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Revivogen, Tricomin?
- Thread starter Esprit
- Start date
- Reaction score
- 11
I discovered Alpecin in Boots last week. Caffeine has been used in skin care products for a couple of years. Caffeine has a vaso-constricting (narrowing of blood vessels) characteristic which makes it a favourite ingredient in eye gels for reducing puffiness and dark circles as well as tightening skin around the eyes. But nothing eliminates cellulite or troubled skin around the eyes completely. The best that can be hoped for is noticeable improvement, perhaps only for a few hours.
Caffeine is finding its way into skin lotions and creams because of antioxidant properties and tightening and firming qualities. Caffeine applied to the skin operates in three ways - as an antioxidant, a diuretic and a vasoconstrictor.
Some promising studies on mice suggest that the caffeine in coffee may kill off skin cancer cells on radiated animals. So far, the results appear promising, but cannot, yet, be translated to humans. However, many sunscreens do contain caffeine since it has been shown to have some sun blocking effects.
German cosmetics firm Alpecin has developed a caffeine-rich solution that can be rubbed on the scalp.
A 2007 study, published in the International Journal of Dermatology, found that caffeine works by blocking the effects of a chemical known to damage hair follicles.
"Caffeine is a well-known substance, yet little is known about its effect on human hair follicle growth," said Dr Tobias Fischer, who carried out the research at the University of Jena in Germany. To test the idea, Dr Fischer took scalp biopsies from 14 men in the early stages of hair loss.
He extracted hair follicles and placed them in test tubes with solutions containing different levels of caffeine.
The samples were left in the laboratory for up to eight days to monitor growth. At the end of the experiment, caffeine had boosted the length of the hairs by between 33 per cent and 40 per cent.
In contrast, other test tubes containing hair follicles mixed with testosterone showed that they grew much more slowly.
Scientists behind the breakthrough believe caffeine affects hair cells in such a way that they are able to resist the damaging effects of DHT.
"Hair follicles that were treated with caffeine showed a highly significant growth rate at 24 hours, and still showed further significant growth at eight days," said Dr Fischer.
Caffeine is finding its way into skin lotions and creams because of antioxidant properties and tightening and firming qualities. Caffeine applied to the skin operates in three ways - as an antioxidant, a diuretic and a vasoconstrictor.
Some promising studies on mice suggest that the caffeine in coffee may kill off skin cancer cells on radiated animals. So far, the results appear promising, but cannot, yet, be translated to humans. However, many sunscreens do contain caffeine since it has been shown to have some sun blocking effects.
German cosmetics firm Alpecin has developed a caffeine-rich solution that can be rubbed on the scalp.
A 2007 study, published in the International Journal of Dermatology, found that caffeine works by blocking the effects of a chemical known to damage hair follicles.
"Caffeine is a well-known substance, yet little is known about its effect on human hair follicle growth," said Dr Tobias Fischer, who carried out the research at the University of Jena in Germany. To test the idea, Dr Fischer took scalp biopsies from 14 men in the early stages of hair loss.
He extracted hair follicles and placed them in test tubes with solutions containing different levels of caffeine.
The samples were left in the laboratory for up to eight days to monitor growth. At the end of the experiment, caffeine had boosted the length of the hairs by between 33 per cent and 40 per cent.
In contrast, other test tubes containing hair follicles mixed with testosterone showed that they grew much more slowly.
Scientists behind the breakthrough believe caffeine affects hair cells in such a way that they are able to resist the damaging effects of DHT.
"Hair follicles that were treated with caffeine showed a highly significant growth rate at 24 hours, and still showed further significant growth at eight days," said Dr Fischer.