Speci’Men is a Baobab leaf extract and is the first active ingredient to specifically address men’s skin care concerns developed by the German firm’s Beauty Creations research team,
“[The] key driver behind this innovation was the identification of a specific biological target for men: versican – a proteoglycan which is key to the skin’s viscoelastic properties and specific to the health of men’s skin,” David Bothorel, BASF’s Head of Marketing Actives Europe, tells CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com.
“[Versican also] accumulates with age and loses its functionality in men’s elastic fibres. This results in slacker skin, including looser cheeks; leading to under-eye bags and a more prominent nasolabial fold that make men appear tired.”
Tried and tested
The natural leaf extract was tested in vivo and the results show that skin appears revitalized, skin tonicity is improved, and there is a visible reduction in signs of fatigue around the eyes as well as in wrinkles, says Bothorel.
The BASF study claims that more than 70% of Speci’Men test users’ partners have confirmed its effectiveness and 94% of men who tried the new active agree that it is particularly suitable for men’s skin.
Men are from Mars…
Even though the same amount of care must be taken in treating the skin regardless of gender, there are structural differences between a man’s skin and a woman’s, with regards to skin thickness, texture, hydration and collagen density; and this means a tailored solution can produce better results.
“Men’s skin has a higher collagen density than women’s – which means the signs of ageing can appear later in men,” says Bothorel.
“However, once the first lines do start to appear, they turn into wrinkles more quickly and in a more pronounced manner.”
The physical signs of ageing in adults, such as wrinkles and laxity to the tissue, are closely related to the collagen content of the skin.
According to the International Dermal Institute, both men and women lose about 1% of their collagen per year after their 30th birthday. For women, however, this escalates significantly in the first five years after menopause then slows down to a loss of 2% per year.