PURITO | DERMHA-3 SERUM

This product review was originally part of my blog article titled, Hydrating Serums I'm into from Naturium, Youth To The People, Purito and More. You can catch the full piece here.

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A cold January day in New York City can feel oddly exhilarating. It didn’t used to be that way for me. I always loathed the cold growing up. And until very recently, a matter of three years ago, I dreaded winter.

As I entered into what can best be described as male menopause, complete with migraines and hot flashes, I began to appreciate and even long for cold air.

Yet while the cold now numbs my head on a migraine day, it’s also quite dehydrating, which can quickly make a migraine more intense. So I do what I can to stay hydrated. That means lots and lots of water. However, drinking the recommended amount of water each day is not enough to prevent your skin from dehydrating — and to defend against the visible effects of dehydration on your face.

There’s a simple remedy for keeping your skin optimally hydrated on a cold, dry, low-humidity day: a well-formulated humectant serum. And I love a good humectant serum!

My most recent piece on humectants was in the middle of summer, when a hot July day can be just as dehydrating as a cold January day. The blog article was titled, New Hyaluronic Acid Serums I Love from Farmacy Beauty, Herbivore, Glossier and More.

NEW HYALURONIC ACID SERUMS I LOVE FROM FARMACY BEAUTY, HERBIVORE, GLOSSIER AND MORE

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Among my favorites featured were Farmacy Beauty Filling Good Hyaluronic Acid Plumping Serum — a wonderfully hydrating blend of Honey Extract, Propolis Extract and Royal Jelly Extract. As I said, Farmacy Beauty’s Filling Good hydrating serum is full of intrigue. With its unique silky texture, delicate honey aroma and multi-molecular forms of Hyaluronic Acid, it’s one of the best humectant serums to fix dehydrated skin.

Another favorite humectant serum I featured in the article was the Herbivore Cloud Jelly Plumping Hydration Serum. It’s a slightly milky, silky serum loaded with rehydrating goodness for the skin. Like the brand’s Pink Cloud Jelly Cleanser, the Cloud Jelly serum is infused with Snow Mushroom — a sexy sounding hydrator believed to be a more effective humectant than Hyaluronic Acid itself. In addition to Snow Mushroom, there are several other humectants, including Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Glycerin, and Rose Flower Water.

Psst…you can catch my review of Herbivore’s Cloud Jelly Plumping Hydration Serum on the blog here.

So a good humectant serum is essential for maintaining skin health on both a hot summer day and during the harsh cold months of winter. Among the most effective hydrators (or re-hydrators!) is a well-formulated Hyaluronic Acid serum.

While Hyaluronic Acid is far and away the most popular and most sought-after of humectants, it is by no means the only one. Humectant ingredients that are equally effective at preventing trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL) and subsequent dehydration include: Beta Glucan, Butylene Glycol, Centella Asiatica, Polyglutamic Acid, Glycerin, Aloe Vera, Snow Mushroom and even honey and common seaweed, or algae.

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Throughout my FW21 series on seasonal skincare transitioning, I’ve talked about what I refer to as the Skincarma Lock & Block strategy. What I’m referring to are the two measures necessary for preventing trans-epidermal water loss and subsequent dehydration. They are locking water in the skin with humectants and blocking the escape of moisture through the skin barrier with occlusive products like heavier facial oils and creams.

The Skincarma “Lock and Block” Prevents Dehydration

To start, preventing dehydration in the first place requires drinking enough water. That differs for each of us based on our weight, the foods we eat, and the climate we live in. It’s even more important during colder periods.

A good rule is to drink one ounce of water each day for every pound of body weight. So, if you weigh 150 lbs., you’ll need to drink 150 ounces of water each and every day to keep your body and your skin optimally hydrated.

Then, employing skincare to treat and prevent dehydration requires what I refer to as a “lock and block” strategy.

It begins with a dedicated humectant serum applied to the skin in both your AM and PM routines that helps to lock water in. Follow with a moisturizer composed of a healthy balance of both humectants and oils to block and prevent the trans-epidermal water loss that can lead to dehydration.

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What Is Trans-Epidermal Water Loss and What Causes Trans Epidermal Water Loss?

For a deeper dive (no pun intended!) into trans-epidermal water loss, or TEWL, there’s an excellent article on the health website Skin Better titled, What Is Transepidermal Water Loss and Why Is it Important? It’s available to read here.

