![\"\"](\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2010\/07\/Sebaceus-gland.jpg\")
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There is an average of 100,000 hairs on your scalp, including fine barely visible hair and thick ones.\u00a0 Then there are those non-pigmented, fine hairs on your face, arms, legs and back.\u00a0 You are born with the same number of hair until you die, barring any major personal catastrophe like setting your hair on fire.\u00a0 \u00a0In some men and women, the hair gets thinner and less pigmented giving that balding look if one is predisposed to baldness or the thinning look that comes with age.\u00a0 And, with each hair is your life time supply of oil from the sebaceous gland right next to it.\u00a0 Besides that we have the much larger apocrine sweat glands in our armpits, around the nipples and the genital area that produces more sweat.\u00a0 Initially odorless, the apocrine secretions become odorous depending on the mix of microorganisms present on your skin.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some of us have bigger glands than others; those unlucky few have overactive ones.\u00a0 The sebaceous duct opens to the pores that deliver the oil outside of the skin.\u00a0 It oftentimes gets clogged with oil and dead epidermal cells and then you get blackheads or whiteheads.\u00a0 For many, this is already bad enough.\u00a0 But, for the 85% of teenagers and the minority of young adults in this country, it can transform into full blown acne when the trapped oils cause inflammation because the acne bacteria, Proprionibacterium \u00a0acnes,<\/em> starts proliferating using oil as its food source (Remarkably sounding like the oil eating marine bacteria in the Gulf) and converting the oil into irritants.\u00a0 Just think of it as fresh butter off the grocery store turning rancid after you leave it out in the counter for a while.\u00a0 By then you will be running to the corner drugstore to get some over the counter medication or go online for the super high tech de-plugging, skin rejuvenating, over-priced products shown on TV.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Both men and women get acne.\u00a0 The glands respond to the male hormone, testosterone, which the sebaceous cells convert to dihyrotestosterone to stimulate more oil production.\u00a0 The sebaceous cells at the base of the gland starts filling up with oil.\u00a0 It gets bigger and bigger as it is pushed out towards the center of the gland by new cells dividing and growing behind it.\u00a0 When totally filled to capacity (sort of like an oil tanker about to run aground), the cell bursts open into the open cavity of the gland and the spilled oil gets pushed up and out of the pores.\u00a0 Now you have a full blown oil spill and one that you can\u2019t stop by capping the well. \u00a0Women produce testosterone too from the adrenal glands, from the ovary or convert estrogen to testosterone at the level of the cell where enzymes convert these precursor hormones to more active ones.\u00a0\u00a0 Some of us also have over active enzymes in the skin that convert more than it should or have more protein receptors than bind the hormone, transport it to the nucleus of the cell, stimulating more cells to divide and more oils to form.\u00a0 This is the biological recipe for your own personal nonstop oil spill.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You would think that since oils on our skin are such a pain, why it did not shrink throughout evolution as human beings get less and less hairy?\u00a0 Who needs oil anyway?<\/strong>\u00a0 Well, your natural oils lubricate your skin, preventing it from dehydrating and the thin coating of oil on your hair keeps it from drying up.\u00a0 The chemical composition of sebum is so uniquely different from other natural oils in our body.\u00a0\u00a0 Why this is so remains a mystery to science, for now.\u00a0 Certainly there are antimicrobial peptides, such as cathelicidin, beta defensins and histone H4, present in the sebaceous glands that can kill Staphylococcus aureus<\/em> and P. acnes<\/em>.\u00a0 Moreover, acne is a concern probably only in the last 5,000 years, too short of a time span for evolution to allow natural selection for people with smaller glands or none at all.\u00a0 Or maybe, pimples were sexy before 5,000 years ago.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But, I think our skin oils have a higher purpose and that is to give our uniquely individual scent.