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If you have been following us, or enjoying our skincare solutions, you know exactly what we’re about!
First and foremost, we care about the health of your skin! Every single formula we make is designed with purpose. To be as results oriented as possible. To solve your skin concerns and leave your skin as healthy as it can be.
The thing is, we are chemists and we work carefully and deliberately. When we work on a problem we have to start at the beginning at its core. Thus oftentimes to solve a problem we must work at the cellular or molecular level. This means that at times results happen in small invisible places not noticeable to or appreciated by the naked eye. All formulas are designed to address a certain issue and to work with the natural ability of the body. Sometimes results happen where we can’t see them, but that doesn’t mean that good things aren’t happening.
We can go on all day about how we’re able to improve the overall health and quality of your skin. How it begins at the cellular level. We can even run tests and provide proof. But the reality is, no matter how complex the problem sometimes we just want our skin to look better.
As formulators we design skincare solutions specifically to perform a task. Some are designed to do one thing, others designed to do another. Regardless of what a product is designed to do, we all want the same thing. Visible results. Positive results. We all want to see a visible improvement in our skin. Whether it be by plumping out wrinkles, correcting hyperpigmentation, or addresing specifc issues that will improve your appearance.
It’s kind of like going to the gym – sure, actually being healthy is great! But let’s be real, we all do it because we want to look good too.
And skincare works the same way – we recognize that a skincare routine is one’s pursuit of their perfect complexion. Skin that is happy, healthy, balanced, and beautiful!
So, this is all a slightly long-winded way of introducing the skincare ingredient that is going to do just that. That is, give you those satisfying, quick (but long-lasting), and easily recognizable results! Perfect complexion seekers, meet Azelaic Acid.
Azelaic acid is naturally occurring in the skin. In chemistry, it is extracted from wheat, barley, rye or palm leaf (the later being guten-free)! It is neither an AHA, BHA nor a Retinoid. Azelaic acid is a dicarboxcylic acid which puts it in a category all its own!
In our skin, it is produced by our microbiome. The microbiome is a shield of healthy bacteria and yeast that live on our skin. The microbiome helps boost skin barrier function and mitigate damages. With changes in environment and stressors of all types the microbiome is easily compromised. When our skin breaks out, is inflammed or misbehaves, we now see this as evidnce that the microbiome is not working properly. So for basic skin health, azelaic acid plays an important role, however its power and usefulness does not stop here. Azelaic acid has been called the dermatologist secret weapon for healthy clear skin. Because of its huge potential for serious skin issues, it’s important to unpack all that this ingredient can do.
Azelaic is one of the absolute best acne fighters in the skincare game. Azelaic acid skincare products can eliminate all traces of acne on your skin; past, present and future! It encourages cell turnover to heal old acne scars. It reduces inflammation to diminish the visibility and irritation of current blemishes. An, it exfoliates deep in the pores to clear our excess sebum and/or bacteria that can cause future breakouts. There are a lot of options out there; salicylic acid, AHAs, retinol, tea tree oil and so on – all great and super effective, but for a holistic approach to targeting your acne and surface blemishes, it doesn’t get much better than Azelaic acid.
When it comes to the aesthetic appearance of our skin, one common issue is hyperpigmentation. This simply means that some areas of the skin are darker than your actual complexion. Think of it as a type of stain on the skin from the sun or environment. This leaves the skin with an uneven colour knowns as hyperpigmentation. So, with that said, evening out your skin tone so that you have one consistent complexion will go so far in improving the look of your skin. As far as hyperpigmentation-correcting skincare actives go – Azelaic acid is without a doubt in the upper echelon!
Rosacea is a serious skin concern. Unfortunately it causes such dramatic inflammation in the skin and leave the skin with a variety of marks and blemishes. It can cause swelling, flushing, papules (clusters of red bumps), pustules (clusters of pus-filled bumps) and tiny blood vessels to become visible near the surface of the skin. To those affected, rosacea can be very difficult to deal with – luckily, Azelaic acid has shown to be able to mitigate this. At concentrations of 15% and higher the FDA has approved Azelaic acid for the treatment of rosacea.
Inflammation is a very common and serious skin concern. It is not uncommon to have periods of skin redness and irritation from time to time. When the skin is inflammed it is telling you something. It is telling you it is unhappy, something is irritating it or making it weaker. This is why it is important to address redness and sensitivity as soon as you can. Inflammation is a stress reaction and stress makes us weaker and affects our immune response. So when you have skin that is reacting badly to a situation whatever it is, addressing it early and properly can mitigate damage and premature aging. Along with antimicrobial and anti-bacterial properties, Azelaic acid has anti- inflammatory benefits that are fantastic for soothing the skin to a calm, balanced state.
By this point, we’re sure you’re all convinced by the prowess Azelaic acid has when it comes to refreshing, refining, and reinvigorating the skin! But let’s not ignore the fact that this is also doing great things. This Is the type of ingredient that is working beneath the surface, improving the health and function of your skin in ways that we cannot see. To call back to that gym reference, Azelaic is both the 20-min yoga stretch (not intensive or muscle-building, but so important for your body) and the psychopathic CrossFit workout that’s going to have you strong and looking your best!
So, to that point, let’s talk about a couple of those beneath the surface benefits that are going to improve the health of your skin:
This is about that all-important acid mantle and microbiome, which are parts of your skin’s microscopic barrier, and them functioning optimally is a crucial component to having healthy skin! Azelaic acid helps set your skin’s pH at its correct level. That is, it helps maintain an acidic pH on the skin surface. To recap the skin surface has a living layer called a microbiome. This living layer hosts bacteria and yeast that help keep our skin healthy and beautiful. The ideal living conditions of the microbiome is an acidic climate or pH. So the ability to maintain this more acidic pH is vital to skin health.
Although this process does technically show visibly on your skin (added smoothness and radiance), the really important benefits are happening beneath the surface. With Azelaic acid helping to boost the rate of cellular turnover, your skin cells are constantly renewing and replacing older, less productive, cells with new ones that are energetic and super functional!
Quick lesson on antioxidants here – free radicals (which are everywhere) want to get into the deep layers of our skin and break apart bonds between proteins, which then in turn causes our skin to age and its overall quality to diminish. What an antioxidant does is basically act like a shield to those protein bonds, and they take that free radical hit instead! So, because Azelaic acid is also an antioxidant, it improves the health (and appearance, once again) of your skin by protecting it from environmental stress!
Alright, well that was a whole lot of skin-benefits – so let’s do a quick recap!
Azelaic acid benefits the LOOK, function, and overall quality of your skin in a myriad of ways, including:
So, after this blog, we hope you are all convinced that Azelaic acid NEEDS to be an element of your skin care routine. Especially for those who are looking for those visible results that are going to revitalize the overall health and appearance of your skin! Including the right Azelaic acid solution can be the skin care decision that helps you get that beautiful, vital, and balanced skin you’ve always wanted.
Clearly, the whole team over here at Isomers Laboratories are big fans of Azelaic acid. Consequently we have formulated a few products with this wonderfully multifunctional ingredient! The important thing here is that Azelaic is the ingredient that’s helping your skin inside and out. It works in a myriad of ways. If you would like to try our Azelaic acid formulas, you can check out the links below:
