Drew’s dilemma: I love Philosophy as a brand and I have two questions about their Shelter Sunscreen For Face. First, I don’t see any sunscreens listed as ingredients, yet they claim the product has SPF 30. Is that due to the melanin in the formula? Second, they claim to contain a blend of two peptides that “act in synergy to help restore and maintain the skin’s youthful appearance.” Is there any truth to that statement? I love this site and hope to continue seeing great information here!!
The Right Brain’s peptide proposal:
Drew thanks for your kind words and for your question. Here’s the scoop:
Gimme Shelter
To answer your first question, you are correct. We can find no listing of a traditional sunscreen ingredient in this product. That seems a bit odd since they do claim to have a specific SPF value. We doubt it’d due to the melanin because that ingredient is not officially recognized in the OTC monograph. So how they claim SPF 30 without the correct ingredients is a mystery to us too!
Your other question is interesting from a technical point of view and ties into one of the newest areas of research for skin care: peptides.
The peptide premise
As we’ve blogged before, in the generic sense a peptide is simply a small protein. And some kinds of proteins are beneficial to hair and skin because of their film-forming, moisturizing properties.
But the latest research indicates that certain peptides can interact with skin to trigger biological activity. For example, there’s a recent paper in the January 2008 issue of Cosmetics and Toiletries
entitled “Tetrapeptide Targets Epidermal Cohesion” by G. Pauly, et. al. of Cognis France. (Cognis is a major manufacturer of cosmetic ingredients.)
Simply put, the paper states that this peptide (formally known as N-acetyl tetrapeptide-11 or Tetrapeptide-11 for short) can stimulate production of syndecan-1, another biological chemical that helps bind skin cells together. Loss of this cellular adhesion is one of the benchmarks of aging skin. So, less adhesion loss means younger looking and feeling skin.
Two kinds of testing
To prove their point the researchers used a combination of in vitro and in vivo testing. The in vitro testing showed that Tetrapeptide-11 had the desired effect on skin cells in the lab. And the in vivo testing showed that people showed an improvement in skin quality after using a cream with 3% Tetrapeptide-11 for about 8 weeks. And here’s the important part: the researchers did their testing versus a placebo cream that did not contain the active ingredient.
So, the good news is, here’s a breakthrough cosmetic ingredient that seems to really work. The bad news is, this isn’t the blend of peptides that Philosophy uses. They use Palmitoyl Oligopeptide and Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-3 and we could not find supportive research on those ingredients.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
If you’re looking for a sunscreen, you should make sure the product uses proven SPF ingredients. If you’re looking for anti-aging peptides, look for products that contain 3% Tetrapeptide-11. (We haven’t found any yet, if you see any, let us know!)
Do any of your skin care products contain peptides? Take a look at your labels and leave a comment for the rest of the Beauty Brains community.
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Right Brain~
Is Matrixyl 3000, the same thing or just a “close relative”.
Ann
Melanin does indeed have photoprotective effects. For instance see Eur J Dermatol Venerol, epub ahead of online Feb 27, 2008 and references therein. Though I agree that until it has been extensively tested I would not just use the Philosophy product as my sole sun protection.
The tetrapeptide is being marketed under the name SYNiorage.
Thanks for looking into my question! I’m going to keep an eye out for more literature on it but until then I’ll stick with my standard sunscreens.
Have you tried CA Botana products – they work !!
What do you know about Matrixyl 3000?
Hello there.
I have something to say, about AloeVera, something about which you wrote above, about health and cosmetics… For a long time, I and my friend use the products of the Forever Living Company. We at all times see the nice results and also we make money for our families and we are happy. My friend works with aloe in the company of Forever Living has more than 5 years (My friend works ONLY in the flp and has a wife and three children). I know aloe products for weight loss for a long time, but a year ago, began working as a distributor in the forever living products company.
Of course, this job is some difficult, but in no other case, You can earn so much money with so much much fun and smiling faces around.
So if you want to discuss something about your post, and about my experience with aloe vera products for nutritional, I’ll always be glad to talk.
Best regards from Seattle and have a nice day!
Andrew – Aloe Vera Distributor
We talk about the science of products. Anecdotal stories & personal experiences, while interesting, do not help prove claims about what is true or not.
Hi: Regarding the Philosophy Sunscreen with SPF 30, they do have a combination of several chemical and one physical sunscreen ingredients. I used this product many years ago and I could swear it had the same ingredients then. The combination of sunscreen ingredients are: Octinoxate, Oxybenzone, Titanium Dioxide (physical sunsceen), and Octisalate. The Hope in a Jar SPF also uses similar ingredients as their “Active Ingredients,” for sun protection. Is there another product you are referring to that I am not aware of?
Euoko’s Y-42 Fractional Neck Lift Concentrate (what a mouthful) has this ingredient. I haven’t been able to find any other products with it in all my trawlings… which is a shame given it sounds very promising.
Other peptides I like what I have read about – but have found hardly any products containing – are Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-10 and Heptapeptide-6, the pro-sirtuin peptides (they can only be found in an Avon cream, and I have never liked Avon much) and Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, said to be able to reverse glycation-caused sagging, and Palmitoyl Hexapeptide-14 (apparently also known as Palmitoyl Hexapeptide-6?) which is said to stimulate the skin in several ways at once. Read the source for more
Source: Ageless Beauty Cosmeceutical Peptide Glossary http://www.ageless-beauty.com/cosmeceutical-peptide.html
Bio-Synthesis provides high quality peptides,custom peptides, carrier conjugation, antipeptide antibody production, antigenic peptide design, long peptides, modified peptides, and more.As a peptide manufacturer, we also have the capability to perform a wide variety of synthetic peptide chemistries.
Bio-Synthesis is a leading global manufacturer of high quality custom-synthesized peptides.Bio-Synthesis continued to provide quality DNA products and services for the research community, but it has also become a world leader in providing custom peptide products and services.Bio-Synthesis provides high quality peptides,custom peptides, carrier conjugation, antipeptide antibody production, antigenic peptide design, long peptides, modified peptides, and more.As a peptide manufacturer, we also have the capability to perform a wide variety of synthetic peptide chemistries.