Is Hyaluronic Acid The Secret to Moisturised Skin?

Hyaluronic Acid (Sodium Hyaluronate or I’ll be calling it HA from now on) is one of the proteins that is naturally present in human body and all living organisms for that matter.

In the deeper layer of skin (dermis) lies a network of elastic fibres, collagen and a clear fluid. That clear fluid is HA and its job is to hold a great amount of moisture and repair tissue. HA is also present in joint cartilage and eyes, but in skin it’s most abundant and that’s what I’ll focus on. This is a make up and skincare blog, after all :)

Unfortunately as we age, our body produces less and less HA and that leads to skin losing its plumpness, so we develop lines and wrinkles.

But there are a couple of things we can do.

I’ll come out with one obvious way of HA use in modern skin care.

The fillers.

Or what people used to call “collagen” fillers. I am calling use of fillers “skin care” as they are widely accepted these days and are being done on our lunch breaks…

Doctors, dermatologists are using animal HA and injecting it into the skin in the form of Restylane or Juvederm. Once injected, the HA adds volume to the skin and lines and wrinkles disappear. The effect is temporary. The problem of some celebrities, that they are not temporary enough (not naming names)! They still last for good six months or thereabouts.

Needle-phobes might choose the next option. Topical application. I mean slathering of cream on your face.

Just a bit more scientific blurb to explain what else happens in the skin…

So another by-product of HA is increase of retinoic acid, which leads to more hydration in the skin.

That can be achieved by either injections or use of Hyaluonic acid in face creams.

That effect of HA applied in creams is even more temporary, but I do believe that increased hydration is a good thing and my personal opinion that topical HA will be broken down in the skin (a process called hyaluronidase) and produce sugars that will stimulate our natural HA production.

So there you have it! HA is a very useful ingredient in creams.  Look out for it.

Rodial skincare has even got a whole Dragon’s Blood line of products  enriched with the ingredient and lots more of upmarket cosmetics companies use it in their formulas.

If you really want to experiment, you can buy a vial of HA online and add it to your favourite cream. It comes as a fine white powder, but it will thicken any cream and go lumpy if you don’t mix it in well, but the effects are there. 

Happy testing!