The skin must benefit from greater, early attention, because it is the part of the skin most exposed to external factors, such as pollution and UV rays.
Skin care is done differently according to age and skin type. Photo: Shutterstock
Emanuela Gheorghiță graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, then completed a master's degree in Cosmetic Formulation, and is currently a PhD student at the Department of Pharmaceutical Botany and Cell Biology at the same university. Their passion and knowledge of beautiful and healthy skin also led them to a successful cosmetics business.
In an interview for “Weekend Adevărul”, Ema Gheorghiță explained how important it is to take care of our skin from a young age, but especially to know the routine to be followed according to age and needs. She also emphasized that beauty also comes from within – diet, sleep and stress levels are some of the factors whose impact can be seen on our skin. Ema Gheorghiță also talked about creams and their effectiveness, but also about the expectations we should have from a skincare routine.
“Weekend Adevărul“: Where does your passion for chemistry and science come from?
Ema Gheorghiță: From mother. I think she is the best educator in life that I have met. Also, university professors who are with me during my PhD, but I can't forget the method by which my mother taught me the first notions of chemistry, how patient she was, how I didn't go outside to play with the children. I didn't have this passion because I liked to solve problems in chemistry. I loved visualizing the chemical reaction, figuring out how compounds interacted, molecular masses, everything. So I liked it because of my mother, she was the one who shaped this universe in my subconscious.
How did you choose the Faculty of Pharmacy?
Originally, I was supposed to go to Medicine. I didn't follow this path again because in the 11th grade I found out that only biochemistry is taught in Medicine. So I continued to study only chemistry and on the last hundred meters I decided to choose the Faculty of Pharmacy.
Today you are a PhD student at the Faculty of Pharmacy. You surpassed the status of a pharmacist and went to research, to science, but especially to the area of beauty, cosmetics. What is beauty chemistry for you?
The chemistry of beauty is like a reaction that takes place within us, the beauty that spreads outward and that we emanate. This is how I see the chemistry of beauty: a mixture of reactants that come from within you, corroborated and harmonized by what we bring to the skin of high and very high quality.
Do you see yourself all your life sitting in the lab researching chemical reactions, cosmetic ingredients?
Yes, absolutely. I can stay until 6:00 in the morning in the laboratory, I do it with pleasure, even if the next day my eyes are out (laugh).
The beautiful face is maintained from youth
When does skin start to age?
The skin begins to lose its components from the age of 30. Around the age of 25, the collagen components of the dermis begin to disappear, but in a very, very slow phase. Later, around 35-40 years, these losses increase, becoming very pregnant during the premenopause and menopause period.
From what period do you recommend skin care?
Skin care should be from youth, but in different phases, with different products. It will not be constant care, in the same way, with the same type of product at 20 years old, the same type of product at 30 years old, or the same cosmetic procedures. Cosmetic procedures, including the creams or cosmetics used, differ according to age. The active substances needed by the skin also differ according to age. We also need to look at this skin aging process and the genetic inheritance we have. Some clinical studies say that 50-60% would be the genetic factor that would induce aging, but with application, prevention and rigorous attention we can counteract this 50-60% and reduce it to 30%, so if we take care of our skin with very good quality products, in a constant way and with a complete routine, we get to prevent and influence the genetic factor. The equation would only mean 30% and 70% being the extrinsic factor that we can work on.
The skin care process is a complex one: from lifestyle to cosmetics
In your experience and research, which skin type ages or is prone to aging faster?
Dry skin is prone to faster and more visible aging. It loses hydration, emollient components, fatty acids, hyaluronic acid, the amount of water, moisturizing agents on the skin – basically, this is where dry skin is lacking. You can see that dull aspect that we understand and translate visually through the wrinkles that appear with skin dehydration. If we persist in this drying, if we let the skin remain dry and do not come with an internal, water supply, and external, with emollients, moisturizing agents, then we risk that the wrinkles on the surface of the skin, on the surface of the epidermis will go further deep, at the level of the dermis, and to accentuate even more.
The six knights of beauty
I know you have a holistic approach to what skin care means, and strictly speaking healthy skin, because we don't just address the beauty factor. What does this mean to you? wellbeing
for the skin?
Indeed, I have taken a holistic approach, which I take very seriously. I think there is a balance between sleep, nutrition, physical activity, stress levels and your outward manifestation of what you want and how happy you want to be – of course, along with your skincare routine, what you put on your skin. So I believe that these six factors mentioned so far work together and somehow have equal rights in the definition of beauty or in the definition of wellbeing
for the skin. This is what I try to implement in my life. It's quite difficult, of course – the pollution, the stress is not really about you. But diet and physical activity are up to each individual. An iron will is required. I've been through this too. Believe me, if you wake up five times a week, do half an hour of physical activity and actually fight yourself in the first 5-10 sessions, after that it will become your habit and it won't seem so much to you anymore hard. Do you waste half an hour on social media or go to the gym to exercise? The same with regard to healthy eating: after you try several times to eat properly, nutritiously, you start to like it.
