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Forget Its ‘Novel’ Ingredient Peptide 171, Freeze 24-7 Eyecing Has Better, More Proven Ingredients

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Freeze 24-7 Eyecing Fatigue-Fighting Eye Cream ($131.09, amazon.com), has some very effective ingredients. But those ingredients may not be the ones the company touts.

Sometimes it’s easy to fall into the trap of wanting to have the most novel ingredients. I understand this desire to stay on the cutting edge. When I’m shopping, I want to know that I’m getting the best product I can get and often that’s the newest. But a quick search of the Internet shows that one of the most talked-about ingredients peptide 171 has very little information. So is this a new and fabulous ingredient or something to highlighted to make the product stand out?

Regardless, sometimes the best things are those that are most tested. Freeze 24-7 Eyecing has several scientifically tested ingredients that make it a great eye cream. It just happens that none of those ingredients are brand new discoveries.

What is Peptide 171?

instructions_freeze_24-7It’s easy to get caught up in excitement over presumably novel ingredients like hydroptix 171 or peptide 171 or hexapeptide 17. But just because something is new doesn’t mean that it’s special or different.

This peptide can be found in Freeze 24-7’s Eyecing Eye Cream, and the company says it “dramatically improves skin tone and clarity; helping to reduce the appearance of dark circles and puffiness.”

Unfortunately, there are almost no studies to back up these claims. While that doesn’t mean that this peptide is ineffective in some way, it does mean that the claims that it will even skin tone and get ride of under eye circles it’s backed up scientifically.

This particular ingredient, with its many names, sounds like something intended to seem new to consumers, but it’s not necessarily the miracle ingredient claimed. And it’s listed as one of the last ingredients in the formula, which means there isn’t a lot of it in there.

But that doesn’t mean that other ingredients haven’t been scientifically studied. In fact, there is an ingredient that does what Freeze 24-7 says Peptide 171 does.

How Tetrahydroxypropyl Ethylenediamine (THPE) Works to Keep You Young

cream_freeze_24Tetrahydoxypropyl Ethylenediamine was shown in one study to dramatically improve skin. Forty-one women were given cream with 2.5% THPE on one side of their face and a placebo cream for the other. Researchers checked the women after 45 minutes, at four weeks, and again, at eight weeks (Journal of Drugs and Dermatology).

Within just 45 minutes, the women saw a difference; their skin was smoother and its light reflecting was modified, with skin possessing a healthier glow and less yellowing. This is because THPE has an effect on the superficial epidermal keratinocytes, which can alter the firmness of skin. Immediately, and at the end of the eight weeks, the skin on the side with THPE was significantly improved compared with the placebo side.

Unfortunately, THPE is not without irritation. There have been several case studies that show that THPE is the cause of contact dermatitis for some (Contact Dermatitis). However, there isn’t information on how many people are allergic to THPE.

Ceramide 2 Causes Apoptosis to Damaged Cells

Ceramide 2 is commonly known because it helps to improve the skin barrier and bind with water without adding too much emollience. In a study with sodium lauryl sulfate, a cream with 1% ceramide 2 was found to help restore the skin barrier more rapidly, though incompletely, than the control or a placebo (International Journal of Cosmetic Science). In this way it helps to decrease transepidermal water loss (TEWL).

And over time, usage of a 0.5% cream containing ceramide 2 was found to reinforce the skin barrier.

One of the other things its known for is its limiting of cell proliferation and inducing of cell apoptosis. Though it may seem counterproductive to limit cell production, the idea is that if fibroblasts don’t have to work as hard, they will be able to produce cells more effectively for longer. This effect has been looked at with other ingredients such as sirtuins. By turning off this gene expression, they might be able to prolong the life of the fibroblasts (Science Daily).

[Read More: Sirtuins and Skin Care]

A study on ceramide 2 found that it worked to induce cell apoptosis, as well as inhibit cell proliferation (British Dermatology Journal). One thing that the study found in particular is that ceramid 2 might be a part of the connection between the extracellular signal and the process that eliminates damaged cells.

Personal Use and Opinion

 

Eyecing
Though Freeze 24-7 Eyecing has a thick, luxurious feel (top), it absorbs into skin quickly (bottom).

Freeze 24-4 Eyecing is a creamy, whipped formula in the same shade of light blue as the company’s label. The cream has an early smell and despite being quite thick, absorbs into skin quickly.

I have to admit, I loved the luxurious feeling of the cream. One of the ingredients that gives it that consistency is the inclusion of Shea butter, which in addition to being a great moisturizer, has also been shown to have anti-aging effects (Journal of British Dermatology).

[Read More: Spotlight On: Shea Butter]

I’m glad that while the container appears to be a translucent plastic, the actual part holding the eye cream is opaque, meaning it won’t degrade in light. The cream did make my under eye area feel a bit more awake and it had a nice cool, soothing feeling. Overall, though, I wouldn’t say my dark circles were particularly erased.

[Read More: How to Get Rid of Dark Circles]

Bottom Line

Peptide 171 may not be a crazy new ingredient, but Freeze 24-7 Eyecing has some other ingredients that make it an effective eye cream. Tetrahydoxypropyl Ethylenediamine actually has the effects that Peptide 171 is said to have. Studies show it improves skin tone and smoothes skin and the results in one study shown a noticeable difference within just 45 minutes with continued use equaling long-term benefits. Ceramide 2 binds water to the skin and helps repair and strengthen the skin barrier and may also help fibroblasts. In addition to this, the cream benefits from ingredients such as Shea butter and black tea — classic, but effective ingredients.

Ingredients

Water ( Aqua), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Glycerin, Neopentyl Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, Saccharomyces/Xylinum/Black Tea Ferment, Cetearyl Alcohol, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Butylene Glycol, Polyethylene, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Cetyl Esters, Ceramide 2, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Hexapeptide-17 (Peptide 171), Palmitoyl Oligopeptide, Malachite Extract, Aminobutyric Acid ( GABA), Secale Cereale (Rye) Seed Extract, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Cetearyl Glucoside, PEG-10 Rapeseed Sterol, Tribehenin, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Polybutene, Dimethicone, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Potassium Sorbate, Phenoxyethanol, Benzyl Alcohol, Disodium EDTA, Tetrahydroxypropyl Ethylenediamine, Blue 1(CI 42090)

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