By Elena Gorgan

Just like we’re given a shot to prevent us from catching the flu, so will women soon be able to put on an anti-ageing serum that will actually encourage the skin to fight the signs of old age before they even occur.

As the Daily Mail puts it, this is not an injection and certainly not a vaccine, but it’s the closest thing to it.

Beauty giant Givenchy will soon put out in stores the Vax’in For Youth, a serum that will literally put “stress” on the face, thus boosting the skin’s response to it and encouraging it to defend itself.

The theory is not a new one and has been used before, as you may have guessed, in vaccines, where a dose of a disease is injected into the body to stimulate the body in fighting it, but without being enough to have negative effects.

Presumably, studies have shown that the same happens to skin cells: if you put them under enough stress, they can respond quicker and thus slow down the ageing process. This is what the new serum does.

“Givenchy has been working with Professor Suresh Rattan, a biogerontologist whose work looks at the biology of ageing. He runs the Laboratory of Cellular Ageing in the molecular biology department of the University of Aarhus, in Denmark,” the Mail informs.

“Science cannot make you immortal. Science cannot perform miracles. From a biological perspective, all aspects of all organisms – brain, muscles, bone, skin – decline with age, but it is possible to slow this decline,” Prof. Rattan says.

So far, lab tests have showed indication that this theory may also apply in real life; the theory part in itself seems almost indestructible.

“In experiments on human cells, including skin cells, those subjected to ‘stress,’ in the form of high temperatures, for short periods appeared to age more slowly, live longer and function better than those left at a normal temperature,” the Mail underlines.

“Givenchy theorized that if it were possible to apply a cream that would simulate ‘stress’ like this, the skin cells would produce these compounds that would help protect the skin,” says the tab.

So, instead of identifying the factors that lead to aging of the skin, the serum attacks it and thus encourages it to respond and defend itself.

The ingredients that will “stress” the skin are “sanchi, a ginseng extract, and hypotaurine, a protein naturally present in the body,” the aforementioned publication informs.

As of now, though, Givenchy needs longer-term studies to show that the effects they initially observed with the serum last. The first results are incredibly promising though.

Vax’in For Youth will launch at Sephora with a price tag of £60 for the 30ml container.

source: news.softpedia.com