Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos aren’t the only ones exploring the final frontier: skincare is heading into space.
In 2020, as we tried new cleansers and moisturizers in our bathrooms, Estée Lauder embarked on the ultimate social distancing project. The company launched its Advanced Night Repair Serum in orbit for testing aboard the International Space Station, joining a growing list of brands that have begun shipping their products into space.
“Space is a laboratory for aging,” says Yannis Alexandrides, MD, board-certified cosmetic surgeon and reconstructive surgery specialist behind the luxury skincare brand. 111SKIN. “There is no protection from the atmosphere, and space has harmful, intense cosmic radiation and a lack of gravity, which thins the skin and other organs of the body.”
Studies found that spaceflight can accelerate the aging process due to the fact that the microgravity environment beyond the stratosphere is more aggressive to the dermis. During space missions, astronauts noticed that their skin was thinner, drier, more inflamed and more susceptible to cuts and bruises, all symptoms of accelerated skin aging.
With that in mind, testing products in space is akin to training at high altitude before running a race at sea level: when you drop your altitude, you’ll be in beast mode thanks to the fact that you’ve prepared your body for the same workout in more extreme conditions. “Products that are effective in the harsh conditions of space provide a protective shield on earth,” says Dr. Alexandrides. In other words, if a product can “slow down time,” so to speak, in an arena that accelerates aging, it will likely work extremely well on our planet. As Dr. Alexandrides says, “If the [skin-care] the ingredients work in space, imagine what they can do on earth!
The concept of sending skin care into the cosmos began in 2011, when scientists from the Soviet space program contacted Dr. Alexandrides to help them treat astronauts suffering from scarring while in space. ‘space. This astral exploration resulted in the development of 111SKIN’s Dramatic Healing Serum (now known as Theorem Y Repair Serum), “a formulation that augments your body’s natural healing and aging mechanisms through the use of innovative sponge technology,” says Dr. Alexandrides. The serum also includes a unique antioxidant combo called NAC Y2, which helps boost our body’s innate antioxidant production.
Dr. Alexandrides began testing the product on simple earthlings (his patients, to be precise) during post-operative care, and their reaction was overwhelmingly positive, so much so that you can now purchase the product for yourself. .
More recently, PCA skin also participated in the alien tests. In February 2022, the brand sent “the first-ever private sector experience in skin healthto the International Space Station (in other words, they put living skin tissue in a rocket), with the aim of better understanding – and therefore treating and curing – skin aging. PCA will examine certain markers of inflammation, skin barrier, hydration, collagen and elastin for seven days, then frozen samples will come back down for six months (the last tissue should be back on earth by October). Eventually, the brand plans to develop products based on its discovery.
So far, there are only two space-tested formulas you can buy yourself, but the potential for more is (literally) out of this world.
111SKIN Y Theorem Repair Serum — $350.00
This formula was originally designed to help heal post-surgical wounds, and its proprietary antioxidant blend helps boost collagen to stimulate your skin to repair itself. It also contains soothing calendula extract and elasticity-boosting amino acids to reduce redness and irritation and diminish the appearance of scars.
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