\u00a0 In non-mammalian primates, such as gerbils, rats and mice for example, sebaceous gland secretions are the means of communicating individual identification and sexual attraction.\u00a0 Most likely early humans identify each other by their scent.\u00a0 Perhaps, the sense of smell was more heightened as a means of communication before language was invented.\u00a0 It still persists in our modern world only in some aboriginal cultures.\u00a0 In the Desana tribe of the Amazon and the Batek Negrito of the Malay Peninsula, tribal membership is based on similarity of body odor and marriage is allowed only to a person from another tribal group with a different odor.\u00a0 \u00a0The Ongee of Andaman Islands, the Bororo of Brazil and the Serer Ndut of Senegal all recognize personal identity by the individual\u2019s smell.\u00a0 I remember my college Anthropology 101 seeing photographs of aborigines from Papua New Guinea during their ritual of smelling the face, armpits and chest to recognize and welcome visitors from another tribe.\u00a0 Now, you can\u2019t even dare to try that in the New York subway without getting seriously hurt or ending up in jail.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As human beings created larger, more complex societies, the value of smell has faded from memory and is retained in social customs without true connection to the sense of smell.\u00a0 An example is the Indian custom of smelling someone\u2019s head as an affectionate greeting, a ritual dating back to thousands of years and even chronicled in ancient Indian texts as a \u201cthe greatest sign of tender love.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 That understanding in today\u2019s society is translated to a more commercial one, looking for the smell that pleases, that creates the urge to buy, that stimulates other senses, and especially that masks other smells.\u00a0 The sense of commercialism is starkly prominent in the bewildering array of perfumes in the market today.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Current research on smell is a sophisticated science using astounding technology that allows one to identify individual chemicals among the thousands that permeate the environment or that comes off the surfaces of plants and foods.\u00a0 While most research are in the\u00a0food applications of smell, the more intriguing ones are on the search for that\u00a0pheromone that attracts the opposite sex, the very basic of human interactions.\u00a0 The article by Saxton and his colleagues from the University of Liverpool described a steroid called androstadienone presumably from sebaceous\/apocrine secretions that contribute to the smell of sweat and saliva that influence how women perceive the attractiveness of a male.\u00a0 What\u2019s interesting was that the test environment for that study was the process of \u2018speed-dating,\u2019 that strange new ritual of the modern era, so we thought, \u00a0that I am sure the Desanas, Baroros, the Ongees will find curiously familiar.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Since we don\u2019t need so much oil in our modern world, how do we get rid of it and acne along with it?<\/strong>\u00a0 That has been a seemingly endless chase for solutions since the ancient Greeks and Egyptians.\u00a0 Today\u2019s armamentarium includes remedies, such as sulfur, that are as old as the first written language.\u00a0 To cover all of these will bore you to death and, if you are already suffering from acne, you already know all about these anyway:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Intra-lesional steroid, \u00a0benzoyl peroxide<\/a>, antibiotics, retinoids, antiseborrheic medications, salicylic acid<\/a>, alpha hydroxy acid, azelaic acid, nicotinamide, kera-tolytic soaps, combined estrogen<\/a>\/progestogen<\/a> contraceptives,\u00a0 antiandrogen<\/a>s, topical<\/a> retinoids<\/a> such as (Retin-A), adapalene<\/a> (Differin), and tazarotene<\/a> (Tazorac), (marketed as Roaccutane, Accutane, Amnesteem, Sotret, Claravis, Clarus), nNicotinamide<\/a>, (vitamin B3<\/sub>), Naproxen<\/a> or ibuprofen<\/a> for their anti-inflammatory effects, dermabrasion<\/a>, \u00a0phototherapy<\/a>, deep penetrating light therapy<\/a>, photodynamic therapy, surgical lancing<\/a>, laser treatment, aloe vera<\/a>, neem<\/a>, turmeric, papaya, ananthamoola, azelaic acid<\/a> (brand names Azelex, Finevin and Skinoren), heat<\/a>, pantothenic acid<\/a>, tea tree oil<\/a>, zinc<\/a>, tetracyclines<\/a>, low glycemic index<\/a> diet..\u2026just to name a few.