The Unique Ingredients in the Repair Cream

By: Dr. Jetske Ultee
The Unique Ingredients in the Repair Cream
What is it that makes our new Repair Cream unique? Could you not just put some Vaseline on dry skin? If your skin is sensitive, irritated, broken or raw, then you need soothing, anti-inflammatory, healing substances. What does this cream offer?

The impermeable cement layer in the skin

The ceramides are one of the most important active ingredients in the Repair Cream. Along with cholesterol and free fatty acids, these substances occur naturally in the skin. There in the outermost skin layer, these lipids together make up the protective ‘fatty’ cement layer between the skin cells. Ceramides therefore also play an important part in the proper functioning of the skin barrier.

Older, drier and more irritated

When the supply of ceramides in the skin is too low, an immediate increase in the so-called trans-epidermal water loss follows. Or in other words, the skin loses moisture more easily and becomes dry and irritated more quickly. The barrier function becomes weaker, making it easier for bacteria and dirt to penetrate through. This process increases the older you get. In particular, your ceramide levels drop with the increasing years. While your ceramide levels are still at 100% in your twenties, by the time you reach fifty they have dropped to 37%. And did you know that people with skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema and even acne have a reduced level of ceramides in the skin?


Unique complex of the skin’s own lipids

The accompaniment of these special ‘skin fats’ is basically no unnecessary luxury. You can stimulate the production of ceramides with certain beneficial ingredients in your skincare, such as niacinamide. But for the rapid recovery of a damaged skin barrier, you can apply ceramides directly onto the skin. In order for proper uptake by the skin, it is essential that ceramides are combined with cholesterol and free fatty acids. And in exactly the same proportions as in the lipid barrier of the skin itself. According to research, ceramides alone in a cream, so without cholesterol and free fatty acids, or only cholesterol in a cream, upsets the skin barrier and delays recovery. The Repair Cream contains a unique complex of lipids in exactly the right composition.

Phytosphingosine fights bacteria and redness

But the Repair Cream contains even more the so-called skin’s own lipids, such as phytosphingosine. This substance is also found naturally in the stratum corneum. Phytosphingosine has an anti-bacterial effect and is therefore seen as an important player in the defence line that the skin forms against the outside world. So in cosmetics, the ingredient receives a great deal of attention. When applied onto the skin phytosphingosine helps protect the barrier, the ingredient furthermore reduces redness and is anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial. And those are, of course, super properties which a damaged skin can use.

The best of oats

As well as the skin’s own lipids, the Repair Cream also contains other special ingredients, such as a concentrated extract of oat. Oat is a super product, whose performance is being increasingly confirmed through more research as helping with skin problems. It’s not for nothing that the American supervisory body for food and medicine (FDA) has recognised oat as a skin protectant.

Relief for rashes and itching

Apart from protecting and hydrating, oat also has a cleansing, soothing and antioxidant effect. The ingredient can also (temporarily) relieve the skin from rashes, eczema, insect bites and poisonous plants (such as stinging nettles or oak). The Repair Cream does not contain the whole oat kernel but instead an extract of it which is extremely effective. A small amount of this is needed in order to be beneficial.

Extra smooth thanks to panthenol and shea butter

Finally, the Repair Cream contains another couple of very fine, gentle ingredients which are very comforting if your skin has had a bad time. Those are panthenol and shea butter. These substances can repair the skin barrier and are, at the same time, anti-inflammatory, soothing and hydrating. And that can come in very handy for sensitive and damaged skin. Skin analysis Dr. Jetske Ultee Also read: Our new favourite: Repair Cream

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