Heraux is the next big thing in skincare, it’s literally your skin hero! Things like facial cleanser and moisturizes are generally a dime a dozen, but when it comes down to reading ingredients, they’re essentially all the same.
“Why we wanted to create something like Heraux as a serum, it’s what we have that other brands don’t have, and the science behind is so different and so significant and the best way to showcase that is to come out with 1 product, a single sku that amounts to the world that we’ve got something different and we want to showcase it as a product that can be used all by itself” says one of the founders, Amir Nobakht. What makes Heraux so revolutionary is not only the impressive academic and scientific backgrounds of both founders, (co-founder Ben Van Handel has a PhD in Stem Cell Biology), it’s that they have the scientific data to back up all of their claims. Reduced Lines and Wrinkles after 8 weeks? Check. Reduced redness and a better complexion? Check. An easy to use serum that doesn’t interrupt your current skincare routine? Double Check!
We had to learn more about this incredible formula that’s likely to change lives as much as it will change the skincare game, so we sat down with Co-Founders Amir Nobakht and Ben Van Handel to hear how this innovative and science-based formula that makes up the Heraux skincare is so incredible, and why you can now begin to love the skin you’re in! Check it out below!
LAFM: Heraux Skincare uses the specially formulated HX-1 molecule to produce it’s incredible results, so Ben & Amir, tell us your story and how you two created this molecule and the Heraux serum that’s sure to change skincare forever?!
Heraux: (Amir) A friend of mine introduced me to Ben’s (Van Handel’s) lab, and he said “this a great lab that uses stem cells and is looking at arthritis,” I was instantly intrigued. I reached out, went to the first lab meeting and realized we could work together to commercialize some of the labs’ technologies. Right around the time I was finishing up school in 2017, Ben and his lab had just done a collaboration with a dermatological researcher at UCLA looking at the specific molecule that has been shown to help rebuild cartilage, and that same molecule showed really promising results on skin. We decided to give it a shot to create a something that could really change your skin.
We wanted to make sure the molecule was having an effect on real skin, on real people, so we started by doing a clinical trial with 30 patients over the course of 8 weeks. They used the molecule without other active ingredients, morning and night, and the results that had were really, really incredible for such a short amount of time.
From there we decided to create a formulation, and HX-1 was the ‘Heraux’ ingredient in the serum. From there we built up a supporting cast of other ingredients that we know are going to do some great things for skin like peptides, Vitamin C, hyaluronic Acid, and more, and after a year of developing it, we launched this past June!
LAFM: Your product says it can against ‘inflamm-aging,’ can you expand on what this is and what it means for skin?
Heraux: (Ben) Inflamm-aging is an up-and coming term in the medical and biomedical space. Research in the last 3-5 years has really highlighted the role of chronic low-grade inflammation in the body, promoting the advancement of any pre-existing condition to affect the skin.
For example, if you’re a person with type 2 Diabetes, your body is constantly trying to deal with that level of stress. How your body responds to that level of stress is to produce protein that try to stimulate your body to stave off the bad effects associated with it, also affecting your skin.
Unfortunately over time, your body ends up getting unhappy with that constant threat, and the cells in your body starts to age. Constant inflammation drives aging in almost every cell of your body, and skin is really no different-in fact it’s worse in the skin, because skin is the only tissue in the body that has to deal with the outside world as well as the inside world. On the outside it faces stresses like intense radiation, pollution, smoke from fires, on the inside your skin is dealing with anything from your pre-existing conditions to psychological stress, which cause your body to react and produce stress associated molecules, and all of these will circle back to the skin and promote the body to show signs of aging.
When we’re young, our body is really good at staving off these extra external pressures, but as we get older, our body’s capacity to deal with elevated stress decreases over time, so that tips the balance and we start to see things like bylines, wrinkles and hyperpigmentation. As we get exposed to more and more stress, we will continue to see signs of aging. What HX-1 does is to specifically block the ability of the main mediator of stress in the body to interact with our skin stem cells, it acts as a guardian and a shield, preventing this molecule from acting on our skin cells and making them feel stressed. You’re basically getting the cells to behave like they’re young again.
LAFM: Amazing, I want to try it immediately! With all that being said, would you say your product is for people of a certain age?
Heraux: The answer is there’s no set block in our body when our stem cells will start to lose the ability to stave off stress. I think preventative is always a good idea-it’s just like sunscreen-we should always use sunscreen no matter what age we are, and I think combatting inflamm-aging will be something that we talk in the near future, just like we talk about using sunscreen daily. Get out in front of it now, in whatever stage of life you’re in, prevent the damage before it happens, everyone should be thinking about inflamm-aging and their skin.
LAFM:What was the choice in starting with a serum, instead of following the ‘Proactiv’ Method and creating a cleanser, toner and moisturizer?
Heraux: We went with a serum because we wanted to create something with a high-concentration of the HX-1 molecule and we wanted something that people could use consistently in their routine. We didn’t want to have people change out their entire skincare routine, so we made something that could be easily applied, could be integrated for people already using product, and we also wanted a product for those people that aren’t using anything, because the Heraux serum covers all your bases. We made sure it’s something you could apply sunscreen and makeup over and it wouldn’t clump, its got a smooth application and good consistency.
LAFM: People want skincare so that they don’t have to put on makeup, if we all had perfect skin we wouldn’t be wearing as much or any makeup on a daily basis. What are some of the proven effects you’ve seen with your product?
Heraux: Some of our testimonials have said “I don’t need to wear makeup now, or I don’t need to wear it as often” which we really appreciate hearing. We recommend every day, twice a day to really get the results we’ve seen in our trials.
However, ingredients that are in the Heraux serum including Vitamin C and the peptides will help you to see results right away, within about a week you’ll start to see improved complexion, brightness, brightening of the skin, filling in the fine lines of the wrinkles. Our molecule starts to kick in around week 3/4 of daily use, in which you’ll really start to see more results including reduction in hyperpigmentation, reduction of fine lines and overall skin smoothness. In week 4-8 of the trial, there was continued improvement of the skin and significant at that.
With prolonged, those fine lines and wrinkles should be reduced, we designed with that in mind-we want people to see results as soon as possible!
LAFM: Amazing, those results look incredible! And tell us, what’s next for Heraux?
Heraux: We’re working on the next sku, and we’re in between an SPF or a post-procedure type product to reduce redness after procedures, surgeries or sun exposure.
We’re going to continue to expand the line by summer of 2020, and from there we’ll continue to work on post-procedure and post-exposure products. A lot of the things you see after any type of procedure is redness and itchy skin which are both part of inflamm-aging. We really think that’s a great opportunity for Heraux to hit a pain point for the consumer to help reduce healing time, and getting them to look better faster!
At the same time, with sun exposure we want to help mitigate that damage that happens form UVA or UVE exposure, even sunscreen isn’t enough, there’s still going to be some damage, and what Heraux serum can do is really help change that.
There’s a lot of misinformation out there, so we really want to get information out there that’s really useful for people. Even if it’s not ours, we want people to be using skincare products properly.
To get your hands on the Hearux HX-1 Serum ASAP, you can shop here and get started on having better skin! Because who wants to have to put on piles of makeup every day, when the boys at Heraux have created a skincare method that has proven results?! #We’reOnBoard! #LAFMApproved