<\/p>\n Some are \u00a0just methods, others are purely synthetic, some are derivatives from petroleum and the rest are natural extracts of plants.\u00a0 What is disconcerting these days is that what we thought was safe yesterday, is the new toxins of today.\u00a0 Pregnant women particularly are so concerned when using cosmetic products these days.<\/p>\n The idea<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All these treatments are meant to shrink the sebaceous gland, kill the bacteria, reduce the inflammation or get rid of the oil.\u00a0 The last one, getting rid of the oil, received the least serious interest since you can\u2019t make much money by simply selling blotting paper or selling soap to disperse the oil (dispersants in the Gulf oil spill are made from soap ingredients by the way).\u00a0 The commercial solution is always something that either sounds like a drug or is a drug or some esoteric formulation that combines all of these anti-acne effects for $80 bucks an ounce.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Why not just get rid of the oil?<\/strong>\u00a0 Seems easiest to do and least likely to involve anything that will have serious side effects.\u00a0 Just like skimming the oil off the ocean surface after the BP oil spill.\u00a0 It gets rid of the unsightly mess, keep the wildlife from being seriously damaged and not worry about the oil washing to the shore.\u00a0 Why not do the same for your face?<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The idea is not unique, even for us.\u00a0 We\u2019ve thought about it for many years, but never so seriously until serendipity took over (For the etymologically challenged, the word came from the name, serendip,\u00a0given by Indian sailors thousands of years ago to the island we call now as Sri Lanka because they found it purely by chance<\/em>.\u00a0 In those days, mariners rarely venture too far out of sight of land because they thought the \u00a0world was flat and the ship falls off beyond the horizon\u2014unless of course when\u00a0 storm blew you off course and land in Serendip by accident)<\/em>.\u00a0 Biological ideas don\u2019t come often.\u00a0 Eureka<\/em> moments are far between the \u2018hurry up and wait\u2019 mode of science.\u00a0 More often it comes through an unrelated event or a side observation.\u00a0 In this case, we were busy trying to develop a formulation for our barnacle, insect and shark repellent projects, looking at ways to improve the effect of this nontoxic, edible repellent.\u00a0 At the time we were working with a range of materials including clay.\u00a0 Also at the same time, it was a hot humid summer day, oil oozing out of my face.\u00a0 I thought wistfully that maybe I should try some of these clays on myself as I have never liked the thought of using blotting paper (I did try blotting paper before just to be fair) and washing with soap just moves oil around.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I rubbed this new clay composition on my skin, then washed it off quickly because guys usually don\u2019t want anything on that makes them look like a girl\u2014no offense.\u00a0 Something unique happened.\u00a0 The oil went away with the clay, totally absorbed and washed off.\u00a0 And something else, my skin was softer, tighter, no shine and most of all, remarkably smoother\u2014for almost the whole day!\u00a0 I do have my sensitive moments too and I had been around skin care companies long enough to know that we got something really amazing.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We eventually gave the clay a new name, Ifrenel Clay TechnologyTM<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>, just to make it sound sexier (and French), but the composition is a proprietary mixture of clay materials found in nature.\u00a0 These clays are rare, not something you will find just anywhere, except from a few mine deposits in the United States.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When one applies it to the skin only once, Ifrenel <\/em>keeps the oil away for over 24 hours.\u00a0 When tested on women volunteers who rated their \u201coil spill\u201d from 1 to 5, with 5 being your equivalent of the Deepwater Horizon scale, the feeling of being oily went away in 10 minutes and lasted for the next 24 hours, at least. \u00a0\u00a0My daughters started using Ifrenel<\/em> two years ago instead of buying those brand items off\u00a0 TV ads (saved me a lot of bucks).\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then something else happened.