How Healthy Skin Contributes to Healthy Aging

If you too have been down this path of struggling with your skin and you thought maybe it would never happen to you, it would never catch up to you, that was my experience. And then all of a sudden, boom, something, something fell and there it is. And it was a major change for me. And I have since fallen in love with OneSkin. And the reason wasn't a pleasant one. I had a precancerous mole removed. It got got my attention because as you wait for the biopsy to come back, you wonder, is this it? Is all those years of lifeguarding and laying out and doing all the things that so many of us did, and hiking in desert heat, swimming in the heat of the day because it's the only time you can be outside, has that all caught up with me? Well, OneSkin, by the way, I want to introduce you to Alessandra Zanari, who is a leading expert in stem cell biology and skin regeneration, driven by the personal mission to transform the way we age. Her journey began in Brazil, where she witnessed the impact of age-related diseases on her family, inspiring her to explore the connection between cellular health and longevity. And she is co-founder and CSO, Chief Science Officer, of OneSkin. And Alessandra develops groundbreaking skincare products that target cellular senescence. You'll hear more about that, but that is a key hallmark of aging, and it's gonna catch up with all of us. I want to tell you that this episode comes out of one of the number one questions I've been asked. As soon as you experience great results, you may lose weight, you may tone up in certain areas, but then that leaves sagging crepey skin, and you ask, what do I do about this? Which is a little out of my element. So I'm bringing in the big guns today to talk to you about just what does help that, why it happens. And I think some of you can guess, but we'll pull that all back in and around in this episode. And I'm so excited for you to get to hear this. There are so many products that OneSkin offers. I actually have the whole kit and caboodle on my counter. However, You could start small with just a few things. I've now been using it solidly for over 6 months, and I can tell you that there is definitively a difference in the way my skin feels. When you put on a good product, you know, you know it's a good product because you're not needing to put it on again an hour later. You know what I mean? With certain lotions, it's just living in first in Boulder for 6 and a half years and here in Phoenix, Scottsdale area for 5 and a half. My skin has— I should have gone to the humid side of the coast, Florida, because it plumps your skin. So I've definitely noticed I have to take better care, and this is one way I do it. But what I want you to understand is if you're not looking for a product, this won't read like an infomercial, but you will understand aging at the cellular level and how you can do something about it. And by the way, no matter what you put on your skin, it's what you put in your body, what you breathe in your body, how you move and how you sleep and deal with stress. All of those things matter as well. And we get into all of it here with our resident scientist for the day. Alessandra, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you, Debra, for having me here. I'm so excited for our conversation.

So here is me, everybody, begging in the green room more compliments on my face because I am literally— my entire counter is a sea of One Skin.

And you're glowing.

And, and see, I— it worked. So, um, she's, she's trainable. But the, the biggest reason I shared, I had to remove a precancerous mole, and it really got my attention. So this is the first summer— literally, guys, I'm 61, I know better— as the first summer I've been so diligent about SPF for my skin, my body, my lips, and I'm in love with the products. I've never loved a face SPF, and this is so very different. But we're not even talking about that so much. I want to go back to square one, talk about the business a little bit and refresh everybody's mind. So first of all, it's very fun that you're a female-owned business, and I think if I'm not mistaken, your title is CSO. I had to think for a minute that that must be a science officer, chief science officer. Okay. Which such a great title. So tell the origin story of OneSkin. How did it come to be? Did you all sit in a room or go out too late and you're like, we need to do something about this skin or what?

So as you said, I'm chief science officer from OneSkin. That's a skincare company today, right? And not often you see this title on skincare companies. So that's because me and my co-founders, we are all scientists. We met when we were doing our PhDs back in Brazil. We are Brazilians and we, we share this passion about doing research that can improve people's life. So we all did research on the area of stem cells and how we can improve the healing process of our body. And my research on my PhD was specifically in wound healing, on skin wound healing, how we can use stem cells to promote better wound healing. When we finished our PhDs, I was still doing postdoc in Portugal. I moved to Portugal and we, we always had this passion, like what we can do, how we can translate science, how we can like bring something that people will be able to benefit from. From. And it's not easy. It's not an easy task. It's not easy even to come up with something. But back in 2016, we decided to move to San Francisco to join an accelerator program for scientists that are wanting to create biotech. And we started researching skin aging with the, with the thinking that, okay, If we are able to understand skin aging and test the products in the market, we can help people to understand what are the best products for them, what are able to rejuvenate better their skin. And that was the first idea of OneSkin. So we created this company, we started to grow human skins in the lab, we start testing the products, and we start realizing that a lot of the products they either don't work or they can be accelerating aging. And as females, like we— I faced so much problems with my skin, with rosacea, trying to use products that would just cause more irritation to my skin. And when we start seeing the results in the lab, we start to realize that these products were not working because they were not addressing specifically what's leading skin aging. And then we shift our research to try to find another molecule that would help reverse the skin age process that's happening. And we found a molecule after, like, we screened over 900 molecules. We identified one novel molecule that when we treat in the lab, the skin gets biologically younger. And at that time, this is back in 2019, after we started the company in 2016, So after 4 years of research, we were thinking that we would take this molecule and license to a big company so they could bring this to the market. And, but this process of like talking to the big companies can be so slow. And we were seeing the potential of this novel molecule that we look at each other, we are all scientists. And we said, what if we bring this to the market ourselves? Let's create a brand. Let's formulate products that we want to use, that we want to stick with, uh, that we can have benefits for the long term. So at that day, I still remember back in 2019, I got so excited about the idea of having a product in the market. And in 2021, we launched our first product. And now in 2025, we have complemented— we have almost a full line of products to take care of your skin.

