It’s no secret that, for years, skincare brands have been convincing consumers that their anti-aging products work, and consumers have blindly believed various claims without any proof of benefit beyond what the eye can see.
It’s taken us at The Laser Beautique over 10 years to launch a skincare range. Why? Because we could never put our hand on our heart and feel confident enough to say, we know this works in the deeper layers of the skin and prove it. With the newly launched Laser Beautique Scientific Skincare range, we can prove results to each client who uses the brand. And it will only take 3 weeks!
Since 2009, we have successfully proven deep dermal results, with our state-of-the-art technology facials, for example Ultrasound, Radio frequency, Near infrared, Microneedling, certain Peels, CooLifting and various other laser facials we offer.
One can clearly see the difference before and after a technology facial at The Laser Beautique. You can see a fine line has significantly improved or disappeared or we can remove pigmentation or a broken capillary BUT when it comes to topical homecare products, it has always been a struggle to physically prove results. Yes we can show improved skin surface. We can clear acne and hydrate the surface of the skin but the REAL anti-aging takes place below the surface.
We have always stocked proudly South African products with impressive ingredients and studies but we have never been able to prove that under the surface of the skin, we have been able to increase collagen production. That’s up till today!
Efficacy and being able to prove results are two indispensable principles behind all we do at The Laser Beautique. Our product range has been designed to nurture, strengthen and is result driven and our claims can be proved at our store by ultrasound-scanning one’s skin “before and after”. By scanning and learning the condition of your skin, we can assist you pick the skin care products that fit your needs See below before and after ultrasound skin scan.
One simply needs to book an appointment at any Laser Beautique and request a complementary skin consultation. We move our advanced medical ultrasound skin scanner from branch to branch so please enquire when the next ultrasound skin scan day is. We can scans the full depth of the skin, including skin barrier, collagen fibre structures etc.
After the scan, you will be provided product recommendations and skin care advice that is specifically tailored to your skin’s condition. After only 3 weeks, one can book another skin scan and be able to see significate change in their skin.
Glowing skin is always in
The skin is the largest organ of the body and has a vital barrier role to play. Its job is to protect the body from external and internal influences, while maintaining moisture and heat. The TLB Scientific skincare brands enhances this barrier function, providing the body with the best possible protection.
In short, for best results with homecare products, one needs to starts with ensuring a healthy skin barrier. If one’s barrier is impaired, anything and everything done will get lost or will be counter-productive.
See below diagram that clearly shows a healthy skin barrier as apposed to unhealthy skin barrier
We follow a 4-step process to be able to prove increased collagen production. There are 3 main objectives:
- Protect – We first protect the skin against internal and external aggressors with an antioxidant serum and a strong sunscreen
- Prepare – We prepare and support skin by introducing a cleanser that doesn’t strip the skin, a mist that corrects one’s skin PH level and biome, and a potent home peel to initiate the formation of a stable “trellis” beneath your skin. See Gags of diagram below. This trellis acts as support for collagen and elastin to form a scaffolding to keep your skins integrity.
- Proact – Once we have skin barrier intact and prepped, skin will be able to withstand a proactive approach. We pro-act and promote collagen and elastin production with a topical retinol and specialised oral skin collagen supplement which we call Skin Food.
- Prolong – We then, further strengthen and teach skin to become resilient and we are even able to turn the hands of time with AHA/BHA Peels and in-house technology treatments.
See below diagram of healthy skin scaffolding vs weak skin scaffolding
Collagen has become a buzzword that’s turning up in everything.
You can find collagen everything! Collagen powder, collagen energy bars, collagen drinks. Every brand has got onto this bandwagon and selling their own variant of collagen. Why? And what is Collagen exactly? In short, Collagen is the key to youthful, plump skin with a healthy level of bounce-back.
Collagen is a protein that’s found throughout the body, particularly in skin, bones, ligaments and tendons. Collagen is even found in teeth and connective tissues. As you can see above, in skin, collagen provides strength, firmness, and elasticity. Collagen is produced by fibroblast cells in the dermis, the middle layer of the skin, and it makes up about 70% of the dermis and is vital for maintaining skin elasticity, skin support and health, while encouraging cell regeneration to replace and restore dead skin cells.
Most of us know that as we age, our skin gets a little “lazy” and collagen production naturally slows down. Environmental factors and aggressors such as UV exposure leads to collagen being degraded more quickly. Many signs of ageing, such as fine lines, wrinkles and slackness originate in the dermis, which as we have mentioned is the collagen-containing middle layer of our skin. The loss of collagen and elastin from our skin leads to reduced firmness and elasticity. This, together with the effects of gravity, causes our skin to sag and wrinkle.
Topical collagen
“The skincare products you need are not be the ones that have ‘collagen’ written across them in massive letters. In fact, what you need is retinol – the holy grail of anti-aging!” says Tzvia. One of the best-known topical ingredient groups to stimulate collagen in our skin are retinoids. Retinoid is the family name for all vitamin A derivatives. Retinoids don’t only support collagen production, they reduce sun damage, lighten pigmentation, and soften lines and wrinkles. However, one needs to take note that they can irritate, and should be introduced gradually, preferably in the evening and only used as tolerated. One needs to discover their tolerance level.
Ingesting collagen
Ingesting collagen has been proven to support collagen production from the inside out. “Beauty begins in the gut. We focus on supporting the skin topically and feeding and boosting collagen reserves from the inside out.” Says Hermann. Yes, it’s important to help support collagen formation by eating enough amino acids from protein-rich foods which enable our bodies to continue to produce collagen BUT in addition to a well-balanced diet that focuses on wholefoods, including a collagen supplement in your daily routine is an excellent way to boost your body’s ability to produce, protect and preserve collagen.
Not all collagen is made equally
Collagen supplements do not make collagen in our bodies or provide collagens, but they do help the vitality of the current collagen in our body stay healthy or produce faster.
Did you know that natural collagen is too huge a molecule to reach your skin intact after swallowing? Most the collagen products we see on store shelves are manufactured with natural collagen. This is similar to most vitamins we see advertised, they are simply excreted out and are not beneficial. To be absorbed in the gut and distributed to the skin, collagen needs to be smaller units (peptides and even smaller amino acids). These small collagen fragments or building blocks can be absorbed and then distributed throughout the body via the bloodstream, where they remain for several days. Because there are suddenly unusually high amounts of collagen building blocks floating around, your skin is essentially “tricked into thinking” there must be some skin breakdown or similar – a major injury, perhaps. So, your skin responds to this alert by increasing its own collagen production (fibroblasts) – conveniently using the building blocks we’ve just supplied.
The Laser Beautique Scientific Skin Food is NOT just another collagen supplement but what we call an AMINO ACID COLLAGEN BLEND of:
- Bovine Hydrolysed Collagen Peptides
- Amino Acids (Lysine, Cystine and Proline)
Lysine – acts as a binding that improve wound healing. Promote new blood vessel formation.
Cystine – Decreases oxidative stress and reduce the effects of ageing.
Proline – helps skin retain moisture adding suppleness, reduces appearance of lines and wrinkles.
TLB Skin food is both Halal and kosher.