In the piece, the author explains TEWL as follows:

“The skin is comprised of three primary layers: the epidermis, the outermost layer; the dermis or middle layer; and the hypodermis, the undermost layer. When water passes from the dermis through the epidermis and evaporates from the skin’s surface, this is known as transepidermal water loss (International Journal of Pharmaceutics).
While TEWL is a process that your skin naturally regulates, certain factors that can damage the skin’s barrier function can also affect TEWL levels. Circumstances such as injury, low-humidity weather conditions and topically applied products that dry out the skin can impact TEWL.
To achieve this, combine humectant and occlusive skincare ingredients.
Transepidermal water loss can contribute to a variety of dry skin conditions, and although it is a natural process, there are ways that you can help your skin stay moisturized and hydrated. Hydration refers to the water content of the skin, whereas moisturization is the skin’s ability to retain those water molecules. Therefore, your skin needs both elements to maintain desirable levels of TEWL.
To achieve this, combine humectant and occlusive skincare ingredients. Humectants help to draw moisture to the epidermis, either from the air if it is humid enough, or from the underlying dermis in low-humidity conditions. Because water content that is drawn from the dermis can be lost through TEWL, it’s important to combine the use of humectants with occlusives. Together, these ingredients create a reservoir of moisture in the epidermis and act as a barrier on the skin to help prevent TEWL by sealing in that moisture. The occlusive agents simultaneously keep pollutants, toxins and harmful bacteria out (Skin Therapy Letter).”

Maintaining proper hydration levels year-round is essential if skin is going to function at its peak. Healthy functioning skin is better able to defend against external aggressors like pollution, UV, and free radical attacks. And healthy skin is better fortified against aging. So while it may seem slick to say that a humectant serum that helps keep skin hydrated is an effective anti-aging product, it’s not really a stretch at all. It’s simple common sense.

With that, let’s take a look at one of my favorite new humectant serums for keeping skin optimally hydrated in both harsh heat and bone-chilling cold....

Purito | DermHA-3 Serum

Like so many, I was a superfan of Purito’s super popular Centell a Green Level Safe Sun 50+ — discovered to have nothing close to the SPF level that was claimed right on the packaging. As it turned out, Centell a Green Level Safe Sun 50+ actually delivered something around an SPF 19 protection — far below what I consider adequate sun protection on even a cloudy day.

Nearly two years have passed since the Purito sunscreen controversy burst out into the open. And, with the controversy behind it, Purito recently introduced its replacement of their iconic sunscreen, the Purito Daily Go-To Sunscreen SPF 50+ PA++++. The new Daily Go-To Sunscreen formula is a blend of chemical and mineral filters with an SPF 50+.

It’s a fantastic facial sunscreen and has become a personal favorite of mine. I made it my go-to sunscreen on a recent trip to Cancun, Mexico. If you’re curious, you can catch my review of Purito’s Daily Go-To Sunscreen SPF 50+ PA++++ on the blog here.

PRODUCT REVIEW: PURITO DAILY GO-TO SUNSCREEN SPF 50+ PA++++ - BEST FACIAL SUNSCREEN

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Many Purito products have made it to my daily skincare routines and I’ve had my eye on the Purito DermHA-3 Serum for a while now. I was super excited to finally get my hands on it several weeks ago and to include the humectant DermHA-3 Serum in my latest collection of hydrating serums ideal for dry, cold weather.

Like the Naturium Quadruple Hyaluronic Acid Serum 5%, the Purito DermHA-3 Serum is infused with a blend of multi-molecular weight Hyaluronic Acids, including Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid, Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate and Sodium Hyaluronate — the salt form of HA that’s more compatible with human skin. As I’ve said, a complex of low, medium and high molecular weights of Hyaluronic Acid are more effective at hydrating the skin’s upper layers.

The Purito DermHA-3 Serum is, of course, much more than a straight up HA serum. Unlike The Ordinary’s Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 Hydrating Serum, which does little more than lock moisture in the skin, the Purito DermHA-3 Serum is infused with multiple skin soothers, humectants and even firming Copper Tripeptide-1. Copper peptides are hot in skincare lately. Perhaps the most popular (and well-formulated!) copper peptide serum is the NIOD Copper Amino Isolate Serum 3 1:1 (CAIS3), which I’ve reviewed several times on the blog.

What Is Hyaluronic Acid and What Does Hyaluronic Acid Do for the Skin?

Naturally occurring in the body, Hyaluronic Acid (HA) is a polysaccharide, or sugar, found in skin tissue. HA is essential for skin health and for keeping skin hydrated. The body’s store of the substance varies due to aging, climate, and other environmental factors.