So many things. I mean, we could do a whole podcast episode on each product that I'm using and what it's done for me, but I want to explain to everybody. So your team developed something you called OS-01, the first peptide that reduces cellular senescence. And that is totally a mouthful. I've been trying as well as I can to educate people on what this is so they understand it. But first of all, can you talk about cellular senescence? It sounds just like it is. I mean, like another rude awakening to, you know, you are no longer 22. But that is cellular senescence. That is one of the hallmarks of aging. So we're not just talking about you look in the wrinkles and you don't like the crow's feet.

This is—

this is a much deeper level than that. Define that for us.

So cellular senescence is a process that happens with aging where some cells that are damaged, they stop dividing and they secrete inflammation. It's a regular process that happens in our whole body. The problem is that as we are getting older, instead of these cells being clear— cleared up from our body, they remain. And since they are secreting inflammation, they are kind of toxic cells in our body. And this inflammation that they are secreting accelerates damage on the healthy tissue surrounding. So it accelerates the aging process. And on the skin, this leads to more collagen breakdown. And for the thinning of the skin barrier, which is compromising the main function of our skin, that is to protect our body. So it's more than just the appearance that, of course, we want to look good on our skin, but it's the function of this tissue that needs to protect our inner body that starts to get compromised with aging because we are accumulating those damaged cells in the skin that are also known as senescent cells. And some people call them zombie cells, right? They, they are there just like not doing good. They're toxic.

Yeah. And so to summarize, it's like those toxic cells are also contagious. So they're not just there minding their own business. They're actually intruding on the healthy ones. That's not a good scenario.

Yeah. And that's the problem when they are like starting to affect the other healthy cells. So what we did was look for a novel molecule that could stop this process of accelerating aging, inducing more of those senescent cells in the skin. So this peptide, this novel peptide OS-001, it's able to reduce the inflammation that these senescent cells are producing, reduce this burden. So now the healthy cells are allowed— they have a healthy environment they can proliferate better, they can produce more collagen, and they can get that skin barrier stronger again.

So cool. So I'm going to have to ask this question. This is like every woman wants to know how, how much immediate gratification to get. How long do we have to wait before we would see change?

So we're, we're talking about the aging process. So it's something that's happening every day and we're talking about cellular process which takes time. And it depends not only on what you're using on your skin, it depends on your whole lifestyle. So there are no miracles here. The way this molecule works, as I said, starts slowing down this inflammation process. And then with time, you start clearing some of those zombie cells and you're leaving time and room. So your own skin is like starting to, to act as a younger skin. So you see immediate— like there are some immediate benefits that you feel your skin more hydrated, you feel a little bit smoother. But the real benefits will come with the long term. And after, after 1 month, after 3 months, you visibly will see your skin becoming more glowy, decreasing the fine lines, becoming more firm. And this process, it just adds up. We have done clinical studies to up to 1 year, and we see that the results, they are accumulating. The skin, even after 1 year, gets even firmer. It gets more smooth. It reduces the fine lines and gets more of a healthy aspect. It's not that your skin will look back as you were when you were 20 years old. You will regain that youthfulness of your skin. That's like looking better, looking healthy, looking vibrant and strong.

And some of you who had acne at 22 are so very glad you won't look like that again, right? But yes, it totally makes sense. And I have to tell you, you know, I have fallen in love with everything that is SPF, 'cause number one, I needed to, I got scared into it. And I had a sample of the SPF for face, but I've used it now on body. But the other thing I was in love with was lip. But now I understand that you're launching something new for lips that not SPF, it is something else. And I would love for you to tell us why is that so important? I mean, not that, not that we don't all get it. And smoker's lines around the mouth and the lips seeming to be thinning and disappearing, right? We get that.

