A Delicate Balance

How Lactic Acid Helps Maintain Skin’s Equilibrium

As the seasons change, so does your skin. For many of us, the onset of winter coincides with dull, dry or cracked skin. While exfoliating, which promotes cellular turnover and the shedding of old skin, is an integral part of refreshing and revitalizing your complexion, maintaining a sufficient level of moisture is also essential to the health and vitality of the skin.

Like skin itself, the balance between exfoliation and hydration is quite delicate, particularly during the cooler, drier months. Maintaining this delicate, seasonal balance is the perfect job for lactic acid. Derived from milk or yogurt, lactic acid is a member of the alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) family, widely recognized for its superior exfoliating and anti-aging properties. But unlike other AHAs (i.e. glycolic, malic, citric and tartaric acids), lactic acid is a unique skin-softening agent, prized for its moisture-rich composition and special ability to accelerate the sloughing process without provoking irritation. Because lactic acid penetrates skin with an ease that renders it safe enough for dry and sensitive skin types, this gentle exfoliant can be found in a variety of skin treatment products including peels, cleansers, masks and serums.

But despite its current popularity within the skin care industry—due to the rising consumer demand for all-natural ingredients-treating skin with lactic acid is far from a new phenomenon. In fact, Cleopatra is said to have regularly bathed in sour milk to pamper her skin.

Though lactic acid spa therapies have come a long way since the days of ancient Egypt, the benefits remain the same: diminished fine lines and wrinkles; reduced age spots and discolorations; improved skin texture; and increased collagen production.

As a primary component of the skin’s natural moisturizing factor (NMF)—a mixture of water-soluble substances found in the stratum corneum—lactic acid acts as a humectant that draws water into the skin’s upper layers to replenish natural reserves. By preventing transepidermal water loss and helping to preserve the complex intercellular skin matrix, NMFs give skin a smoother, suppler, younger looking appearance. According to CosMedix Co-founder and Vice Chairman of the Board Bettylou McIntosh, “It is all about hydration. We believe in supporting the skin and encouraging production of the body’s own natural moisture factor. NMFs such as lactic acid bring balance to the body and allow the skin to operate at optimum capacity, even under low humidity.”

CosMedix is certainly no stranger to the natural approach. With the help of advanced chiral technology, CosMedix filters ingredients to their purest, most elemental forms and selects only those molecules that will positively interact with skin cells’ receptors.

This chemical correction process ensures that ingredients like lactic acid yield superior results with maximum efficacy while minimizing the possibility of inflammation. McIntosh explains, “While chirally correct L-lactic acid is an effective, non-irritating AHA, non-purified D-lactic acid is ineffectual and may actually damage the skin.”

With CosMedix’s wide range of potent, chirally correct, lactic acid-based remedies designed to treat the most sensitive of skin conditions—from excessive blemishing and redness to hyperpigmentation and photodamage—rough, dry skin can finally shed those winter woes.

LACTIC ACID

Chirally correct L-lactic acid stimulates change in the skin without irritation, making it an ideal choice for all skin types and conditions. CosMedix incorporates this naturally moisturizing exfoliant into several of its nourishing, anti-aging skin care products.

Timeless Peel
Safe but highly effective, Timeless Peel utilizes L-lactic acid to encourage cell turnover and protein synthesis while also increasing skin’s moisture level for an age-defying, smooth-textured complexion.

Define
Fortified with L-lactic acid and aloe vera, this unique resurfacing treatment delivers nutrients deep into the skin’s layers, pushing the activity of the skin to an active yet well-tolerated level of remodeling.

Pure Enzymes
This refreshing yet powerful exfoliating mask harnesses the natural power of cranberry enzymes and L-lactic acid to tenderly scrub away facial impurities and add dewy softness to skin.