One of HA’s most important roles in the skin is as a humectant, with the ability to lock onto water molecules to prevent trans-epidermal water loss, or TEWL, and keep skin optimally hydrated and healthy. Over time, the skin’s levels of Hyaluronic Acid are depleted, leaving it more vulnerable to dehydration and resultant signs of aging.

I love this article on Hyaluronic Acid on the Healthline website titled, Why Science Says Hyaluronic Acid Is the Holy Grail to Wrinkle-Free, Youthful Hydration. It’s wonky and full of insights. Check this part out:

“The benefits of hyaluronic acid on the skin has to do with its molecular weight and concentration. In this case, size matters! The molecular weight refers to its mass, or how big the HA molecule is. This is measured in something called unified atomic mass units — daltons, or kDa for short.
HA between 50 to 1,000 kDa is the most beneficial for skin, with about 130 kDa being the best, according to the most recent human studies. Anything higher won't make too much of a difference. Anything lower might cause inflammation. How did we get this number? When you look at studies, you'll see a pattern, but one of the most thorough studies looked at HA with different molecular weights, including 50, 130, 300, 800, and 2,000 kDa.
After one month, they found that treatment with 130 kDa HA was the most effective, increasing skin elasticity by 20 percent. Both the 50 and 130 kDa groups had significant improvement in wrinkle-depth and skin roughness after 60 days. All the other molecular weights still improved elasticity and skin hydration, just less so. You can read more about this molecular weight analysis from the original breakdown here.”

PRODUCT REVIEW: NIOD COPPER AMINO ISOLATE SERUM 3 1:1 (CAIS3) – BEST ANTI-AGING SERUM FOR WRINKLES

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Purito’s DermHA-3 Serum is such a complex formula and it’s almost a shame that it’s marketed as just a hydrating Hyaluronic Acid serum. Sure, I love the inclusion of the anti-aging copper peptides and its broad range of low, medium and high molecular Hyaluronic Acid.

But I also love the multiple skin-soothing actives in the formula, including an exceptionally high concentration of Panthenol. Panthenol, or Vitamin B5, is such and unsung hero skincare ingredient. It has multiple benefits for the skin, including hydrating, moisturizing and soothing redness and irritation.

What Is Panthenol and What Is Panthenol in Skincare?

Just because it’s not sexy doesn’t mean it’s not effective — or should be overlooked. Panthenol has a broad range of benefits for the skin. In addition to its moisture retention abilities, it can even help to calm redness and irritation.

According to the experts on the Paula’s Choice Research Team,

Panthenol (sometimes referred to as pro-vitamin B5) is a popular humectant in personal care products due to its ability to attract and hold moisture. When topically applied, it converts to pantothenic acid, which is a naturally occurring substance within the body.
Studies show that 1% panthenol quickly increase skin’s hydration, while decreasing transepidermal water loss (the amount of water that evaporates through skin). The overall result is an improvement in the way skin feels and looks, including a more supple appearance.
Research also shows promise for panthenol’s ability to reduce sensitivity-induced redness in skin.
Topically applied panthenol in amounts between 1–5% has been reported to aid in healing and barrier repair.

In addition to the soothing Panthenol in the Purito DermHA-3 Serum formula, there are four components of the K-beauty favorite Centella Asiatica: Madecassoside, Asiaticoside, Asiatic Acid, and Madecassic Acid. Combined with multi-molecular Hyaluronic Acid, itself an effective skin soother, the DermHA-3 Serum is a dream come true for sensitive skin.

Purito DermHA-3 Serum has a super lightweight, watery texture that’s more reminiscent of a toner than a serum. It is literally instantly absorbed by the skin, making it a perfect layering treatment after cleansing and toning and before oil-based serums and moisturizers.

And at just about $21, it’s affordable and attainable to a broader range of skincare enthusiasts. If you struggle with sensitive skin, even oily skin, this one is for you.

What I like about it: The Purito DermHA-3 Serum is a fantastic soothing and hydrating serum with multi-molecular weight Hyaluronic Acid for a more effective humectant effect. But what I love most about the formula is its broad range of proven skin soothers, including a high concentration of Panthenol and four components of Centella Asiatica. And at $21, it’s attainable to a broader range of skincare users.

What I don’t like about it: There’s nothing I don’t like about it. The only thing I would improve upon is to add more antioxidants into the formula and package it in an opaque bottle. But that would only increase the cost.

Who it’s for: All skin types, particularly sensitive skin.

SHOP THE BLOG: Purchase the Purito DermHA-3 Serum for $21.11 here.

SHOP YESSTYLE FOR PURITO DERMHA-3 SERUM