Each year the awards season leaves us a little envious of red carpet ready, mega -watt glow of celebrities who look younger by the day. No stranger to expert intervention, these beauties do not leave it to chance before the big reveal.
Closer to home, we’ve tracked down Australia’s own skin care guru and go-to-man for celebrities and the triple A List. Mild mannered Dr. Geoffrey Heber is the cosmetic physician and founder of Ultraceuticals that’s on the speed dial of stylists and local beauties seeking his advice and intervention for all things skin and anti-ageing..
His secret weapon of choice? Cosmeceuticals and just the right amount of skin-tervention. We caught up with the good Doctor and asked him to share his best-kept skincare secrets worthy of the spotlight.
RESCU: What exactly is a cosmeceutical?
Dr. Heber: The term cosmeceutical was coined from the terms cosmetic and pharmaceutical. It implies a cosmetic with a therapeutic effect.
RESCU: What’s the biggest mistake Australian women make in choosing skincare, and why?
Dr. Heber: Buying products for which there is no evidence available to support activity claims. In a highly competitive market there is a great temptation for marketers to step over the line.
RESCU: How do we take action to target uneven skintone and pigmentation? Is correction necessary before brightening can occur?
Dr. Heber: This is a multi-step process. No treatment will work without daily application of a high SPF broad spectrum moisturizing sunscreen. For maximum results a brightening product should contain active ingredients that reduce pigment production at several different steps in the process. An exfoliating ingredient such as retinol, an AHA or salicylic acid is needed to exfoliate surface skin cells that have had excess pigment deposited in them. This will lead to brightening of the skin.
RESCU: In terms of a skincare routine, where does a brightening product fit in? Is there a specific product that must be applied before or after it?
Dr. Heber: Exfoliation before application of the brightening product a few times a week will be helpful. In the mornings a high SPF sunscreen should be applied after the brightening product.
RESCU: For excessive dryness, what is the best way to keep skin hydrated? Do we use a cream, serum, mask..?
Dr. Heber: It is not really the form of the product that is important but the ingredients in it and that it suits the level of dryness of your skin. An oily skin might get by with a humectant hyaluronan product. Very dry skin will need a combination of heavier occlusive (e.g. dimethicone), emollient (e.g. cholesterol) and humectant (e.g. glycerin) ingredients.
RESCU: Are there ingredients that we should be looking for to combat dull skin caused by ageing? Will these ingredients aid ageing as well as brightening?
Dr. Heber: The most effective products to combat dull skin contain over about 8% AHA at a low pH (pH4 or less). The use of such products has been described as like “wiping the mist off a bathroom mirror” to restore lustre and glow. The AHA ingredients lactic, citric and glycolic acid have been shown to stimulate new collagen and hyaluronan production to plump up the skin. Skin lightening ingredients such as oxyresveratrol will help even skin tone.
RESCU: So how do AHA’s impact our skin, and how can they aid a glowing complexion?
Dr. Heber: AHA’s have been shown to loosen bonds between dead skin cells at the base of the surface horny layer of the skin. This accelerates and increases the natural exfoliation process. They aid a glowing complexion by allowing more visible light to enter the skin and to be reflected back rather than be absorbed by a thick and dull horny later.
RESCU: What role does SPF as a preventative play in the role of brightening, and what products are essential to give sun-damaged skin its glow back?
Dr. Heber: SPF plays a key role in maintaining a bright skin, as it is free radicals generated by UV light after entering the skin that is the main trigger for pigmentation, photoageing and dullness. There is still nothing to compete with the efficacy of salicylic acid, AHA’s and retinol to chemically exfoliate and restore lustre and glow.
RESCU: Is there a way to prevent hyperpigmentation and uneven skintone returning – should our skincare routine be active or reactive?
Dr. Heber: It is easier to prevent these problems than treat them once they have occurred so skin care should be active.
Ready to step into the light? Find out more about brightening and the Heber-Davis Skin clinic or online.
Ultraceuticals is a sponsored partner of RESCU.com.au