Wishful thinking: from Proxylane to Dedifferentiated Rose Cells

Innocent Delbard Rose

I can’t tell you how annoying I find advertisements for cosmetics. What’s most irritating is that they work. The world’s wealthiest woman is, after all, Liliane Bettencourt the owner of L’Oreal. What L’Oreal manages to do, in a rather appalling way is to prey on insecurities to sell total bs. Take their new “discovery”, Dedifferentiated Rose Cells. Their website says:

“Botanical biotechnologies represent an extraordinary source of innovation for beauty, as a source of original active ingredients. One of the remarkable characteristics of plants is their capacity to regenerate after various types of aggressions, for example pruning roses in the fall. This capacity is related to the existence of stem cells in the leaves, roots, and buds. Since 1995, L’Oréal has had a biotechnology unit in Tours based on cultures of pant cells. From the stem cell cultures of a unique species of Delbard rose, the L’Oréal teams managed to obtain an extract that acts on skin regeneration: tests show an increase in the thickness of the epidermis, the secretion of growth factors and a regeneration of tissues.”

Okay- so roses grow back after being pruned and so? And I want to do what? Increase the thickness of my skin? Why? For the privilege of thick rosy skin, you’ll be asked to pay €153!!! Pretty jar, at least.

The cream above also contains Proxylane. The only reason that’s not on the periodic table is because L’Oreal patented the name when they discovered it. In case you’re unsure Proxylane is a totally real scientific thing, they provide us with a picture of it:

And the description is really something:

“To reshape the architecture of skin tissue, which is altered by aging, the researchers focused all their efforts on finding molecules capable of stimulating the synthesis of mucopolysaccharides (MPSs), a priority target in the anti-aging line. The result was Proxylane®, obtained from xylose, present in beech wood, a very common tree in Western Europe. It triggers and stimulates the synthesis of mucopolysaccharides in the dermis and epidermis, with proven results on the elasticity and the tonicity of the skin (Absolue ßx by Lancôme and Novadiol by Vichy).

Over the years, Advanced Research has continued to accumulate evidence of the biological efficacy of this active ingredient. Proxylane has been formulated in Substiane by La Roche-Posay and Age Interruptor by Skinceuticals, and in 2012, in L’Oréal’s Paris Revitalift Laser X3, with very different claims for results (on very mature skin with results equivalent to anti-aging laser treatments).”

I despair. How is it that this is even legal? Reshape the architecture of the skin?