There's so many vitamins. I just want my skin to drink that up. The problem is that even the best active ingredient, the best vitamin, the healthiest molecule you could ever find, it is completely worthless without delivery systems. And the analogy I would use in, you know, talking about beef tallow versus maybe a $200 skin care serum, what's the big diff here? So without a delivery system, you are basically using an expired credit card. Sure, it has potential, but. But you can't actually go into a store and use it. So therefore, it's pretty much worthless. A product could have the most amazing active ingredients and vitamins in it, but if we can't get it to those deeper levels of the skin, you know, it's really only providing a superficial benefit. So when we are comparing, you know, something like honey and a $200 skincare serum, I recently saw Gypsy Rose talking about, you know, what she used in prison to maintain her skin. And she was saying she would use honey and combine it with sugar granules, and she would rub this concoction on her skin. And you know what? It's actually not the worst thing I've ever heard in the world. I think honey generally is one of the scent, safer kitchen items you could apply to your skin for most people. And undoubtedly, you know, you could get a benefit of doing this, and it. It might be better than doing nothing because you are physically buffing away those. Those dead skin cells, you know, so, Gypsy Rose, I. I gotta hand it to you, very creative and truly not the worst concoction you could think of. However, we have to understand when we're applying that don't have delivery systems, they can really only provide a superficial benefit. So you have to understand, like, yes, your skin could definitely feel softer if you are buffing away those dead skin cells. And honey definitely has some antimicrobial benefits to it. It can be very healing. So topically, your skin might feel softer. It might feel like the health of it is improved. But there is a difference in a skincare product or serum that is formulated to deliver those ingredients to the deeper levels of the skin. This is where you can actually make claims about, you know, these formulas actually affecting change in the skin and correcting skin issues, because they're going beyond the epidermis. And the thing with all this DIY skin care, I think we just have to understand and set a reasonable expectation that it's only affecting that outermost layer. So, yes, you can feel like your skin is smoother because you've removed those dead skin cells that we talked about that are on the top layer of the skin. Your skin can certainly feel more moisturized from applying a substance that has moisturizing factors to it. It's definitely possible to coat that outermost layer of skin and allow it to feel softer and smoother. But you know, when the benefits go beyond that, when the claims go beyond that of comparing these DIY recipes to true corrective treatments or very innovative formulations, we have to understand there is no possibility of these ingredients correcting skin issues. And this is where we have to draw the line and say there is no way a banana peel can even be compared to a retinoid or Botox, because, yeah, it's making the outermost layer of your skin feel soft and moisturized, but it is not interacting with our DNA in the way that a retinoid would. Let's talk a little bit about different types of delivery systems because I feel like this information is not as talked about or educated on. And this information comes from Skin, Inc. I want to link this article in the show notes because I think it's really informative. So this article highlights that there are three main types of delivery systems. First, we have intracellular. This type of delivery system enables active ingredients to travel in between keratinocytes into the deeper layers. Second, we have transcellular. This means that active ingredients must penetrate from cell to cell in order to reach the deeper layer levels of the skin. Lastly, we have trans appendagial. This means other openings such as sweat glands, sebaceous glands, or hair follicles are kind of the entry point or travel pathway in which active ingredients can reach lower levels of the skin. There are also many factors that can affect how effective a delivery system is. We have concentration. Concentration is a huge factor in how effective and good a delivery system is. So the higher the concentration of an ingredient, the more the skin will try to absorb it, leading to more of the active ingredient being distributed into the deeper layers of the skin. Next, we have ph. So concentration is important, but ph is also, I think, a very underrated element of a skincare product. So it's not always just about the concentration of the active ingredients. And you've probably heard estheticians say higher percentage doesn't always equal a better formula. And I think ph is just as important because the skin is always attempting to neutralize PH differences in order to stay in a balanced state. But the lower the ph, the more the product will travel into deeper layers of the skin because again, the skin is trying to balance and increase the ph, again to a higher level. So the higher the PH of a particular product, the less the active ingredient will penetrate into the skin. Instead, it would sit more on the surface of the skin. And a good example of this is chemical peels. Chemical peels depend so much on ph. And I learned this in Michelle Phelan's class. I highly recommend her chemical peels course through Concepts Institute. I have a link in my Instagram to take any concepts courses. But I will never forget Michelle talking about this because again, I think we can assume higher percentage peel equals better ph is so important. And Michelle would always have us use our little ph pencils and ph test strip paper on the peels to test the PH of the peel before we performed it on the client. But basically, low ph peels will be stronger and more effective than peels with a higher ph, even if they have the same concentration of active ingredients. So therefore not all peels are created equal just because they have the same percentages of acids on the label. Next we have molecular size and weight. So you've probably heard before, molecular size of active ingredients is creating crucial to how well these ingredients can actually penetrate. If the molecules in certain skincare ingredients are very large, they can sit on the skin surface. And if they're sitting there and the product is not properly absorbed, this could actually lead to more sensitivity, irritation, skin dehydration, and also just not deliver the right results. So this is where I also see a big difference in a lot of over the counter skin care or or Sephora products versus clinical skin care. And molecular size is definitely something we can measure. So molecules under 500 Daltons can actually penetrate the skin, whereas ingredients that are higher than 500 Daltons will not pass through if they are not altered structurally or attached to other ingredients or methods that will pull them into the skin. Lastly, we have the characteristics of ingredients and by this I mean whether a substance is water soluble or oil soluble, this can really influence the amount of ingredients that can be absorbed in the skin. I hope this episode was helpful in just articulating why skincare is a science and an art. And there's so much sophisticated technology that goes into creating effective formulas. I hope this, you know, helps you to better understand and appreciate the value of a very well formulated skincare product. So many trials, so much research, so much money went into every little component of that formula to make it work for your skin. So that is why I appreciate good skin care that gives people peace of mind that it's going to work for them. Because, yeah, good skin care might be pricier, but at least you have more peace of mind in knowing when you are investing in those products. They've been proven effective and they are likely going to help you reach your skin care goals. And we just can't say the same for DIY skincare or, you know, something you can find in your kitchen. And the tricky thing about these DIY formulations is we just don't know what the outcome is. So sometimes with skincare, you are also paying for peace of mind because it's already been tested for you. It's already undergone safety, stability, testing and testing to ensure it's effective for you. I hope you guys liked this episode. If you did, it would mean so much if you shared it on social media and at me, my SD Tessa. And if you would like, if you love this show, it would help me so much if you left a little five star review. Really helps me to make more content for you guys, make more episodes that you want to hear and I would love to hear your feedback. Thank you so much for listening and I will talk to you next.