The exposome, which includes both environmental and behavioural factors, is known to have deleterious health effects. Skin and hair are directly impacted by these factors: dry, sensitive and reactive skin, premature ageing, dull and brittle hair, loss of hair and canities are the visible signs (Krutman et al., 2017).
After providing natural solutions from the marine world to protect the skin from these deleterious effects, the R&D department of the Greentech Group has focused on hair loss (alopecia) using a systemic approach including the study of the Wnt / β-catenin cell signalling pathway, key to the hair cycle and the study of the scalp microbiota.
Due to its hot and humid environment as well as its richness in sebum, the scalp contains many yeasts, particularly from Malassezia species involved in the occurrence of dandruff, seborrheic dermatitis and alopecia. Among these bacteria, the most common are C. acnes and S. epidermidis but there are also local populations that synthesise vitamins and nutrients
essential for hair growth. The link between alopecia and imbalance of the scalp microbiota has been little investigated.
Thanks to a metagenomic study, Greentech characterised the scalp’s microbiota of people suffering from alopecia and evaluated whether molecules such as terpenes and the polyphenols family, that are found in the plant world, could modulate this microbiota. Greentech's ingredient, Hairline, was born.
Hairline reduces the C. acnes/ S. epidermidis ratio, which is strongly increased in the case of alopecia, causing microinflammation. Besides this, it rebalances the M. globosa and M. restrica ratio.
In vitro studies have shown an important action on the inhibitors of the Wnt pathway, the key to hair growth. These results are reflected in user satisfaction: 77% of them observed a slowing down of hair loss while 81% noted an acceleration of hair growth.
