How the Science of Chirality Impacts Your Skin
By now, hopefully you’ve learned a fair amount about chirality…provided you read the previous posts. If not, stop what you’re doing and go read part one and two! In the previous posts I covered what chirality is, where it is found and how it works. The final post on this interesting science will delve deeper into how it actually impacts the skin, and the role it plays in skin care formulas.
In a nutshell, when chiral ingredients are used, formulas are more effective on the skin simply because they match chiral to chiral. The skin is chiral so it responds to chiral ingredients.
Chirality and the Skin
Using the right- and left-handed glove analogy, the strength behind the science of chirality becomes more apparent, since you can’t wear a right-handed glove on your left hand. This is similar to how a right-handed molecule fills a need in the body, and skin, where the left-handed molecule may not and vice versa.
As I’ve mentioned, all of the amino acids (L) in our cells are left-handed – no protein in the body will contain a right-handed amino acid. Sugars (D), however, are right-handed. Just as we are either right-handed or left-handed and perform tasks more efficiently using our strong hand, right- or left-sided natural ingredients perform in much the same manner.
On the same token, using D-forms of certain ingredients can cause extreme irritation, where the L-form would work to strengthen the skin. So it’s important skin care products utilize the right form.
Chirality in Formulations
In blending formulations this science becomes important, because it can mean the difference between an effective product and one that doesn’t produce any results. For instance, a left-handed ingredient may have greater wrinkle-reducing abilities than a right-handed ingredient, or while an (L) ingredient may be skin soothing, the same ingredient in its (D) form might cause skin irritation.
How do you safeguard yourself and ensure you are getting the right form in the skincare products you are using? Most products will offer an in depth list of the ingredients used, so be sure to check that first. RA for Men has created chirally correct skin care that integrates science with a mix of natural ingredients.