It’s almost bedtime, and you’re applying a moisturizer with slow, intentional, upward strokes. The product feels good, relaxing—ergo, you feel good, relaxed.
Skin care, as a ritual, has long been connected to improvements in mood. It’s the basic principle behind a totally new category of beauty products that we’re poised to hear a lot more about: neurocosmetics.
Neurocosmetics, a concept rooted in the idea that the brain and skin are intrinsically linked, are products formulated to play off that connection. The brands creating neurocosmetics claim that certain ingredients can commune with neuroreceptors (also called neurotransmitters) in the skin, like a text message thread between the brain and the skin.
Fire is hot and it hurts, so you don’t keep touching it. Wintery days are cold, so you wear a jacket. Now new skin-care brands like Neurae and CAP Beauty are hoping to take advantage of neural pathways between the skin and the brain, but with slightly different goals, such as delivering the kind of glow you get when you’re feeling happy and relaxed. Who wouldn’t want that? But, of course, this begs another question: Can a topical product actually communicate with our neural pathways? And if it can, is that communication effective enough that neurocosmetics can impact our mood as well as our skin? We asked more than a dozen experts to weigh in.
- Claudia Aguirre, PhD, is a neuroscientist who has consulted and helped formulate skin-care products in the past for brands including L’Oreal, Shiseido, and Unilever.
- Julia Brooks is the fragrance technology manager at Givaudan.
- Kelly Dobos is a cosmetic chemist and adjunct professor of cosmetic science at the University of Cincinnati.
- Erin Gilbert, MD, PhD, is a New York-based board-certified dermatologist and neuroscientist and a consulting doctor for L’Oreal.
- Jose Ginestar is the director of research & development for Sisley Paris.
- Jennifer Gubitosa is a researcher of physical chemistry at Italy’s University of Bari.
It’s almost bedtime, and you’re applying a moisturizer with slow, intentional, upward strokes. The product feels good, relaxing—ergo, you feel good, relaxed.
Skin care, as a ritual, has long been connected to improvements in mood. It’s the basic principle behind a totally new category of beauty products that we’re poised to hear a lot more about: neurocosmetics.
Neurocosmetics, a concept rooted in the idea that the brain and skin are intrinsically linked, are products formulated to play off that connection. The brands creating neurocosmetics claim that certain ingredients can commune with neuroreceptors (also called neurotransmitters) in the skin, like a text message thread between the brain and the skin.
Fire is hot and it hurts, so you don’t keep touching it. Wintery days are cold, so you wear a jacket. Now new skin-care brands like Neurae and CAP Beauty are hoping to take advantage of neural pathways between the skin and the brain, but with slightly different goals, such as delivering the kind of glow you get when you’re feeling happy and relaxed. Who wouldn’t want that? But, of course, this begs another question: Can a topical product actually communicate with our neural pathways? And if it can, is that communication effective enough that neurocosmetics can impact our mood as well as our skin? We asked more than a dozen experts to weigh in.
The brain-skin bond
In 2015, neuroscientist Claudia Aguirre, PhD, gave a TED talk called “The Hidden Brain in Your Skin.” She started with this anecdote: A veteran pilot, named Jack, who had experienced many stressful situations during his career, including inclement weather and a locked landing gear, had always been able to keep his cool. But every time he flew over a particular canyon, his forehead broke out in blisters. Medicine prescribed by a doctor treated the blisters when they arose, but every flight back over that canyon led to the same eruption.
Stressful situations—a divorce or breakup, job loss, a particularly fear-inducing flight pattern— tend to show up on our skin. Anyone who has experienced a period of grief knows that their face often reveals the pain they feel, and there’s a reason why: The skin and the brain share the same machinery and can communicate with each other, Dr. Aguirre tells Allure.
Over the past decade, more research has emerged to support this connection and the visible impacts of psychological stress. The stress axis found in our central nervous system, says Dr. Aguirre, is also found in the skin. For a powerful visual that demonstrates this connection, take a look at a series of portraits by photographer Claire Felicie of the Dutch marines, featuring images from before and after their deployment to Afghanistan that capture rapid, visible aging and offer stark proof of how what’s on our mind can also be on our face.
This skin-brain link is established early—very early, in fact. While in the womb, we have embryonic tissue known as the ectoderm. “This is what we call a germinal layer, and it gives rise to both the brain and the skin,” explains Dr. Aguirre.
The skin’s link to the central nervous system is why it’s considered a living sensory organ. “Because of this connection, skin and brain share the same neuromediators,” says Vito Rizzi, a researcher of physical chemistry at Italy’s University of Bari who co-authored a study on the skin-brain connection and the emerging category of neurocosmetics.
