Author: Trung Nguyen

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Introducing The Body Special

By Dr Emma Craythorne

Facial skincare is the priority for everyone I see in my private practice, and for me too. After all, our faces are the first impression; they’re always on show, the focus of conversations we have, and photographs that capture a moment. However, there are other parts of our body that are also always on show but rarely receive the same care and attention that we give to the skin on our face. 

I’m talking about our hands and chest. While we are protecting the skin on our face, these areas often get forgotten, and it’s only as we enter our 40s that the signs of UV damage start to appear. What tends to bother the people I see in my clinic is the imbalance that starts to become noticeable: the hands and chest look more aged than our faces and out of sync with how we feel. People want to undo that damage and enjoy skin on their hands and chest that is as healthy, clear, firm, and radiant as the skin on their faces, which they have achieved with good daily treatment and sun protection. 

The signs of UV-induced ageing on the skin of the hands and chest are the same in both places.   

The first sign is lost elasticity and ‘bounce’. If you gently pinch together the skin on your hands it starts to wrinkle very easily, and in the case of the chest and neck – or decolletage – there is that awful phrase ‘turkey neck’ to describe how the skin drags and hangs in a way that it didn’t used to.   

The second sign is solar lentigines (also known as brown spots or age spots) appearing. They can start as quite subtle light brown ‘splodges’ but as the damage continues to come through over the years, they get darker and darker.  

These signs of ageing in the skin are as a direct result of years of over exposure to UV. Our hands are almost always exposed, and the skin of the decolletage is impacted by UVA not only on the areas directly exposed but through thin layers of clothing also.   

 Whilst the signs of ageing are the same in both these areas, and therefore the most effective treatments are the same, they can be very difficult to deliver – albeit for different reasons.   

The chest, or decolletage, is extremely sensitive. The skin here is as thin as that around our eyes and the pore size is very small. Not only that, we have more creases here which means product can settle in areas and cause irritation.  

To specifically address all of this I’ve created The Body Special. This is a precision-targeted cream for the chest and hands to expertly tackle visible signs of ageing caused by sun damage and collagen depletion in one simple step.  

This formula contains the most well-evidenced active ingredients combined with skin conditioning ingredients in a base with reduced preservatives which means it is tolerated by even really sensitive skin. Therefore we can effectively treat the skin on the chest and skin on the hands in a single step with a formula that is powerful enough to deliver positive visible change in these areas. This formula has been 3 years in the making and is the combination of expert medicine, dermatology, and pharmaceuticals.   

Order your Body Special

Key Ingredients  

The cream is built around a perfectly balanced ratio – 10-4-2 – with actives working on different cellular pathways to tackle pigmentation, oxidative-stress, hydration and collagen depletion.    

10% azelaic acid supresses overactive melanocytes to visibly reduce age spots and stop new ones from forming, whilst also acting as an anti-oxidant to reduce future cellular damage   

4% Niacinamide regulates melanin production while supporting the skin to repair signs of past damage.   

2% Kojic Acid effectively reduces hyperpigmentation by inhibiting the production of melanin in the skin. Additionally, it works as an antioxidant to counteract the free radical damage prompted by daily sun exposure.   

A combination of hydrolysed collagen peptides, cholesterol, squalene and ceramides nourish the skin barrier to support optimum skin health.    

Together, these ingredients working in synergy deliver skin that is reduced of pigmentation, soft, smooth, and radiant.    

The formulation itself is luxurious to apply with a cream-to-serum texture that is instantly absorbed, leaving only a sensation of beautifully moisturised skin.  

Is it suitable for my SkinSize™?  

The skin on our hands and chest is not as nuanced as that on our faces, and the UV-induced ageing related concerns that we are treating are universal, and so we’ve been able to formulate The Body Special for all SkinSizes™. It is therefore SkinSize™ neutral and we’ve called this SkinSize™ 00.  

How to apply?  

The Body Special is not a lotion for lathering on. It is a precision targeted treatment for the chest and hands. The cream-to-serum formula should be applied as the final step of your evening routine.   

First gently cleanse the areas. Pat your skin dry. Then apply 2 pumps to the chest and 1 pump to the back of each hand, focusing on any visible age spots. If you’d like to extend treatment then you can also take it up the arms, or on to the shoulders with additional pumps.   

We recommend doing this routine after your facial skincare routine so you don’t spread the active ingredients into sensitive areas of the face. With daily use you will see positive results in 12 weeks.  

Order your Body Special

CLINICAL TRIAL & EVIDENCE 

The Body Special Clinical Trial  

  • 100% of candidates noticed an improvement in their skin texture and 83% noticed a good – excellent improvement. 
  • In those with unwanted pigmentation (age spots), 100% of test candidates noted a good to excellent improvement and 30% had a dramatic improvement. 
  • 100% of candidates felt their skin to be more rejuvenated and 83% felt their hands and chest skin were dramatically more rejuvenated. 
  • Skin turgor and elasticity was noted to improve in 100% of candidates. 

