GROOM SERVICE HI-TECH SKINCARE
The best skincare products on shelves today can help slow or prevent the signs of ageing. But the high-tech options you will use in the near future might erase them
11 FUTURE FACING
12 TOMORROW’S CURES
Imagine a moisturiser that works with your genetics to reduce cancer risk. Or a serum that communicates with your skin cells to keep collagen pumping.
That may sound Blade Runner-y, but the next wave of products that will revolutionise your grooming routine is either hitting shelves now or very soon. ‘We are moving towards changing how we age by reversing what happens to our cells,’ says Julie Russak, aNew Yorkbased dermatologist.
We asked experts about the four game changers in grooming – and what it all means for the future of your face. i.
EXOSOMES
How They Work These nanoparticles allow skin cells to communicate with one another. ‘They are the active component of stem cells and tell the cell what to do,’ says Los Angeles–based plastic surgeon Jason Diamond. ‘They’re an important part of the body repairing itself’ because they carry proteins, lipids and growth factors from cell to cell, he explains.
The Promise Some skincare brands claim their exosometargeting serums improve cell-to-cell communication. This results in enhanced collagen and elastin production, processes that battle wrinkles, among other effects of ageing.
The Science Still developing. There aren’t many studies on exosomes and ‘none looking at them in humans’, says Evan Rieder, a dermatologist. Yet some manufacturers are running with their claims – despite the fact that no FDA-approved exosome products are currently on the market.
THE PRODUCT
Dr. Barbara Sturm Exoso-Metic Eye Serum, £350 Apply it around your eyes and the exosomes and growth factors in the formula may help reduce signs of ageing, such as fine lines.
NEUROPEPTIDES: THE NEXT GENERATION
Peptides act as signalling molecules that can produce collagen and repair damage. Studies have shown that a new type, called neuropeptides, can tell your face muscles to relax, which smooths out lines almost as well as anti-wrinkle injections.
THE PRODUCT
BeautyStat Peptide Wrinkle Relaxing Moisturizer, £58 This daily moisturiser contains two different neuropeptides, which together lift and tighten the skin and hydrate it, too.
ii. EPIGENETICS
How It Works We know that everyone has their own genetic code.
Now, scientists are turning to epigenetics – the study of how environmental and behavioural factors affect certain genes. The hope is that this’ll reveal how to switch off a gene that, for example, predisposes you to skin ca
