10 Scientific discoveries about beauty and your body
For more than 100 years, L’Oréal has been in constant search for cutting-edge scientific discoveries and game-changing technologies for more transparency and trust in our products. Today, our scientists around the world maintain our focus on discovering new ways to take beauty further.
Understanding skin, hair, and our bodies through science has helped L’Oréal unveil endless possibilities to create adapted beauty products for millions of consumers around the world. We are convinced that sharing this scientific knowledge will also blow your mind; this is why we have invited a few of our scientists to share with you their latest discoveries around the 2020 IFSCC Congress in Yokohama. Here are 10 scientific discoveries about beauty and your body.
As we age, our sense of touch decreases
As we grow older, our capacity to perceive the world through the sense of touch decreases, making us less sensitive to the tactile environment. This sense might seem less important compared to other senses but it’s extremely relevant when it comes to experiencing pleasure, physical connection, and human proximity. L’Oréal scientists have discovered that with innovative formulas, the sensorial perception can be driven by the activation of mechanoreceptors located below the skin surface. A new promising target to improve skin comfort or restore our capacity to perceive the world at any age.
Source: Skin peripheral neurous system: a new target for antiaging benefits. C. El Rawadi et al. Decoding skin comfort: The role of skin biomechanics and mechano-transduction underlying consumer perception. A. Potter et al.
Pollution affects your skin
Air pollutants in combination with sun exposure are known to accelerate skin aging. To protect our skin from external aggressions, our researchers have developed a cream that adapts to the environment to provide unique UV and pollution protection against water, sebum, sweat, and friction. This film can reconstruct itself if scratched or damaged to continuously protect your skin. Watch it in action:
Source: Environment adapting self-healing hydrogel for ultimate skin protection. H. Asanuma et al.
Our skin is a realm of bacteria!
Your skin microbiome is a diverse community of microorganisms. It’s an ecosystem made up of varied bacteria, fungi, and viruses that are all on the surface of your skin. These microorganisms making up your microbiome provide several benefits including protecting you from more harmful organisms. The genetic makeup is totally unique to you, like a fingerprint! Normally, microorganisms feed on compounds (amino acids and lipids) present in sebum. By nourishing the skin microbiome with specific ingredients, the skin’s natural secretion of sebum can be relaunched, presumably even after menopause.
Source: Skin Microbiome: A novel target to manage skin aging in Elderly. T. Chopra et al.
Skin can be reconstructed!
After 40 years of research, our teams have created vascularized reconstructed skins — a new model that better mimics the real human skin. Creating vascularized skin helps us understand how skin will react to a certain stimulus and make sure that we create the best products for you.
Source: A perfusable vascularized full-thickness skin model for topical and systemic applications. S. Salameh et al.
Photoprotection is also for black skins
It is widely known that white skins are sensitive to the sun — but black skins are also sensitive to aging damages. Sunscreen is made for all skins especially daily photoprotection!
Source: The African skin: Understanding the desires and the needs. P. Sewraj et al.
Space technology serves beauty and vice-versa
Using spatial technology, we are able to look at extremely small pixels, which allows us to understand your skin better and improve the overall performance of our products. The teams at L’Oréal are on the way to seeing a clearer image of the skin which could not be viewed with previous technologies.
Source: From Space to Skin Research: Applying Hyperspectral Imaging and Deep-learning Techniques to The Evaluation of Cosmetics. C. Blaksley et al.
On the same note, in August 2019, the International space station welcomed onboard the Mini-EUSO- a groundbreaking new telescope for the study of cosmic emissions, which helps unlock the mysteries of the cosmos. L’Oréal’s long-standing experience in multi-spectral image processing and handling was a key factor in the success of creating the Mini-EUSO in both the project and construction phase.
Wear sunscreen at home
Sunscreen is not only for the beach. Research has shown that to fight against aging and pigmentation, you need to be protected from UVBs, but also UVAs and the blue light from the sun — both get through your windows! Wearing sunscreen must be part of your daily skin routine as you’re exposed to daylight.
Source: The important contribution of UVA1, visible light, and HEV light on solar light — Induced skin pigmentation. V. Piffaut et al.
Blackheads are not what you think
Caused by a bacteria called C.acnes, a blackhead is actually a plug of dead cells, lipids, hair, and pigment.
Source: New insights to explain the color of blackheads: structural investigation and local microbial ecosystem implication. A. Potter et al.
Smart selfies
The days where your foundation did not match your skin are long gone. We have created an algorithm that will help you find the perfect shade with a selfie! The best part is that the algorithm is able to provide accurate results with any smartphone camera even with poor lighting and changes of color.
Source: Toward online foundation shade recommendation: skin color estimation from smartphone images through Deep Learning. R. Kips
Men and women age differently
Based on three studies regrouping about 680 men and women, our scientists could identify that signs of aging vary between men and women. For women, they are more pronounced on the bottom of their face, whilst for men, it’s more pronounced on the top of their faces.
Source: Chinese Men Faces: Impacts of age, sun-exposure, aerial pollution, and gender specificity. F. Flament et al.
That’s it for now! Head over to our dedicated site if you want to discover more facts about science and technology at L’Oréal:
