What are Peptides in Skincare?

Peptides are used in skincare to help make skin look younger and firmer. There are different kinds of peptides with different functions, but they are often used in skincare to encourage cells to produce collagen and to repair damage to the skin.

Also known as polypeptides, these versatile ingredients are useful for enhancing your skin’s natural age-defying properties. While collagen itself is too big a molecule to be absorbed by the skin, research has shown that peptides are capable of interacting with your body’s cells in various helpful ways to enhance collagen production and provide other benefits.

In this guide, we’ll look into the benefits of using peptides in skincare, the different types of peptides used in skincare and how to spot peptides on ingredient labels.

What are the benefits of peptides in skincare?

There are many different kinds of peptides used in skincare, each with their own uses and advantages. The benefits here include some of the main reasons peptides are used in premium beauty products and include the advantages that we have seen from using peptides in the Clarins Precious luxury skincare range.

1. Reduce fine lines and wrinkles

Studies have shown that some peptides are able to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Different peptides are able to help with wrinkles in different ways, including by helping your facial muscles to stay relaxed, by helping skin to be plumper and more elastic, and by helping to repair damage to the skin.

2. Improve skin elasticity and hydration

The collagen-boosting properties of some peptides allow the skin to produce more collagen and elastin, which are natural proteins that improve the elasticity and hydration of your skin.

Collagen production naturally slows down as you get older, but peptides can send signals to your skin cells to encourage them to make more, helping your skin to appear younger for longer.

3. Enhance the skin’s natural defences

Originally used in wound healing creams, some peptides have a healing effect on the skin, helping the skin to repair damage. Exposure to the sun, especially in a hot tropical country like Singapore, pollution and even poor sleep can harm your skin’s natural defences and lead to an acceleration of the signs of ageing. Peptides help your skin to form a stronger barrier and lessen the impact of some of this damage.

4. Collagen-boosting as part of your skincare routine

There are lots of ways to boost your collagen, but doing so as part of your skincare routine is a fantastic way to see the benefits of improved collagen production along with the other benefits of a regular routine.

What different types of peptides are used in skincare?

There are countless different peptides used in both skincare and wider healthcare, but most of the peptide ingredients that you’ll find in cosmetics fall into three main categories:

Signal peptides
Carrier peptides
Neurotransmitter-affecting peptides

Signal peptides

Signal peptides are used in skincare to encourage cells to make more proteins, like collagen and elastin. They are particularly useful when your skin’s collagen production has slowed down, which happens to everyone as they get older. Signal peptides can encourage more collagen production, helping you to enjoy your skin’s natural anti-defying properties for years to come.

Carrier peptides

Carrier peptides were originally developed for use in wound-repair creams because they can carry healing agents to damaged areas. More recently, the use of carrier peptides in skincare has been explored to help repair damaged skin, which can help to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Neurotransmitter-affecting peptides

Once compared to botox treatments in their marketing campaigns, neurotransmitter-affecting proteins can communicate with the muscles in your face to help them relax, which can reduce the appearance of wrinkles caused by the expression lines in your face.

How can I spot peptides on ingredient labels?

The peptides used in skincare can have many different long, complicated names. However, a lot of them contain ‘peptide’ somewhere in the name. If they don’t contain ‘peptide,’ ‘palmitoyl’ is also common.

Clarins’ Precious La Crème luxury skincare range which consists of a premium face cream, moisturiser, restorative serum, luxury eye cream and treatment essence, contains three peptides in its ingredients: