The guidelines are clear: you should be washing your hands regularly to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, especially COVID-19. This simple routine seems to be thoroughly followed by populations around the globe, and sales of soaps and hand sanitizers have soared. But while soap efficiently removes viral and bacterial agents from our skin, an unfortunate consequence is the depletion of our natural epidermal lipids and moisture content that contribute to a healthy skin barrier.¹ This results in extremely dry, irritated, cracked and damaged hands,¹ and weakens the protection against external aggressions.² Vantage has worked with several formulators of topical hand treatments in order to investigate solutions that can improve the hand washing experience.



Skin-Mimetic Jojoba Oil

Overwashing and scrubbing can disrupt your skin’s normal function.³ In order to restore the proper barrier function of our skin, a study looked at the effect of jojoba oil on a panel of volunteers with dry skin. Jojoba oil was chosen because of its unique structure. While traditional oils like avocado oil, sunflower oil, and the like are composed of triglycerides, jojoba oil is composed of straight, unsaturated esters, which puts it in the wax category. Why does this matter? The composition of jojoba oil is mostly made up of esters that closely match the esters found in human sebum. This skin-mimetic property made it an ideal candidate to try and restore the skin’s lipid barrier.

To demonstrate how jojoba oil can help replenish hands damaged by excessive washing, a panel composed of 30 volunteers with a tendency for dry skin was selected. The panelists followed a routine which consisted of applying an O/W emulsion containing 20% jojoba oil, twice a day for 4 weeks. Skin moisturization measurements were carried out using a Corneometer at T0, 15 minutes after application, T14 and T28. The study was completed with a satisfaction survey.
 
The jojoba-oil-based regimen led to an immediate increase of hydration by 70%, measured 15 minutes after the first application. The final measurement at 4 weeks revealed that overall, skin hydration had been improved by 80% compared to the start of the study.
 
At different points during the study, panelists were asked about their experience and their perception of the efficacy of the treatment. The overall perception of the jojoba-oil-based treatment was positive after only 15 minutes. The panelists became even more satisfied with the efficacy of the new beauty routine as the study went on. After 4 weeks, 100% of them found their skin instantly more hydrated, with the hydration lasting throughout the day, and felt that that their skin was softer. 




Conclusion

Skin lipids are among the key elements contributing to our skin’s proper barrier function. Repeated washing and cleansing, especially using surfactants and alcohol, depletes our skin of the key compounds that assure its adequate hydration and leads to extremely dry hands. The application of a natural oil that mimics one of the lipids found in human sebum can restore skin hydration to healthy levels. Instrumental measurements, correlated with the user survey confirmed that this restoring process occurs quickly, even after only 15 minutes and leads to sustainably improved results over the course of the full 4 weeks of the study. Jojoba oil used at 20% can be used in topical formulations to attenuate the effect of intensive hand washing.

References:
1. Larson, E. Hygiene of the Skin: When Is Clean Too Clean? Emerging infections diseases.
2. Metules, T.  Tips for nurses who wash too much. RN. 2000;63(3):34
3. Flohr, C. Atopic dermatitis and the ‘hygiene hypothesis’: too clean to be true? British Journal of Dermatology. 2005;152(2):202-216