So, yeah, so we neglect a lot of our lips, right? We take care, we buy a lot of products for our face, around the eyes, and a lot of time we neglect the lips. And as you said, they start like having losing volume, becoming thinner, drier. And they are one of the number one areas that you perceive aging on your face is the changes around your lip. And then we— it's an— it's a type of skin that most of the people are not taking care of. They don't use SPF on their lips when they go out, uh, and are at the beach, outdoors, and they don't apply anything to treat or try to repair damage on the lips. So we have developed the Lip SPF that you already know that contains our peptide. It's a mineral SPF that does not feel bad on your lips. It's very hydrating and has antioxidants. And now we are coming with the lip treatment, a night treatment that's more powered with hydration and with our peptide, and that we have seen incredible results on our preclinical data of increasing the collagen production on the lip area. And the most— for me, the most amazing result of this product, we did a clinical consumer perception beta test with 26 participants that applied the product on the lip and around the lips, and the reduction on the fine lines after 4 weeks was perceived by 100% of the participants.

Sign me up.

Before and afters. I really— I thought you would already have it, but I'm sending it to you tomorrow.

You're holding out on me.

Yes, because it's really very hydrating. And the delivery of the peptide to repair the damage around the skin, around the lips and on the lips, it's very impressive because we neglect that much taking care of that area of our face.

So true, you know. And I have been told, like, in going to see my dermatologist, I have been told, you must have read, like, that, you know, the pucker is in and you're doing that too much because you have all these smoker's lines. And I'm like, I, I really don't give influencers that much cred. No, thank you. But I am very expressive, so maybe that's gotten me in trouble and caught up with me. There's that. I want to back up for a minute just in case any listener, if we lost them, because there is so much talk about peptides. My fear is that for a woman who is still not sure what peptides are, she wouldn't ask because she's embarrassed because everybody's talking about it as if you should know. Could you just back up to that and tell us what, what a peptide actually is?

Yeah. Peptides is a class of molecules that are very safe and our body recognizes pretty well. And it's a type of molecule that can give a signal to the cells in our body to behave in a certain way. So a peptide can signalize to produce more collagen. It can signalize to reduce inflammation. So it can— it helps our body to do a certain function. So the peptide that we found, the OS-1 peptide, was specifically to decrease the inflammation that these toxic and damaged cells are secreting and the cells that we are accumulating with aging. So it's giving that message to the cells and reducing the inflammation that the cells are producing. And with that, what we see, as I said, is the healthy cells creating, being in a better environment and being able to restore collagen production and the skin barrier function.

Great explanation. So it's almost like a puzzle piece or a game of telephone, like telling something, okay, go to work. And let's just also talk about the very specific tie. I mean, we're all aging, so this might apply to men and women, but women going through menopause, that transition from peri to post-menopause was like, for me, it was like falling off a cliff. Not anything else, but it was definitely my skin. Like, I was like, I'm getting compliments about my skin or my neck, like, you don't look like you're aging. And then suddenly that's like crickets. There was no more compliments because, because apparently I did, I, you know, and it was like, I noticed it too. Hey, this is Debra Atkinson, and there's one thing that you can't do in the gym at your age, and that's get all the protein that you need. You've got to do that in the kitchen. To make it easy for myself, to not only get the protein but the fiber, fruits and veggies that I want daily, I started drinking a smoothie a day over 30 years ago when I realized all the junk, the sugar, and the extras that you don't want hiding in most protein powders or pre-made shakes. I finally caved in after years of saying I'd never ever ever sell supplements. Look, skedop skipping, skimping, and sabotaging yourself in the morning and after workouts by always being prepared. Protein plus fiber kill cravings and boost satiety and build muscles and a strong future. Use code PODCAST for 10% off your first order at flipping50.com. Today.

For all of us women, unfortunately, we will go through this process where our body declines a lot, the estrogen levels. And that hormone is very important in the process of producing collagen and in the process of keeping that skin barrier intact as well. So when we lose a lot of that hormone, we start perceiving this more dry skin and the skin is just like lose all the glowy and starts to become with more fine lines and more visible signs of aging. So the thing and then the senescent cells that you're accumulating when you lose this estrogen, they're just like producing the inflammation, right? And that's just adds to the process and to the acceleration process of the skin aging. So altogether, when you're losing all of that and you're accumulating those senescent cells, it's not a good recipe for a good skin. And you really, you start feeling, okay, something, something's going downhill right now. But the thing is, there are products like this peptide, for instance, our peptide OS-001, that can counteract some of the side effects, will not completely remove the causes of your menopause, that lack of hormone that you have by decreasing the inflammation that's accumulating there. It helps your skin also to, to build back the hydration, to build back the firmness and elasticity of the skin.

I have a question you may not be able to answer. I don't know if you've looked at this or had the opportunity. You've been a little busy in the lab, clearly. So Women who do choose to do HRT and can, and it's a healthy vibe for them, do you find that they will do a little bit better with collagen production? Do they get— buy back a little opportunity to help themselves produce it?

