Reference Lab
OCT 5, 2022
What’s the one skincare step that can make or break your routine? Cleansing! While most cleansers remove surface-level dirt and impurities, the right cleanser can also improve the penetration of whatever products you apply next–giving you better results from the products you already use. That’s why OneSkin developed PREP: a gentle daily cleanser for all skin types that’s scientifically proven to maximize the effectiveness of OS-01 FACE.
01What is PREP?
PREP is a gentle daily cleanser that prepares your skin to fully absorb the active ingredients in our OS-01 FACE Topical Supplement, especially our proprietary peptide, OS-01.
PREP works by:
- Preparing your skin to receive the OS-01 peptide: This gentle formula removes impurities that can prevent your skin from absorbing topical treatments to ensure maximum results from the OS-01 peptide, including enhanced hydration.
- Gently exfoliating without irritation: Helps skin shed dead cells to speed renewal and turnover.
- Protecting skin barrier & microbiome: Preserves the beneficial lipids and microbes that shield skin from environmental aggressors.
- Maintaining hydration while controlling oil: Protects against water loss while preventing pore congestion in acne-prone skin.
- Soothing skin as it cleanses to support even the most reactive skin.
02The Science Behind PREP
Using PREP is scientifically proven to increase the hydration effects of OS-01 FACE
By measuring the activity of a key gene associated with skin hydration (AQP3) before and after treatment in 46-year-old ex vivo skin, our scientists found that using PREP in combination with OS-01 FACE improved AQP3 activity by 40%, versus using OS-01 FACE alone. This means that by using PREP before OS-01 FACE, your skin is even better equipped to maintain optimal hydration than when using OS-01 FACE alone.
Using PREP before OS-01 FACE doubles peptide penetration
By comparing the amount of the OS-01 peptide present in the dermis layer of 54-year-old donor skin after treatment with OS-01 FACE, our scientists found that the OS-01 peptide absorbs 2.2 times more effectively when skin is pre-cleansed with PREP versus not pre-cleansed. This means that using PREP prior to OS-01 FACE could more than double the peptide penetration, and with a higher peptide concentration in the deeper layers of your skin, you should experience enhanced effects from using OS-01 FACE.
How do we measure penetration?
You may be wondering how it’s possible to measure penetration of the OS-01 peptide in skin. Here’s a peek into how our scientists do it:
Our scientists took pieces of ex vivo donor skin and treated each sample with either: PREP and OS-01 FACE, or OS-01 FACE alone. The samples were placed in a Franz Cell, a scientific system designed to mimic the penetration of actives in skin, and then incubated overnight. The layers of the skin were then separated and the peptide concentration in the dermis (lower layer) was analyzed using mass spectrometry.
The results showed that the concentration of peptide found in the dermis was 2.2x higher in the sample that had been primed with PREP compared to the sample without.
Why penetration matters
While many topical skin products contain beneficial ingredients, you may never see results if those ingredients don’t enter the deeper layers of skin. Unfortunately, testing the penetration of key ingredients within formulations isn’t something that most skin care companies do. So while you could be buying products with all of the right ingredients, they might just be sitting on top of your skin rather than actually transforming it.
Because penetration is half the battle when it comes to topical product efficacy, OneSkin has made penetration testing a core step in our R&D process, informing our choices when it comes to peptide concentration, raw material selection, and formulation development.
What results will PREP enhance?
OS-01 FACE is powered by the OS-01 peptide, which was developed by OneSkin’s team of scientists to reverse aging on the molecular level in skin. The OS-01 peptide has been scientifically proven to both reduce the burden of senescent cells in the skin and stimulate the renewal of new skin cells.* It also activates key genes associated with collagen and hyaluronic acid production while reducing the activity of aging and inflammation genes.* In a 12-week clinical study evaluating the efficacy of OS-01 FACE, participants observed improvements in skin barrier function, wrinkles, fine lines, and elasticity. Because PREP increases the concentration of the OS-01 peptide in skin, more pronounced results are expected from use of both. Stay tuned! Our scientists plan on collecting even more data on these enhanced effects in the future.
03Key Takeaways
- PREP is a gentle cleanser that removes impurities and uses gentle exfoliation to cleanse the skin.
- PREP prepares the skin to receive topical ingredients into the deeper layers of the skin.
- Studies have shown that using PREP before OS-01 FACE doubles the OS-01 peptide penetration*, likely increasing the effectiveness of OS-01 FACE.
- Studies have shown that using PREP in combination with OS-01 FACE improved AQP3 (a key gene associated with skin hydration) activity by 40%, versus using OS-01 FACE alone.*
*Shown in lab grown ex-vivo human skin models
By Kylie Nicholson. Kylie is studying Biosystems energy at the University of California, San Diego and is passionate about scientific writing and vaccination research.