The hormones produced by the brain can also have an impact on skin function, says New York-based dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, who often sees said impact on his patients in the form of acne. It’s the fight or flight response: The body steadies itself to deal with stressful experiences and the brain releases hormones that stimulate cortisol. “The body produces a hormone known as CRH [corticotropin releasing hormone], which tells the adrenal glands to make cortisol and has been shown to impact the oil glands to cause stress acne,” Dr. Zeichner explains.
Neurocosmetics, says cosmetic chemist Kelly Dobos, focus on improving skin health and appearance by enhancing our sensory perceptions, and by modulating levels of certain chemicals in the skin (called neuromediators or neurotransmitters) to influence the skin’s nervous system. There are countless small nerve endings in the skin (known as the skin’s cutaneous nervous system) and, as anyone who has ever used Vick’s VapoRub can attest, certain ingredients, such as menthol, are able to alert these nerve endings when they make contact.
Similarly, Rizzi has also found that the skin takes a direct hit from chronic psychological stress that stimulates the nervous system. Says Jose Ginestar, a director of research for Sisley Paris and its new brand Neurae, “Prolonged activation of these pathways [between the nervous system and central nervous system] can result in skin imbalance, increasing levels of inflammation and barrier-function disruption, which are known to contribute to the aging of the skin.” Neurocosmetics are designed to run interference on those pathways before the skin is impacted.
So, what exactly are neurocosmetics?
Consider the comforting, cocooning effect of a body lotion that warms up as you rub it onto your skin, or the calming, soothing relief of a facial mist on a hot day. Instant ahh. You can get that same ahh after taking a whiff of lavender in the air—or in your moisturizer. These are the kinds of sensory clues neurocosmetics rely on.
Meet the mind skin crafters
What if a skin-care ingredient could regulate your body’s levels of the stress hormone cortisol? Or boost your endorphins, the feel-good chemicals? Big swings, yes, but that’s what Neurae and a number of other brands including LAST, AP Chem, and Selfmade are saying their serums and moisturizers are capable of.
Sisley Paris spent the past decade working on what would become Neurae, its neurocosmetic brand. Research is emerging on all the different ways the skin’s neurotransmitters (chemicals released from nerve endings) can contribute to psoriasis, hyperpigmentation, premature aging, and more. And the researchers behind Neurae say they have conducted extensive screenings of botanical ingredients to determine which ones have the ability to activate the skin’s neurotransmitters: Indigo extract may temper excess cortisol and boost endorphins; eperua extract is believed to modulate excess CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide) to calm and soothe; and scutelleria alpina extract could stimulate endorphins and GABA receptors (GABA is the brain’s calming neurotransmitter).
Some of the ingredients do indeed have scientific evidence behind them. Says Dr. Zeichner, “There's data to suggest that the extracts used have a variety of neuroactive effects on the body, including benefits to the skin in providing soothing and calming effects. But all the data I have found has been basic science evaluations of individual ingredients, not actually used in [a final] skin-care product.”
While Neurae did consumer perception studies, there aren't any independent clinical studies showing what, if anything, these specific ingredients are doing for the skin in Neurae’s formulations. It is possible that these ingredients have maximum benefits at specific concentrations, which may or may not be found in the skin care you can buy. It’s worth noting here, too, that Neurae’s formulas also contain well-proven skin-care ingredients, such as squalane and centella asiatica, that help deliver on the line’s firming, balancing, and radiance-boosting claims.
Research into the neural impact of topical products is still in the early stages, and Dobos expects that as our ability to measure the effects of skin care continues to advance, there will be more to come. She also suspects we will see growing regulatory activity around claims and marketing since beauty companies must be wary of the line between cosmetic and drug activity.
Says Erin Gilbert, MD, a New York-based dermatologist and neuroscientist, “While a needle is the most efficient way to deliver an ingredient into the skin, molecules of a topical skin-care product of the appropriate size—a.k.a. small, and of the magic pH and fat and water content—can penetrate the skin and stand a chance of having meaningful, tangible effects on the skin’s neuronal milieu [the internal environment].”
Curbing cortisol raising beta endorphins are the goals of Polish brand LAST’s plant active-based formulations, which rely on ingredients like frankincense and myrrh. “Both cortisol and beta-endorphins, when produced locally in the skin, play crucial roles in influencing the root causes of aging,” says Katarzyna Janocha, founder of LAST. Cortisol, which is typically triggered by stress but also by environmental factors like pollution, can increase sebum production and exacerbate acne, disrupt the skin’s moisture barrier, damage collagen, and induce chronic inflammation. “Beta-endorphins exert anti-inflammatory effects, reducing redness and swelling associated with inflammation, stimulating keratinocyte proliferation and increasing the production of natural moisturizing factors,” says Janocha.
