We know that dry skin provokes disagreeable sensations. We know that persistent dryness leads to cutaneous lesions that can go beyond a superficial effect. We also know that continuously wetting the skin exacerbates dryness, because pure water removes a hydrating material present in the healthy horny layer.  This material is called Natural Moisturizing Factor (NMF). It is composed by the amino acids resulting from the proteolytic digestion of filaggrin.

Filaggrin is a histidine-rich protein, discovered because of its capacity to aggregate intermediate filaments (FIL-AGGR-IN is an acronym for FILament AGGRegating proteIN). It is found in the keratohyalin granules, who give the name to the stratum granulosum. The rate of transcription of filaggrin is three times larger in young people than in the elderly, and we all know that the skin of the elderly is particularly dry. 

Water and Skin

As long as we are unable to upregulate the transcription rate of filaggrin in dry skin, we are left in the need of moisturizers, appropriate for topical application. The problem, of course, is not so much the addition of water per se, as the addition of water in such a way that it will not be removed, for instance in a concoction having the appropriate thickness and viscosity to be substantive to the surface of the skin and containing ingredients with high affinity for water.  From here originates the struggle to generate ingredients able to improve hydration and moisturization, such as glycerin, hyaluronic acid or proteoglycans, and improve formulation technologies to carry water-loving ingredients into the stratum corneum or even lower. 

Good examples of successful technologies are liposomes, niosomes, nanocapsules and similar vehicles, consisting in lipid vesicles containing water and/or water-soluble materials. They are able to vehiculate their cargo across the stratum corneum and perhaps down to the epidermis, and to keep it there. They also are endowed with an exceptional aesthetics: the creams with niosomes, introduced in the 1980s, are much lighter and easier and more agreeable to apply than the heavy emulsions that were on the market in those years.

The hydrating action of moisturizers takes place within the stratum corneum and might affect also the epidermis. This action enables the enzymes in the stratum corneum to exert their biochemical tasks such as exfoliation, proteolysis, glycolysis, antiviral and antibacterial actions etc., thus maintaining skin homeostasis. In addition to its biochemical properties, water has structural properties: swollen with water, the dermis provides elasticity, thickness and resilience that are lost when the skin loses the capacity of retaining water, as it happens during and after menopause. Administrating estrogen helps the skin to partially recover thickness and elasticity. Unfortunately, the administration of estrogen cannot be envisioned in a cosmetic treatment and the state-of-the-art topical moisturizers are unable to increase the water content of the dermis. Water is necessary not only for hydration and resilience, but also for many other cosmetic tasks, and cosmetic scientists have devoted time and effort to try and generate specific waters as tools to achieve specific performances.

Water… and waters

In recent years a tendency developed, to generate and apply new “forms” of water. We have the examples of micellar, glacial and rose waters, to which we must add the so-called structured water. 

Micellar water is the name given to an aqueous solution of amphiphilic molecules. These molecules have a polar head and a lipophilic tail. At a defined concentration, the amphiphilic molecules can associate to form micelles, particles having the heads on the outside and the tails in the inside. Micellar water is an ideal ingredient for cleansers: hydrophobic tails trap water-insoluble molecules that can thus be removed by rinsing. Micellar water is ideal to remove make-up, eyeliner and mascara and to cleanse the skin’s surface, thus avoiding irritations and redness. The concept of micellar water is reasonable. Detergents are more irritants when they are free and it had been observed by Mike Fevola that the irritation of the eye provoked by shampoos increases when the diameter of the micelles decreases.

Glacial water is the name given to water originating from glaciers. More than indicating a physical-chemical characteristics, the name glacial water is an intelligent marketing concept. It evokes the purity of the eternal snow and the breathability of the air in high mountains, as well as the image of the peaceful Islandic people who would never pollute the glaciers releasing the waters that will be used by their children. 

Rose water is the name given to an infusion of rose petals in simmering water. When the color fades, the fire is turned off, the petals are decanted and the infused water is kept refrigerated. Rose water is told to be good as a beverage as well as a topical product. It is claimed to be an excellent antioxidant and to help losing weight. It helps fighting erythema and irritations, and has a mystical aura of a medieval elixir associated to 21st century’s technology. 

The best advertised magic water of the 21st century is structured water. It consists of three types of water, produced by electrolysis, and collected near the cathode, near the anode, or in the middle of the voltameter. Cathodic water has pH below 7 and is rich in protons. Anodic water has a pH above 7 and poor in protons. 

No one should be surprised by the hemostatic virtue of cathodic water, and by the fact that anodic water restitues the bleeding that was halted by cathodic water: acid solutions do precipitate protein and clog broken capillary vessels, basic solutions favor their re-dissolving and the de-clogging of capillary vessels. In addition, it was said that since very large numbers of water molecules do aggregate, this water can be called structured water. Rigorously speaking, in well-defined thermodynamic conditions, this is true. The aggregated molecules form something called super-water and the structure of super-water is transient and has a very short lifetime, of the order of the millisecond. The claim was that if one adds a molecule to normal water and subjects it to electrolysis, the added molecule will end up in cathodic water or in anodic water or in the middle of the voltameter, and will acquire unexpected properties. Antioxidants in structured water will become stable, hair dyes in structured water give best coloring effects, and the antibiotic activity of silver ions in structured water will be multiplied.

We are still waiting for the experimental data.

Paolo Giacomoni, PhD of Insight Analysis Consulting acts as an independent consultant to the skin care industry. He served as executive director of Research at Estée Lauder and was head of the department of biology with L’Oréal. He has built a record of achievements through research on DNA damage and metabolic impairment induced by UV radiation as well as on the positive effects of vitamins and antioxidants. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and has more than 20 patents. He is presently head of R&D with L.RAPHAEL—The science of beauty—Geneva, Switzerland. His email is: paologiac@gmail.com.