What happens to the skin when we eat sugar? What reaction produces sugar eaten daily and sometimes even in excess, so that it ends up damaging the skin?
It goes right into the collagen in the dermis. Sugar is a molecule that penetrates, a fairly wide tissue distribution or, as the expression goes, “like water through the lobe”, sugar, moving very freely through the body, reaches the level of collagen, immobilizes it and makes a glycation reaction. This reaction causes collagen to fibrose, hardening over time. So if we switch to a healthy lifestyle from a zero point and stay strict in what we do, it can be fixed but in a very small percentage. We rely on our ability to regenerate and new molecular syntheses that the body can have. But that too until a certain age, somewhere around 40-50 years old, from the moment when premenopause, menopause begins. From that moment, a lot of hydration and collagen is lost, the structure of the dermis and bone density change. Wrinkles are accentuated, we also lose the hypodermis layer, the fatty tissue layer, which in certain areas is very beneficial for our physiognomic features. So yes, there is a whole process of change that happens after a certain age, especially after these hormonal changes.
Efficiency, depending on the objective
What does an effective cream actually mean?
A cream that works for the goal you have. There are anti-acne creams, anti-couperosis creams, therapeutic creams, dermato-cosmetic creams that have an indication for certain pathologies, which, in my opinion, should be treated by the dermatologist and as indicated by the specialist. An effective cream is one that has clinical results attesting to its effect. In short, when I buy a cream, I look for it to be tested on a group of patients with at least 20 subjects. Otherwise I don't buy it.
What should an effective cream contain for women who are premenopausal or menopausal?
We are now discussing cosmetic creams, for example, anti-wrinkle creams, which are aimed at a specific age target and have their effect due to the anatomical and physiological change in the skin of women who are in the pre-menopausal period, including menopause. Here you need a cream that is fatter, a cream that contains phytoestrogens, that is, that estrogen that is taken from plants, a cream that helps to regenerate the epidermis and a cream that penetrates very well. It is important that the active substances penetrate the skin, which is quite demanding, or there are certain conditions of chemical structure, of molecular size, for a chemical substance in that cream to penetrate. There must be excipients to drive the substance to the site of action. Those excipients must be shown to achieve the desired effect in a clinical trial.
Regeneration of the epidermis can take up to two months. Photo: Shutterstock
Eternal wrinkles
How long does it take to see effectiveness? There are so many brands, so many ranges that you can find anywhere, and they all promise to reduce your wrinkles in three months. Sure, it's marketing, but from your point of view, how long does it take for an honest cream to pay off?
Between 28 to 45 days, maximum 60 days. If it is a mature complexion, a person who is in menopause, the epidermis regenerates in a maximum of two months. But for a cream to have an effect on deeper wrinkles, which reach the level of the dermis, to change the structure, to resynthesize the collagen, to redensify the collagen, it is necessary to use it for a period of six to nine months, constantly. This process of redensifying the dermis, regenerating the dermis occurs over months, six to nine months. We will only see fine wrinkles, reduced to the level of the epidermis.
I have seen various comments about certain creams where people say that even after constant use, the wrinkles are still there…
An expression wrinkle can be reduced if you put the right substances. For example, there is a peptide that relaxes your muscles and you can see the results on the expression lines after two weeks.
Skincare, depending on UV exposure
We tend to focus on skin products. But we have skin all over our bodies. Are the principles of a cream the same for body creams? What is the rule for a list of active ingredients?
From my point of view, the skincare principles are the same. The face should be maintained just like the body. Yes, the face needs cream twice a day, because it is more exposed to the sun, more exposed to pollutants, and the body more in the evening. Not that it would not be beneficial to apply moisturizers or antiaging creams to the body in the morning, but for the sake of convenience, it is good to apply such a cream every night to the whole body that is not exposed to pollution as often as are the face, the neck area. The body is not exposed to UV factors that often. It is very good that every evening we apply a moisturizing cream, a protective, antiaging, antioxidant, revitalizing cream, also on the body, on the hands, décolletage, elbows, arms, especially during the summer. Pay attention to the area of the elbows and knees: the skin dehydrates quite quickly and it is advisable to apply fatter, more emollient creams.
And the exfoliation?
Exfoliation is beneficial, but it is best to do it on the advice of a dermatologist. An exfoliation done in the wrong way can even be harmful to the skin and can lead to a totally chaotic restructuring of the entire epidermis that can do you more harm than good. That's why, before doing a peeling, I would recommend talking to the dermatologist first.
