Late last year I attended an interesting talk on anti-aging at the Skin & Body Renewal Clinic in the Cape Quarter. We also left with goodie bags (reee!) that included a few items from Lamelle’s Dermaheal range.

What makes Dermaheal’s products different to most other anti-agers is that it makes use of ‘growth factors’. (According to Skin & Body’s Dr. Maureen Allem, this is the next ‘big beauty breakthrough’ in regards to skin care.) In a nut shell, growth factors are essentially proteins that help stimulate new skin cell production and repair. As it is, your skin contains these proteins already, but they diminish as we age – kinda like collagen; the pigment that colours our hair and the ability to knock back a string of caramel vodka and not have a blinding hangover…

Anyway, I got to try Lamelle’s Dermaheal Daily Cellular Repair cream, R782: 
It uses a basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) to help crack the whip on your skin cells, causing them to work at an optimum level to repair damage caused by the sun as well as general aging. In essence, it aims to help reduce wrinkles and combat skin thinning. It also boosts your skin’s hyaluronic acid production (hyaluronic acid is the water-binding molecule that helps plump up your skin) and makes use of antioxidant collagen-boosting peptides.

As I have very oil-prone skin and prefer the lightness of lotions during the day, I applied it night. (It also doesn’t contain a sunscreen so this actually worked out for the best. Also, they DO make a lotion as well as a sunscreen, just so you know…) I liked that it sunk into my skin without feeling too heavy and didn’t have any discernible scent.

I’ve been using it for just over three weeks now and as far as results go, I can’t really speak for its wrinkle-reducing ability because I’m big on Botox so the state of my crinklies depends largely on whether I’ve just hit the needle or it’s starting to wear off. What I can tell you is that it hasn’t irritated my skin or caused it to break out. I also like that I can see the difference on my face in regards to the nights I use it VS those I don’t; it really does make your skin look ‘plumper’, ‘fresher’ and more ‘hydrated’ upon waking up.

Another plus point is the packaging. Despite looking like a jar, it’s actually a pump-action dispenser. This is the way to go when it comes to face creams as this protects the product from the air which causes it to lose its efficacy. In fact, just today I discovered that another more retinol-focused face cream of mine had turned a zexy shade of yellow, indicating that it’s oxidized due to my opening and closing its jar every day. Might as well toss that in the bin now…

If you’d like to give a bash yourself I can highly recommend it although, personally, I’d suggest you also include a retinol serum somewhere in the mix as well as an SPF in the day should you want to really give the wrinklies a back hand…

Dermaheal products are available from selected salons nationwide. To locate your nearest stockist, give Lamelle a call on ( 011) 465 2264.