\u00a0 Acne went away and rarely come back, unless they forget using it.\u00a0 So, off we go running another clinical trial and demonstrating that one can actually clear acne in a week.\u00a0 The inflammation stopped within two days. \u00a0That\u2019s because the acne bacteria don\u2019t have anything to feed on and maybe taken away with the clay too.\u00a0 Cystic acne can be painful to the touch, just ask anyone who has it. No longer after only two days of a single use each day because the acne bacteria is not there to convert\u00a0oil into irritants.\u00a0 But remember, Ifrenel is not a cure.\u00a0 It just takes away your oil spill. \u00a0Acne will come back after a week if\u00a0you stop clearing your oil away.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This was a pleasant distraction from our usual marine science projects and certainly far from our malaria projects too.\u00a0 Off we went to file patents for this, then launched a new company based on the technology, called Ifrenel<\/em> (from I<\/strong> feel fre<\/strong>sh and \u2018n<\/strong>ature<\/strong>l<\/strong>e\u2019).\u00a0 It will be a hard fight to get it in the store shelves, but we will manage because\u00a0we aree so confident that it works after tests in over a thousand women.\u00a0 For men, you can apply it on your face and your shiny \u2018bowling ball\u2019 will have that matted, healthy look very quickly, without anyone knowing about it.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Is this so unique just because I stumbled on it?<\/strong>\u00a0 Without sounding like an infomercial, IfrenelTM<\/sup> (and its companion product called ClaynTM<\/sup><\/strong> for just those with the oily problem without acne) is all natural clay.\u00a0 It works by applying the powder on your skin when it\u2019s dry, just before you wash it, by rubbing with your fingers (see video link below).\u00a0 This also gives you that microdermabrasion workout that removes dead skin and residual cosmetic chemicals off your face.\u00a0 When you wash it away, the oil goes with the clay-water mix.\u00a0 Can\u2019t apply when you skin is wet; the Ifrenel clay will absorb water and lessen the effect.\u00a0 Not an easy thing to do because we are all conditioned to the soap and water routine.\u00a0 This is better for you than soap so get used to it quick!\u00a0 Without oil, your P acnes<\/em> bacteria don\u2019t grow, your pimples and blackhead disappear and your skin is smooth as silk all day.\u00a0 No kidding. \u00a0And, your make up stays on much longer, saves you money in the long run and spare the wear and tear on your shoes going back and forth the powder room.\u00a0 There are no emollients, no fancy petroleum chemicals and no silicone to make it smooth.\u00a0 It\u2019s just your fingers, your skin and Ifrenel<\/em> clay.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And how about odor?<\/strong>\u00a0 It does even more remarkable things that I will tell you one day soon.\u00a0 I might get to like dermatology research\u00a0again after all these years.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now that this oil spill problem is solved, time to get back to more marine sciences.\u00a0 Next time I will tell you about shark repellents.\u00a0 Not having one at the wrong time can really mess up your day permanently.<\/p>\n Jonathan R. Matias<\/p>\n New York, NY<\/p>\n Poseidon Sciences Group\u00a0\u00a0 www.poseidosciences.com<\/a><\/p>\n About Ifrenel\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/www.ifrenel.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/amominredhighheels.com\/ifrenel-acne-skin-therapy\/<\/a><\/p>\n The science of Ifrenel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n http:\/\/ifrenel.com\/index.php?about&aid=5<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.ifrenel.com\/upload\/about\/ifrenel_dr_marty_sawaya_oily_skin_acne.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/ifrenel.com\/index.php?demo<\/a>\u00a0 (how to use the product; must see if you want to get best benefit)<\/p>\n On the science of smell<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.lifeinthefastlane.ca\/science-of-the-smell-factor\/weird-science<\/a><\/p>\n Saxton TK<\/a>, Lyndon A<\/a>, Little AC<\/a>, Roberts SC<\/a>. 2008 Evidence that androstadienone, a putative human chemosignal, modulates women’s attributions of men’s attractiveness. \u00a0Hormones and Behavior<\/em>.<\/a> 54(5):597-601.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/a><\/a><\/a>