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Peptide is one super-smart ingredient used in skincare.

They’re not just amazing, they’re essential

In my columns I will be de-bunking skin myths, letting you in on skincare secrets and telling you exactly which ingredients the skincare industry is currently obsessed with and why.

We start with an ingredient that’s having somewhat of a moment: peptides.

Peptide Source

Peptides are found naturally in the skin. They are composed of a vast range of tiny fragments of amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, and proteins are a fundamental building block of skin.

On their own, peptides are part of the body’s complex communication system that tells different aspects of skin to do a better job.

What Peptides Benefit?

The peptide is one interesting ingredient that has gone through many pieces of research in the past years by scientists all over the world. It is proven to have benefitted people of ages from sun damage skin concerns.

Whether you’re struggling with wrinkles, loss of firmness, discoloration, dehydration, dullness, and so on, there are specific peptides that can make a difference for each one.

However, it really takes a range of peptides to help fight multiple skin problems, there isn’t one that does everything.

While peptides are a natural component of skin, in their natural form they are very fragile, unstable ingredients. To stabilize and create peptides that can actually be absorbed into the skin, remain intact, and therefore be able to positively impact the skin, they are lab-engineered.

When science figured out how to do this, the possibilities and number of peptides available exploded.

Each “designer” peptide can be created to specifically activate a youthful element of skin, for example, a peptide to make more collagen, or deactivate a problem in skin, like stop making so much abnormal melanin.

Melanin is a kind of skin pigmentation in charge of the coloring of the skin due to the sun. For example, sun tanning, and your skin become darker.

Here are a few peptides names to look out for on ingredient lists on the backs of products:

Types of peptides

• Tripeptide-1 helps with firmness
• Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Palmitoyl Hexapeptide-12 these smooth wrinkles, enhance hydration through strengthening the skin’s barrier
• Myristoyl Hexapeptide-16 and Myristoyl Pentapeptide-17 help minimize redness
• Hexanoyl Dipeptide-3 Norleucine Acetate improves how skin cells function
• Azelaoyl Bis-Dipeptide-10 diminishes the appearance of forms of pigmentation, like brown spots

Anyone from teenagers to pensioners can benefit from applying products with peptides, just like they can from other healthy skin ingredients, like niacinamide, vitamin C, antioxidants and omega fatty acids, etc.

Young people benefit by killing the sign and appearances of aging while people who are older will improve their skin complexion, look, and feel.

Although peptides are an exciting advancement in skincare they have limitations. Any great anti-aging skincare routine should contain a healthy mix of skin-replenishing ingredients, antioxidants, and other a healthy dose of other anti-aging ingredients and the best ones do.