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Natural Moisturizing Factors (NMF) in cosmetics…Fact and Fiction?
This question has been rolling around in my head for a long time now. The marketing machine would have you believe that if you smear your skin with NMF ingredients, you skin will do something like this: Hey look at this chunk of Hyaluronic acid…. (or any other number of options) …. I found just laying around…. I think I patch it into this hole over here in the skins structure.
This does not make a lot of sense to me. Skin is built….from the inside out, not from loose pieces that the skin finds laying around on the surface.
Since this is such a broad category…I am open to some NMF ingredients actually being able to be utilized, but I would guess it is pretty low. Can anyone elaborate….on which if any ingredients can actually become a functional part of skin, simply by being smeared on the skin?
I realize, that doing things like hydrating the skin will likely help the overall health of the skin, and make it easier for the skin to be and grow healthy. But this is not the same as becoming part of the skin.
Aloha.
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2 Replies
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NMF = natural moisturising factor = a bunch of mostly small molecules (often degradation products, not building blocks) which keep skin hydrated = neither the bricks not the mortar but the stuff which keeps mortar moist and supple so it doesn’t crumble. Many humectants and moisturisers used in cosmetics are actually constituents of NMF or are at least structurally similar. -
I’d assume that Glycerin & Urea potentially could be taken up by the skin, possibly other osmotyles such as Betaine, Inositol, Taurine?
The other NMF might work as ingredients that help replenish the skin, perhaps the lipids, or help boost the other NMF of the skin via increased synthesis, perhaps the amino acids or carbohydrates / sugars?
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