Dobos confirms these vital roles of cortisol and beta-endorphins, but adds that there aren’t any independent studies backing up the use of ingredients in the LAST formulas to curb cortisol or raise beta-endorphins on the skin.
A synthetic form of the neurotransmitter GABA (which, when it exists naturally in the body, produces calm feelings in the brain) is found in AP Chem’s Microdose Magical Moisturizer and Dopeamine Uplifting & Smoothing Serum. These products also contain baicalin, a root extract that has been shown in at least one published study to impact the central nervous system, including promoting GABA production, when ingested. The idea is that using these mood-regulating chemicals topically might also have an effect, and in a study conducted by the beauty company Givaudan, GABA extracted from red algae did help soothe sensitive skin, dermatitis, and psoriasis. (The study, however, was not peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal.)
“What you will see and maybe even feel is a sensation that the skin is more relaxed,” says dermatologist and AP Chem cofounder Sherwin Parikh, MD. By impacting the skin’s neurons, which detect sensations like pain and temperature, you can cause “a dilation of blood vessels and an improvement in skin tone and clarity.”
Selfmade aims to stimulate beta-endorphins to counteract cortisol, which showed a marked ability to strengthen the skin’s moisture barrier and reduce inflammation in a small group of volunteers (32 females between ages 18-69) in an independent clinical study as well.
Shop Selfmade Secure Attachment Comfort Serum on Wylde Grey
What about neuropeptides?
Peptides, the short-chain amino acids that tip off collagen synthesis, are known and loved skin-care ingredients. But it’s neuropeptides that we’re seeing more and more on ingredient labels from brands that may or may not categorize themselves as neurocosmetics, like Murad, Perricone, and Revision. The basic idea is that these peptides can trigger our nervous system; they exist naturally in our body, where they help brain cells communicate with each other.
So, what are they doing in skin care? The goal is for synthetic neuropeptides to reduce the skin’s production of inflammatory proteins (cytokins). Some neuropeptides, like CGRP, can “have a strong effect on the immune response and inflammation in the skin” when used topically, says Francesco Tausk, MD, a dermatologist in New York, who notes that CGRP is also a vasodilator, which means it can help increase blood flow for more radiant skin.
The neuropeptide hexapeptide-8 is sometimes said to temper muscle contractions, like squinting around the eyes, by inhibiting the release of certain neurotransmitters that help enable muscle movements in your body. “[Hexapeptide-8] inhibits the release of neurotransmitters involved in muscle contraction by stimulating messengers that induce muscle relaxation,” says Jennifer Gubitosa, a researcher of physical chemistry at Italy’s University of Bari, who co-authored a study on skin-brain connection with Dr. Rizzi and says that the ingredient is illustrated extensively in their review.
This is why some brands compare neuropeptides to Botox, but drawing that kind of comparison can be problematic. Much of the research around “Botox-like” ingredients has come from ingredient-supplier data, not published, peer-reviewed literature, says cosmetic scientist Jen Novacovich. “Ingredient-supplier data may be in vitro [in a petri dish], not in vivo [in skin] data, and that doesn’t always translate to the finished product,” she explains.
Also, says Dr. Zeichner, mentioning Botox in the context of skin care creates unrealistic expectations: “Over-the-counter cosmetics are not designed to change the structure or function of the skin.” If they did, they would have to be marketed, and regulated, as drugs are.
The scent connection
Even for the scientists who are most skeptical about the neurocosmetic category, the ability of scent to have a marked neurological impact is widely upheld. “Scents send signals to our limbic system, which is the sector of the brain that controls memory and emotion,” says Dobos. “Research has shown that scents may help reduce anxiety, increase productivity, and promote better sleep.” One study found that certain scents like valerian oil, from the root of the plant by the same name, were able to decrease hypersensitivity, says Dr. Tausk, actually reducing inflammation in the skin.
At Givaudan, Julia Brooks, fragrance technology manager, has been researching the mind-body connection of scent for more than three decades. “Whenever we smell something, even if we’re not necessarily paying attention to that smell, it’s reaching the receptors in our nose and triggering an electrical signal in the brain, which is logging it,” she explains, adding that the nose has 400 olfactory receptors. “Those neural connections with scent become forged and can trigger a pattern of response.”
Brooks and her team have been using brain-scanning techniques adopted from neuroscience to clock and formulate “functional fragrances” around patterns of response. The Nue Co’s Mind Energy, for example, is a blend of clary sage, juniper, clove, and geranium designed to address brain fog and improve focus.
