Zinc PCA Shampoo and Conditioner For Scalp Problems

About Zinc Pca

 

Make Sure To Read This Study On Zinc Pca & See Why It is

So Important For Having A Healthy Scalp and Healthy Skin

 

One of the initial products that used zinc pca was for sebum or oil secretion suppression. The demand has been very strong for stopping excess oil production both in the hair follicle and the growing demand for a means to suppress sebum secretion to help prevent skin issues and problems such as acne and rashes.

Zinc Pca is also used for anti-aging effects of the skin and scalp in all ages of adults.

Zinc Pca is one of the sought after ingredients for scalp odor as well as body odor. It is used lower body odor in people of all ages that often suffer from body odor that cannot be controlled easily by other means.

Zinc compounds have been reported to be effective as sebum inhibitors, odor absorption as well as anti aging and anti rash. Research has shown that Zinc PCA does inhibit sebum as well as absorb odor from the body and scalp.  An unexpected result that research shows is that zinc pca also inhibits AP-1 – a strong cause of collagenase production, and remember that collagenase is responsible for the appearance of skin wrinkles and aging in general.

In this study we demonstrate the effects of zinc PCA; namely, sebum inhibition, inhibition of bacterial growth and suppression of AP-1. .

What Exactly Is Zinc?


Zinc is is a trace element and vital - necessary for human beings.

Here are dietary products that are rich in zinc:

1) Fish and shellfish are naturally rich in zinc. Zinc deficiency in humans is unlikely to occur with a balanced diet. However, an unbalanced diet is known to cause reproductive issues, skin roughness, skin rashes, hair loss, hair thinning and more.

2) With regards to cosmetic and toiletry products, zinc is known to form non-volatile salts that have tempered fatty acids and the main point is that they exert antibacterial activity. Zinc is also used as an ingredient of baby powders, shaving powders, anhidrotic agents, creams and so on. Zinc pca is a special form of zinc and should not be confused with just general zinc even though many of the properties are the same.

Sebum inhibiting activity


Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a modified version of of testosterone that is converted by an enzyme that feeds off of scalp oils, produced by the action of the enzyme 5 a-reductase, stimulates sebaceous glands to produce and secrete sebum. Zinc inhibits 5 a-reductase activity which in turn reduces the amount of dht that is formed in the scalp - very important for both men's and women's hair loss or hair thinning due to dht. This would be considered a dht blocker that can be in a serum or in a dht blocking shampoo.

Odor-Reduction or Odor Absorbing Activity


If zinc forms salts with short-chain fatty acids that cause scalp or body odor, the characteristic smell or odor disappears. In this connection, Zinc PCA, which is a zinc compound that includes the fatty acids and ultimately the nonvolatile salts, is expected to suppress body odor by forming nonvolatile salts with short-chain fatty acids in the skin.

What is zinc PCA?

As described above, zinc inhibits sebum secretion and body odor. However, the solubility of zinc salts is usually low, making it difficult to add zinc compounds to cosmetics, and difficult for the effects of zinc compounds to manifest. We paid close attention to pyrrolidone carboxylic acid (PCA), which is an organic acid, as a counter for the formation of zinc salts, and evaluated its functions.

PCA is the predominant component of a Natural Moisturizing Factor and is known to play important roles in hydration of the skin and the scalp skin. PCA originates from glutamic acid found abundantly in the living body.. Glutamic acid, which is biosynthesised by hydrolysis of filaggrin (a protein) during the course of skin keratinisation, is hydrolyzed and cyclised with skin enzymes (g-glutamyl-AA synthetase and g-glutamyl cyclotransferase),7 to yield PCA. Usually, PCA is found in the skin in the form of salts (Na salt, K salt, etc.) and it is abundantly contained in NMF.8 PCA, assuming the form of salt, is known to serve as a moisturizer which keeps the skin soft and to exert excellent conditioning effects on the hair and even the scalp skin.

Characteristics


The following effects of zinc PCA have been confirmed in our study:

Reduction of unwanted sebum both on the scalp, hair and in the skin.

Inhibition of activator protein-1 production known for causing appearance of wrinkles and aging.

In addition, effects on microorganisms were measured - bacteria that causes acne, bumps, odor and much more.

Reduction of unwanted Sebum

Zinc PCA does so much for the scalp skin and body skin. There are very visible results in the skin sebum level observed after repeated applications to the skin. 1% Zinc PCA solution has been shown to significantly decrease sebum levels on the treated skin at week four, compared to initial value. A various formula, treatment with water or zinc gluconate does not result in any significant difference to initial value. These proves that zinc PCA can be expected to show a promising effect as cosmetic for oily skin as well as skin and scalp odor.

Procedure

The subjects were asked to apply 1% zinc PCA solution, 1% zinc gluconate and water to the one side of the face, morning and evening, for four weeks. Secreted sebum was measured by sebumeter measurements (SM 810 PC, Courage and Khazaka, Electronic GmbH) and the measurement on the treated skin after three hours and four weeks was expressed as a ration of the initial value (before the treatment). All the subjects were required to complete a 30-minute acclimation period in the environmental chamber (22°C, 40% relative humidity), where all sebum measurements were taken.

Results

By application of zinc PCA, a very significant decrease of the oil or sebum content from the initial value was observed.

Inhibition of activator protein-1


Collagen, which is indispensable for keeping the skin tense and to prevent wrinkle formation, is degraded by collagenase (an enzyme that degrades collagen). Therefore, to suppress wrinkle formation, it is necessary to suppress collagenase production.

It is known that activator protein-1 (AP-1 – a complex protein composed of a few protein units, produced by stimuli such as UV radiation) induces the production of collagenase by binding to DNA in the cell nucleus. This means that AP-1 formation needs to be suppressed to inhibit collagenase production (Fig. 7). We therefore evaluated the effect of zinc PCA in suppressing the production of AP-1. This experiment revealed that treatment with even low levels of this substance suppressed c-FOS (an indicator of AP-1 production) by about 70%. This result suggests that zinc PCA can suppress wrinkle formation.

Mechanism of collagen degradation and wrinkle formation


Procedure

Zinc PCA was added to human fibroblasts and the cells were irradiated with UVA. After the irradiation, the amount of c-FOS (a component of AP-1) was determined.

Calculation method

A: zinc PCA (+), UVA irradiation (+) B: zinc PCA (-), UVA irradiation (+) C: zinc PCA (-), UVA irradiation (-) c-FOS Production inhibition (%) = {1-(A-C)/(B-C)} x 10.
Results.

Determining Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (microoragasim)


Procedure

Emulsion containing zinc PCA at several different levels of concentrations was made and applied on culture plates. Each organism suspended in culture medium was placed on the agar plate. After incubation, the minimum inhibitory concentration was examined and noted. MIC is the lowest concentration on microorganisms where there is no visible growth of that micro organism. 

Information That Matters:

When we were searching for ingredients to make the very best in scalp and skin purifying products we were led to zinc.

FACT: Zinc is the strongest natural fighter that is over 30% abundant in your skin. Why so much zinc? Simple - zinc keeps the germs and bacteria out of the skin to prevent infections and other germ related problems.

However while searching we found a derivative of zinc that seemed to pull out the very best of the properties of zinc , making it a more effective form of zinc. When we first added it to the shampoo the results were seen within days.

Zinc PCA Continued