DSM addresses hydration of facial skin ethnicities

DSM Personal Care said their research has led to new scientific insights into facial hydration and barrier function among different skin ethnicities. Its study of the efficacy of moisturizers on different facial skin types is in line the company’s Corneocare concept,  highly active ingredients providing scientifically proven benefits for greater skin-barrier functionality, which was introduced.at last year’s in-cosmetics event in Paris.

The epidermis, in particular the stratum corneum, is responsible for the skin’s barrier function – the ability of skin to protect against environmental damage such as harmful UV-rays and other external stress factors. Paradoxically, the stratum corneum on facial skin is thinner than elsewhere although the face is generally the part of the body most exposed to the external environment.

Facial skin not only differs from the skin of other parts of the body, it is also multi-faceted even within itself.  as the R&D center at DSM Personal Care has discovered. Researcher found large differences in hydration and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) values on different parts of the face.

These differences also appear to vary among different ethnic groups, opening up substantial innovation opportunities for more efficient, multi-ethnic moisturizing care.

Partnering with the University of Limpopo (South Africa), Newtone Technologies (France), and AVR Consulting (UK), DSM Personal Care has run an extensive study to generate detailed hydration and TEWL mapping of the faces of Chinese, Caucasian, Indian and Black African subjects.

A special algorithm was developed to automatically detect skin pixels and interpolate a measured value for each of the subjects after superimposing the various bio-instrumental data on the images. As a result, full continuous facial skin hydration and TEWL color maps are now available for the first time.

DSM said its findings have made it possible to demonstrate and – more importantly – to visualize not only noticeable skin hydration and TEWL gradients within short distances on the face, but also remarkable differences between the different ethnicities.

Rainer Voegeli, senior scientist Skin Biology at DSM and one of the authors of the findings, comments: “Our data will impact not only on the design of future efficacy studies but also on concepts for future facial care products. Moisturizing creams need to consider the different characteristics of various facial anatomical locations as well as the various requirements of the skin of different ethnicities. Our results will support and boost the deeper understanding of the different needs of different skin types.”