Ingredient OBSESSION
I’m Obsessed with Stem Cells
And you should be, too!
Stem Cells – we hear them mentioned a lot in skincare these days, especially with the current focus on longevity and the merging of health and beauty. But what are they, how are they helpful and why should you care?
Stem cells are the building blocks of the body. They are undifferentiated, meaning they have the ability to turn into many different types of cells. Going a little bit deeper, there are two types of stem cells – pluripotent and multi-potent. Pluripotent stem cells are embryonic and have the ability to become any type of cell in the body, whereas multi-potent stem cells (these types are referred to as adult stem cells) are limited in their ability to become any type of cell within a particular category. For instance, epithelial stem cells can become any lining cell, like epidermis, cornea, or intestine lining, but they could not become muscle cells or blood cells. Embryonic stem cells also have nearly unlimited capacity for renewal, whereas adult stem cells have limits, on average replicating 56 times in a life span. Another important function of stem cells is their paracrine action. This is when the stem cell secretes proteins (growth factors) to send a chemical message to neighboring cells, telling them how to behave. In clinical wound healing trials using stem cells, it has been found that 70-80% of healing is due to the paracrine effect.
Now, all that sounds great and stem cells sound amazing. So you may wonder, if all this fabulosity is happening inside my body without me even knowing it, why would I be interested in an external source of stem cells? As fate would have it, our collection of incredible, unlimited renewing stem cells decreases as we age. This is primarily due to DNA damage, which can be everything from radiation (hi, THE SUN!) to pollution to telomere shortening… it’s also helped along by decreased mitochondrial function and metabolic changes. In short, all the things the longevity doctors are trying to correct for.
And that is where Calecim comes in.
Calecim is a small collection of products all based around PTT-6,which is their patented cord lining stem cell conditioned media. Cord lining is an important distinction there. These stem cells were ethically and sustainably taken from theumbilical cord lining of the New Zealand Red Deer. Why the Red Deer? Well, most countries have laws against using human stem cells in cosmetics, and of all the mammalian sources available, Red Deer have no history of zoonosis (ie Mad Cow disease). New Zealand has some of the strictest animal welfare laws in the world, so Calecim looked there to find their source. And this is an extra fun fact – in the past 10 years, only one umbilical cord has been used. This is because this particular source has approximately 18 billion stem cells, which is an incredibly high yield, especially compared to other high quality sources like bone marrow, which yields between 3-5 million stem cells.
And just to further define these terms, “stem cell conditioned media” is essentially all of the messaging elements of the cell without any of the tissue. An easy analogy is the difference between a tea bag and the tea you make with it. The cup of tea has the essence and the flavor and the benefits, while the tea bag is a vessel holding a bunch of wet leaves. So in case you feel weirded out about putting deer cells on your face, just know that you’re not! It’s just deer cell tea 🦌☕😊
Ok so how does it help!!? It’s pretty simple. You apply the serum to your skin and the cells receive the messages from these embryonic stem cells. And there are a lot of messages! You have tissue repair via increased cellular turnover, collagen stimulation, and skin restoration via the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) coming from seven different categories of growth factors(TBG-b, FGF, VEGF, KGF, etc). You also have inflammation reduction from the potent anti-inflammatory cytokine Interleukin-10. Clinical trials have returned results like 42% skin cell renewal in 7 days, 100% reepithelialization in 40 hours, 600% average improvement in skin thickness, and 50% reduction in healing post-ablative procedure.
I love Calecim and have had great success with their Professional Serum, Professional Pigment Solution, and Advanced Hair System, and this is why the brand is my PRODUCT OBSESSION of the month!
