With concentrated botanical power to counteract all signs of ageing.

Skin ageing is a natural process that changes the skin with time. There is a difference between intrinsic and extrinsic skin ageing.

Intrinsic skin ageing refers to the natural ageing process. This ageing process is mainly influenced by our genes and develops chronologically. There isn’t anything we can do to fundamentally change this. As we age, important processes in the skin such as the production of collagen (a protein that keeps the skin firm and elastic) and cell renewal slow down. This makes the skin thinner, drier and less elastic. Intrinsic skin ageing is the primary cause of fine wrinkles.

On the other hand, extrinsic skin ageing is caused by external factors. These include things such as sun exposure, smoking, an unhealthy diet and environmental pollution. These external factors can accelerate the ageing process and make the skin look older than it actually is as they cause oxidative stress and increase the production of free radicals in the body. Extrinsic ageing can cause deeper wrinkles, more pronounced age spots, couperose and a rough, leathery skin texture.

The good news is that we can control extrinsic factors to slow skin ageing. Eating a balanced diet, getting enough sleep, not smoking and protecting yourself against excessive sun exposure all help to keep your skin looking healthy and youthful. Good skin care products also specifically target the causes of skin ageing, such as oxidative stress, which plays a key role. Plants high in antioxidants are ideal for use as active anti-ageing ingredients.

Can skincare products do anything at all to alleviate the skin’s ageing process?
Christel Adomat: They definitely can, but it is first important to know the different triggers and their effects in the skin so that we can prevent them on a general basis.

Fortunately there have been many breakthroughs in ageing research and we have reached a much better understanding of the underlying causes of skin ageing.

Oxidative stress plays a central role in the skin’s ageing process. It is triggered by so-called reactive oxygen species, also known as free radicals. These free radicals damage cell components and as a result cause negative changes in our skin cells. Some oxidative stress always occurs in our cells. This is generally nothing to worry about, because our cells luckily have effective protective mechanisms and an antioxidant system that renders the free radicals harmless. However, if their quantity increases excessively, our cells are no longer able to cope with the large amounts of free radicals that cause damage.

One other reason for skin ageing is the degradation of elements of the so-called extracellular matrix. These are fibres in our skin that form a network that surrounds our skin cells. These fibres are made up of collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid as well as other elements. When their concentration decreases, wrinkles and rough skin appear.

There are also many other causes such as:

• Micro-inflammation: Chronic inflammation in the cells – even below the perception threshold – can damage the skin and accelerate the ageing process.
  
• Increase in fatigued cells: Our cells do not live forever. At some point, they are fatigued and no longer make a positive contribution to our metabolism. They even produce negative messenger substances. We scientists call such cells senescent and in marketing terms they are very graphically referred to as zombie cells. The number of zombie cells increases with age.
  
• At the same time the number of so-called stem cells in the skin decreases. Stem cells are responsible for the regeneration of the skin.

This was only a brief insight into the effects of ageing and there are a number of additional changes that occur in our skin.

It sounds like there’s a lot of things that we can focus on. What can I actually do now in concrete terms?
Christel Adomat: On the one hand you can protect your skin and on the other hand you can repair some damage, but this is only possible to a certain degree.

When you say protect, do you mean using sunscreen for example?
Christel Adomat: Exactly, but the sun is not the only thing we have to protect ourselves against. New studies show that the light emitted by the screens that we use every day also makes the skin age faster. Environmental pollution such as fine dust and exhaust fumes also make our skin age prematurely. All these factors result in oxidative stress in the skin, and this is what we should focus on as it is the central trigger for ageing.

What can we actually repair at best? And how is the new Vital Just range particularly suitable in this respect?
Christel Adomat:

If the skin has already been damaged, is less firm and has wrinkles, it is of course unrealistic to believe that there is a care cream that can turn back time. However, it is quite possible to help the skin get closer to its original state.

But that means a lot of plants, doesn’t it?
Christel Adomat: Yes, it does. We use 24 different plants in this range. I’ll tell you about some of them to give you a better idea of the range of effects.

Edelweiss is a real multi-talent in terms of skincare and prevention of skin ageing. Edelweiss extract is rich in antioxidants and it soothes the skin, which helps prevent micro-inflammation. It also helps minimise the effects of pollution on the skin. 

The extract from alpine rose leaves in our Vital Just Night Cream eliminates the senescent cells I mentioned earlier, which are the cells that are no longer functional, and as a result it reduces the negative effects of these zombie cells.

Bakuchiol, an extract from the babchi plant which we use in Vital Just Serum, is also referred to as plant-based retinol because it achieves similar effects in the skin. It promotes collagen synthesis and neutralises oxidative stress. In the same way as retinol it can even partially repair damage caused by UV light.

The winter cherry used in the Hydro Gel provides protection against the negative effects of the light from our screens.

So these plants do all the magic?
Christel Adomat: Not quite, because although plants are true anti-ageing miracles due to the large amounts of active substances that they use to protect themselves, there is more to the story, as these wonderful active ingredients also need a good means of transport to get them into the skin. This is why we developed our new Deep Action Complex, which ensures that the active ingredients are optimally absorbed by the skin.

And rightly so! We of course also wanted to assure ourselves and for this reason we had all the products tested in clinical trials and we are very pleased with the results.

Here are a few details of the trials to show you some of the effects: In an external clinical study with 22 participants, the depth of wrinkles was reduced by more than 11% after using our Vital Just 24h Cream for eight weeks. Vital Just Serum even managed to reduce the depth of wrinkles by almost 13% after only four weeks. This was obviously very visible, as 90% of the participants confirmed that their facial wrinkles were reduced after using the 24h Cream.

It isn’t possible to make any general recommendations. It depends on your skin type and what your skin needs as well as the age of your skin – and this doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with your biological age. That is why it’s very important to be given advice on all these products so that everyone is able to develop their own personal care routine.

If I look at your skin I can see that it is rather oily but still quite firm. For this reason I would recommend using an oil-free cleansing product such as the Vital Just Cleansing Gel and then the Vital Just Face Tonic. You should use the Vital Just Peeling twice a week, as it gently frees the skin from dead skin cells and supports the skin’s renewal process. To nourish your skin you should use the Vital Just Day and Night cream with a lighter texture. If you want to do something extra on top of this already effective skin ageing prevention routine, you can also apply Vital Just Serum twice a week. This optimum care will knock years off your appearance and when you’re 50 no-one will think you’re a day over 40!

Thank you, Christel, I’ll try it out straight away.

Christel Adomat: That’s great, I’m glad to hear it!

The entire Vital Just skincare line is available in Switzerland at www.just.ch or visit the JUST website in your country.

For 90 years JUST has been developing, producing and distributing high-quality plant and herbal care products for health, beauty and well-being on a personal one-to-one basis.