WHY GROWTH FACTORS ARE STAKING THEIR CLAIM TO YOUR BEAUTY ROUTINE
As we prepare for the arrival of The Ordinary’s latest, eagerly awaited launch, we thought it wise to talk you through ‘the science bit’ behind the serum tipped to star in every time-defying beauty ritual...
Always at the cutting edge of beauty innovation, The Ordinary have sought to make the most effective, results-driven actives accessible to everyone – and the new Growth Factors Solution 15% Serum is another prime example of its democratic attitude to beauty. Typically found in high-end formulations (that don’t come cheap!), The Ordinary has brought together three forms of highly concentrated growth factor mimetics to offer short, medium and long-term skin-strengthening, firming and line-smoothing benefits.
IN THIS ARTICLE
- What Are Growth Factors?
- What Are The Benefits Of Using Growth Factors?
- How To Use Growth Factors
- Best Growth Factors Skin Care
BUT WHAT ARE GROWTH FACTORS
A type of protein pivotal to cellular communication, our bodies make GFs (growth factors) to regulate a multitude of processes. Those relevant to skin are primarily epidermal growth factor (EGF) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) (among others), and scientists have developed ways of synthesising these in lab environments to reignite the types of cellular activity (collagen production, for example), that naturally decline as we grow older. Big news for the beauty industry, there’s evidence that GFs can support the manufacture of the skin essential ‘scaffolding’ (the likes of elastin and collagen) that keep things looking plump and firm, as well as to improve the rate of cell turnover to maintain – or recover – luminosity.
The Ordinary’s Growth Factors Solution 15% Serum stars three types of mimetic (meaning bio-mimicking) growth factors, chosen to ‘activate skin’s youth mechanisms’. This means, according to The Ordinary: reinvigorating synthesis of collagen and elastin, supporting skin’s detox mechanisms and promoting ‘skin barrier replenishment and epidermal renewal’. All at an accessible price point... What’s not to love?
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF USING GROWTH FACTORS
Firstly, it’s important to note, that growth factors typically have a more gradual impact than say, acid exfoliants, which have immediate retexturising benefits. However, when used consistently, growth factors help to encourage cell turnover, exhibit firming and lifting benefits, improve skin density and plumpness and help to reduce the number and depth of fine lines and wrinkles. All told, they’re pretty much a one-stop time-defying shop, without the side-effects that some experience when using retinol.
I have been road-testing The Ordinary’s new Growth Factors Solution 15% Serum (the 15% refers to the aggregate of GFs – a higher number and concentration than the nearest competition), and have to say, it’s a simple, fuss-free way to supercharge your skin care ritual.
With a weightless, liquid consistency that applies and sinks in instantly (it’s a lot like, well, water), I feel it’s really getting in there, y’know? Penetrating straight to where it needs to work its age-reversing magic (at nearly 40 (ssh!), I admit to being peeved by the speed with which Sainsbury’s staff tap the ‘Visibly over 25’ button).
It’s totally non-clogging, so great to layer underneath my usual hydrating serum and moisturiser, and after three weeks of daily use, I do think that things feel a little less... saggy, for want of less depressing terminology. My main preoccupation is my rapidly dissolving jawline, as well as all the other charming repercussions of my fast-dwindling youth – and as much as my feminism wants to own the beauty of my years, a ‘90s childhood means that I’ll do anything to turn the clock back. I’m off to a promising start with The Ordinary and, let’s face it, at £13.50, it’s a far less prohibitive option than many other big names in the anti-ageing space.
KEEN TO GIVE GROWTH FACTORS A GO
If you’re impatient to give GFs a go, then we already have a host of brands who’re harnessing their reparative, plumping and barrier-boosting benefits. From Allies of Skin’s Multi Peptides and GF Advanced Lifting Serum – which boasts growth factors alongside a 9% Lifting Peptide Complex to intensify the ‘tightening’ effects – to Drunk Elephant’s Protini Polypeptide Cream, there’s something to target the spectrum of needs (at a spectrum of price points).
THE BEST GROWTH FACTORS PRODUCTS TO TRY NOW
681
£62.00
193
£15.00
4
£176.00
36
£135.00
1
£90.00
35
£74.00
4
£30.00
2
£191.00
9
£72.00
20
£84.00
3
RRP: £20.00Current price: £14.00
Cult Beauty’s Content Editor and a Cult Beauty OG, Verity loves nothing more than the marriage of language and lip balm. A quintessential Libran, she’s a self-professed magpie for luxury ‘must-haves' and always pursuing the new and the niche — from the boujee-est skin care to cutting-edge tech. Balancing an urge to stop the clock with her desire to embrace the ageing process (and set a positive example for her daughter), Verity's a retinol obsessive and will gladly share her thoughts about the time-defying gadgets, masks and treatments worth the splurge...
