274. The Peptide Skincare Boom: Separating Skin Science From Marketing

Anastasia Khodzhaeva (0:06)

Hi, everyone. Welcome to Biohacking Beauty Podcast. Anastasia Khodzhaeva right here. And I am, tell them who I am.

Amitay Eshel (0:13)

Amitay Eshel, the great.

Anastasia Khodzhaeva (0:14)

The great, yes.

Amitay Eshel (0:15)

And powerful.

Anastasia Khodzhaeva (0:16)

Anastasia is also great. I just want to say that.

In any case, on this episode, we're bringing you into one of our conversations because we get so many questions about peptides. I mean, we just said the word peptides, and Jackson, our producer, shout out to Jackson, started talking about the peptides that he's taking. So we're just going to have a fluent conversation around some of the things that we're being asked, and we feel like are important to kind of discuss, to disgust you.

Amitay Eshel (0:47)

Let's do that.

Anastasia Khodzhaeva (0:48)

We'll get into how to actually read peptide claims, which peptides have real science behind them, and the red flags that tell you or us, a product is riding the trend rather than the research.

So hopefully by the end of this episode, you're going to be more equipped to know which peptides are worth looking for, how to tell if a formula is actually doing what it says, and why formulation matters just as much as the ingredient itself. So let's get into it.

Amitay Eshel (1:22)

Without further ado, let's get to this conversation.

Anastasia Khodzhaeva (1:25)

Without further ado.

Amitay Eshel (1:26)

So first question, I guess, is that the peptides are showing up in everything from lip balms to body wash these days. So do everyday products actually need to have peptides? That's the question.

Anastasia Khodzhaeva (1:40)

Great question. So I think, I think the first, obviously we're talking about one of three, I would say, category of peptides. Which one would be injectable, the other one would be oral peptide?

Amitay Eshel (1:53)

I think in this conversation we'll be talking only about topicals. But it's good to share with our audience and for them to understand that's what we're about today.

Anastasia Khodzhaeva (2:03)

So, but within topical peptides, we really need to divide two types of peptides, one that are oil soluble or fat soluble, and the other ones that are water soluble.

And in peptides, almost unanimously or non-unanimously, almost every time people are going to meet water-based, water-loving peptides. Most of them are. And that's a little bit of a problem because our skin barrier is made of lipids. Yeah.

Amitay Eshel (2:32)

And they repel water. So how do you actually make peptides get through the skin barrier?

It's a great question to ask.

Anastasia Khodzhaeva (2:40)

Yeah. And so delivery systems are important. So when we talk about things like body washes or anything that you're going to wash off, I would say that I haven't... So I think a peptide shampoo, for example, or body wash, or cleanser are going to be less impactful if not completely trend-writing rather than impactful.

And within that, I would say also products that are supposed to sit over the skin are not the best candidates for peptide delivery. So lip balms would be another one. A lip plumper, for example, that we have a lip plumper with peptides, it's slightly a different story. These are ingredients we actually want them to absorb. That's how you plump the lips as well. But things that are supposed to kind of coat the skin are not the best delivery formats for peptides.

Amitay Eshel (3:38)

Yes, and I also think that a lot of the times you can put a peptide in a formula and it can even be like the peptides that are attributed, like on the label and the results attributed to this peptide. These results can be derived from other ingredients in these formulas but it's the peptides that help sell the formula. So it becomes also kind of like a question of like overall examining the formula of the product and seeing, okay, forgive this brand for using peptides on the label to sell me this. It's overall a good product. Or I am actually, you know what?

This body wash or whatever shampoo or whatever we might be talking about, doesn't make sense that they sell it to me with claims of peptides that most likely don't penetrate and don't work. And now I don't want to use this brand. It's a choice you got to make.

Anastasia Khodzhaeva (4:35)

But to use this brand, pep washing.

Amitay Eshel (4:38)

Yes, all right. So, what's the biggest red flag when a product claims to have peptides and how do you tell if it's actually legit? That's the second question that kind of feels silent. I feel like we answered more or less.