As Skin professionals we understand the importance of active ingredients, but it is important to know how these ingredients penetrate into the skin and reach their desired destination.
A delivery system is uniquely dependant on the formula and how it reaches the skin. Whilst you may find faster results with synthetic cosmeceutical ranges with specialised delivery systems, this does not necessarily mean they are better. Quick deliveries can often carry a higher risk of irritation and some have not been tested for any long term health effects in the body.
There is no ‘specific' chemical delivery system with organic formulas as each product, depending on the active ingredients solubility, needs to use a combination of natural delivery systems to get the ingredients into the skin.
For example. There are lots of actives in a Serum. Some are water soluble and some are oil soluble. We generally use aloe vera juice and humectant (Glycerine) to deliver water soluble actives into the skin. Certain oils are used as they are also very effective vehicle for the delivery of oil soluble actives to skin layers.
With some serums we use low molecular weight actives such as Sodium Hyaluronate. Because of this lower molecular weight, these actives penetrate to deeper skin layers by forming hydrogen bonds to skin keratin. They don’t need oil or water to get delivered into the skin as they essentially act as their own delivery system.
Carrier oils are the best delivery system in natural and organic cosmetic industry. Carrier oils (Jojoba oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, sweet almond oil, rosehip oil, etc.,) are made of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. Among these, unsaturated fatty acids have the strongest cosmetics activity with least comedogenic rating. Oils with high content of unsaturated fatty acids are able to penetrate into the lipid components of cell membranes to deliver the active ingredients.
By supporting the gentle and slower delivery of actives ingredients into the skin, you thus increase their concentration.