Click here, Nue Co’s Mind Energy to shop on Wylde Grey
Can we feel all the feels?
That tub of Noxzema? I can recall in detail the way it felt as a teen to scoop out a dollop with my fingertips and spackle it onto my skin. More recently, a similarly emotive skin-care experience came via Neurae’s Serenite Balm; the soft, plush texture had an instantly soothing, meditative effect pre-bedtime. That was intentional, says Ginestar: The brand rigorously tested textures to fit into specific emotional profiles. “Our textures alone, without active ingredients or fragrance, called ‘white texture,’ can trigger an emotional response.” The actual feel of a product can have a neural connection, and texture matters because, well, it makes us want to use it. In a recent study conducted by Clinique in conjunction with dermatologist Mamina Turegano, MD, almost 60% of participants said a product’s texture impacts their mood.
Click here, Neurae’s Serenite Balm to shop on Wylde Grey
Some brands, says Lawrence, are even starting to explore ways to employ sound for an ASMR-like result. “For people using the products it’s not just the feel but what they’re hearing, since certain sounds can have a pathway to the brain that triggers a positive sensation,” Lawrence explains.
But when it comes to having the feels, the sense of touch has the most powerful and proven neural impact. “We can alter our mood and our emotions by simply touching our skin,” says Dr. Aguirre, adding that there is robust research on how the application of skin care taps into the brain’s emotional center.
Dr. Aguirre recently published a paper in collaboration with scientists from L’Oréal on the benefits of gentle touch for various skin diseases. “The touch of our hands impacts the nerve fibers, and skin care massaged in during application does that as well,” says Katerina Steventon, PhD, a UK-based skin scientist. That kind of stimulation of the skin releases oxytocin and dopamine, says Dr. Steventon, which can reduce cortisol and regulate mood. She also points to a 2017 study that found that the signals transmitted by neurons in the skin to the brain via touch can bolster our ability to withstand stress, while research published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour found that touch can lessen depression and anxiety.
Touching your skin can help with psychological or emotional stress, but the ingredients in the products we use can only focus on the skin’s reaction to stress. This is certainly significant, but it is different. “There are ingredients that target the skin’s peripheral stress response rather than the central nervous system response,” says Dr. Aguirre. “The anti-inflammatory ingredients being used in many of these products do lower your skin’s stress, but they’re not going to your brain and your emotional state.”
And doctors Rizzi and Gubitosa agree that any beauty brand that says topical ingredients will alter your mental state are overshooting. “Neurocosmetics must not be claimed as products able to act on mood and happiness,” they say via email.
Dr. Trausk mentions that in the initial trials of Botox done by a dermatologist and his wife, an ophthalmologist, some patients were injected with Botox and others with a saline placebo. Then they were asked if they thought their wrinkles were diminished: 78% of those who received Botox said their wrinkles improved, but so did 48% of those who received the placebo. “There’s a strong placebo effect that can happen with skin care, especially if you buy something that’s very expensive,” adds Dr. Trausk, which, it should be pointed out, many of the products marketed as neurocosmetics are.
Brainy skin care is just getting started
The reasons neurocosmetics may be catching our collective attention right now are multifold, including the obvious link to wellness, a topic that continues to resonate broadly. “Some of it is riding the coattails of everything having to do with mental health these days,” says Dr. Aguirre. “If these products count as doing something for yourself that feels good, that’s great; just know that they’re not actually changing your brain.”
As appealing as it sounds, there’s no one product that can make you happy, adds Stephanie Lee, the founder and CEO of Selfmade and a mental health activist; that would require an approach that is both physiological and psychological—and that can’t be squeezed into a jar. But the mind-body connection is one that, particularly after the stress of the past few years, is very compelling. “We as humans are searching for answers for how to feel better and to understand the impact of stress on our mind and body,” says Lee.
There is also a growing appetite for science-based brands. But that appetite, says Novacovich, sometimes translates to science-washing and the overuse of scientific language, what health policy professor and author Timothy Caulfield has dubbed “science-planation.” Dr. Tausk remains dubious of the neurocosmetic category, primarily because of the lack of clinical trials and data that would help bolster some of the claims for the ingredients. While the category is rooted in science, there is still a dearth of rigorous, independent scientific studies to validate many of the claims.
The desire to take a more wide-angle look at our well-being extends beyond skin care into health. Says Dr. Zeichner, “Part of this more holistic approach to medicine and skin care is recognizing the importance of the interplay between the brain and the skin.” And, for many, investing in products born of that connection, no matter what the price tag, may indeed have value that is more than skin deep.