TAGS: Sustainability / Natural Cosmetics Skin Care
Shiseido discovered that the “Dynamic Belt,” the anti-gravity system inside the skin that resists “sagging” caused by gravitational force, is oriented in a certain direction through joint research with Dr. Kyoichi Matsuzaki, chief of external plastic surgery, Faculty of Medicine at the International University of Health and Welfare, together with researchers at Jichi Medical University and the National Institute for Physiological Sciences.
Moreover, it was confirmed that stretching the skin along the direction of the Dynamic Belt activates the arrector pili muscles, with the potential to improve facial sagging.
Furthermore, the company found the licorice extract and the raspberry-derived extract were useful as ingredients that activate smooth muscle cells constituting the arrector pili muscles.
Elucidating the Causes of ‘Eternal Skin Concerns’
Shiseido has been conducting this research with the aim of elucidating the causes of “eternal skin concerns” that its customers have been expressing for many years, including dark spots/dullness, wrinkles, sagging, and pores, and developing solutions under “Skin Beauty INNOVATION,” one of the three pillars of Shiseido's R＆D strategy.
The results of this research have been partly presented at “The 31
st International Federation of Societies of Cosmetic Chemists (IFSCC) Congress in Yokohama (October 21–30, 2020)” and won the top award, making Shiseido the winner of the IFSCC Congress top award four consecutive times together with other “Anti-Gravity Science V” findings.
With the aim to prevent and improve “sagging,” Shiseido has been working toward the elucidation of the underlying mechanisms. Using “4D Digital Skin,” the 4D skin analysis technology developed by the company to capture not only the structure of the skin but also its movements, they discovered a system in which the skin resists gravity that causes skin sagging. The mechanism involves the physical resistance of the skin against deformation, which is facilitated by the arrector pili muscles densely distributed on the inside of the skin and is referred to as “Dynamic Belt.” Further, they have also elucidated that the weakening of the Dynamic Belt due to aging leads to sagging. This time, the research team worked on the development of approaches targeting this weakened Dynamic Belt.
Direction of Gravity-resisting ‘Dynamic Belt’ in the Skin
In order to approach Dynamic Belt (i.e., arrector pili muscle groups) that have become weakened with age, it is important to understand what the conditions of the arrector pili muscles are in the skin of the face. There is no adequate way to observe the arrector pili muscles from the outside of the skin. Therefore, they performed a three-dimensional analysis of the structure of the arrector pili muscles and found that the arrector pili muscles are oriented in a direction that almost corresponds to the direction of the vellus hair.
It was then possible to confirm the direction of the arrector pili muscles by observing the direction of the vellus hair. The observation of the facial vellus hair revealed the direction of the arrector pili muscles, or in other words, the direction of the physical force produced by the arrector pili muscles (Dynamic Belt). Using this knowledge, they advanced their study to explore an effective approach to tackle the weakened arrector pili muscles.
The company thought that weakened Dynamic Belt due to aging might recover if the arrector pili muscles could be activated. Accordingly, they cultured skin and applied various stimuli, and found that stretching the skin along the direction of the arrector pili muscles activated the arrector pili muscles. This finding led them to consider the possibility that improvement in Dynamic Belt and sagging might be achieved by performing stretching along the direction of the muscles, i.e., Dynamic Belt.
Ingredients that Activate the Arrector Pili Muscles
Applying these results, Shiseido searched for ingredients that activate smooth muscle cells constituting the arrector pili muscles. This led to the identification of the licorice extract and the raspberry-derived extract, which were found to have a cell-activating effect.
Now that the face mask rules have been relaxed, many customers are interested in “facial sagging.” Shiseido, which has led the industry as a pioneer in the field of sagging research for a quarter of a century, discovered in the present study that things including stretching along the direction of the arrector pili muscles, which are found in the face and serve as a system to resist sagging-causing gravity, has the potential to improve facial sagging by activating the arrector pili muscles that are prone to age-related weakening.
The company will apply these findings to its skin care products in the future to provide a beauty experience that exceeds the expectations of the customers. The results of this study will be presented at the European Biophysical Societies' Association (EBSA) Congress, which will be held in Stockholm starting July 31, 2023.
Source: Shiseido