12 candidates, daily use for 3 months, January-March 2024 

Evidence for active ingredients 

KOJIC ACID 

Kojic Acid is a tyrosinase kinase inhibitor meaning that it blocks the conversion of tyrosine to melanin. By regulating this activity in overactive cells, it can reduce unwanted pigmentation. 

Kojic acid reduces skin discoloration by increasing skin brightness in 75% of patients tested, reducing skin contrast in approximately 83% and increasing skin homogeneity in approximately 67% of patients. 

12 patients J Clin Med. 2023 Apr; 12(7): 2710 

NIACINAMIDE 

4% Niacinamide induces a decrease in pigmentation, inflammatory infiltrate, and solar elastosis.  

RCT data 27 patients Dermatol Res Pract. 2011; 2011: 37917 

AZELAIC ACID 

Azelaic acid cream yielded 65% good or excellent results in reduction of unwanted hyperpigmentation  

RCT data 329  patients – Int J Dermatol. 1991 Dec;30(12):893-5 

 

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What are actives in skincare?

Every skincare product starts degrading once it’s opened. Too often we can find ourselves acting as if every bottle contains a perfect, unchanging supply. 

And worse, some companies like for us to think this way. There are plenty of watered-down products that don’t deliver on real ingredients. 

One culprit behind ineffective skincare products is time. There’s no fighting against the natural degradation of our products. 

But there’s a way that we can learn to work with it. It comes down to understanding actives in skincare products and how to use them before we lose them. 

What are actives in skincare? 

In skincare, an ‘active’ ingredient is the most potent part of the formulation. It’s the element that’s meant to target a particular concern. 

Some examples of active ingredients would be Vitamin A for anti-ageing, or ceramides for moisturising.  

The word ‘ingredient’ is helpful to getting the most effective skincare products. Because as with food ingredients, skincare formulations can go bad too. 

How to know if the actives in my skincare are working? 

The most effective actives are as fresh as possible. However, many skincare products don’t come with a clear expiration date.  

Some product containers will have a PAO (period after opening) label. This symbol will tell you how long you have to use up the product. For example, ‘12M’ would mean the product is good to use for 12 months. 

Active ingredients are sensitive to light and heat, and will degrade over time without proper storage. Sometimes a smell or change in colour means that the active ingredients are no longer good.

Aside from that, there aren’t many ways to know that something’s ‘off’. But even before expiry, plenty of people aren’t getting the best use from their products.  

Most skincare formulations expire faster than you might think. One study that examined retinoids found that almost all tested products had degraded by up to 80% within 6 months. 

When you go to a restaurant, you’d trust that every ingredient was prepared carefully and immediately. With skincare, it’s a little more difficult since we can’t see the ‘kitchen.’  

Even with the highest-quality skincare, it’s only a matter of time before it goes bad. Getting the best out of your products means taking expiry as seriously as you do with your food. 

Ensuring peak potency in the Klira Special 

At Klira, we have a plan to make sure you’re not putting weak, watered-down products into your routine. 

The Klira Special has a formula to ensure potency: Ingredient x Dose x Base. 

The ingredients are the Special’s powerful skincare actives. These are the parts of the formulation that directly address your skincare goals and concerns. 

The dose is a carefully calibrated method to add more actives, bit by bit. As you continue with a new Klira Special each month, the right ingredients will be sprinkled in to customise your treatment. 

And the base is the luxurious mixer that brings all the actives together. Just like an excellent chocolate seamlessly blends cocoa, milk, and sugar, the Klira Special’s base is the silky, lotion-like element that binds together the formulation’s different ingredients. 

We don’t create formulations en masse, and we don’t intend them to be one-size-fits all. Instead, each Klira Special is unique and evolving. It’s individually packaged and shipped out while it’s fresh. 

There’s no time (or money) to waste on ineffective, low-grade formulations. We don’t want you to spend on skincare that’s halfway to its expiration date. 

The Klira Special is designed for skincare that’s specific, not general. It aims to promote health, not just surface looks. 

What goes on your face should be fresh. At Klira, we’re creating those meticulous formulations for radiant results. 

Exponent sources 

  1. Retinoid stability and degradation kinetics in commercial cosmetic products 
  2. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jocd.13852?af=R 
  3. dating of cosmetics 
  4. https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-labeling/shelf-life-and-expiration-dating-cosmetics 
  • What are active ingredients? 
  • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0927776522003599 
  • For this purpose, cosmetic industries use active ingredients with multifunctional properties [4], [5], [6], [7] (antioxidant, anti-aging, photo-protective, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, …). However, these compounds are generally sensitive to various external factors such as light, temperature, oxygen and pH [5], which can lead to their degradation.