So usually HRT helps, like, improve a lot of those symptoms of menopause, including the dryness of the skin and this less lack of firmness. So yes, HRT, especially like you follow with a doctor, you have like guidance to, to do it. It can improve and can have some benefits on the symptoms of the menopause from the menopause.

I love it now. And I can't think of a reason why I would want to stop using it. But when you talk about, say, the benefits of OS-01 in the peptide and say in body because is for a lot of listeners, they're getting good results because they are doing exercise. They may be finding they're losing weight, they're toning up in certain areas and muscle. But then the next question is, what do I do about this crepey skin? I, I get asked that, and I'm like, I— that is out of my element, guys. You know, I can tell you to eat your antioxidants, lift weights, because that will thicken the skin just a little. There's some proof to that. But, you know, talk a little bit about if someone is to use products and they stop, have they done themselves good that will stick with them if they were to stop?

I mean, everything, because the aging process is not stopping, right?

Right.

You continue accumulating damage and so on. So when you stop, yeah, you, you kind of like you gain something. It will, it will do right for a certain time. But depending on your habits or what you're doing, the process will be reversed again and can, can go, can start going like downhill again. So it's sustainable, but it also depends on, on your lifestyle and the things that you're doing. And with time, it's kind of like, yeah, you're not stopping the aging process. So naturally your skin will continue to build up more senescent cells eventually if you stop using the product and then you start seeing, okay, oh, my skin was going better, better. Now it starts to not look so good. And if like in 2 years later, oh, so you understand. So it depends. The thing is that the process, the natural process of aging is not stopping. So we need to be— we think about like a supplement, something that's with continuous use, you know, that you'll have more, more benefits.

So question for you, there's a lot of busy women here, so they're juggling families still there, whether the older parents or the young kids still at home or both, and careers, and just in the middle of the middle, they don't have a lot of time. If you were gonna say minimal, effective, viable routine for getting into and out of the bathroom quickly, morning or night, what would that be?

So that's my routine.

I'll take what you're having. Thank you.

It's what's good. But the minimum after a day, like, because we, we are out there, we sometimes we, we, we added products in the morning, we have some makeup. So a good gentle cleanser at night and then you hydrate your skin in the morning. If you just hydrate your skin, you don't need to cleanse your skin again with the cleanser. You can just wash with water, hydrate again, and add SPF. And if you want some makeup on top, you add makeup on top. That's the, the very simple, like hydrating and cleaning, hydrating, and during the day using an SPF. If you're choosing like OneSkin, what I like about our moisturizers is that they are not only moisturizers, they are delivering actives as well. So you don't need a serum. You're delivering the peptides, you are delivering other ingredients that contains on our products. We have antioxidants, very powerful antioxidants. We have ceramides. We have more that is giving to your skin. So it simplifies your routine a lot. Of course, there are some people that are— love to add more products to their skin. They can add the OneSkin in their routine, in their routine, because our products is very compatible with other products. And our peptide you will not find in any other product. So you can just add as an additional step.

Step.

But if you want to simplify, it's also possible. And that's, that's my kind of routine.

So question for you about exfoliating, and I think, you know, a lot of women are just like, their skin is dull and they feel like, I just want to scrub it off. Can we overdo that? What's your recommendation there?

Yeah, we need to be cautious to not overdo exfoliation because then it's not asking for a friend.

Of course. Yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I usually recommend like exfoliating once per week and using more of a gentle cleanser, but it depends a little bit sometimes on your skin type and what you're adding to your skin as well. So what I do to my skin is gentle cleanser during the week, and once per week I use a little bit of exfoliator to clean a little bit more, to remove more impurities and more of the dead cells, but not overdo on cleansing because if you remove the skin, it builds a protective layer to, to your body. And if you strip out too much of that protective layer, you kind of— you can create more irritation. Your skin can start to become more prone to redness and to become irritated. So we need to be careful with that. Mm, yeah.

And I have noticed that too. It's just different things affect me differently now. It's just like suddenly it's like, really? Yeah. So it's, it's— what is it? You know, I think some people forget where they parked their car when they go, you know, the grocery store, and they're like, yeah, it's always an adventure.

It's very important for us to learn our body and our skin because we're all different. We have different routines. Our biology, our genetics is different. So you start learning what works best for you comparing to others and, and adjusting accordingly. Yeah.

What outside of OneSkin and the OS-01 peptide— and I'm going to go out on a limb just for myself and say protecting yourself from UV rays outside— what are some of your other favorite personal habits for skin?

I mean, number one, keeping your body hydrated. So like drinking enough water is very important. Feeling hydrated. Also taking care of this, your sleep. Like, it's so important to have like good nights of sleep where you allow your body to be on that repair restorative phase and like clean up all the toxic toxic things that we are accumulating during the day. So good sleep, water, like a good diet and exercise, the main basics that sometimes is hard to do. But once you create, like, you're so aware that how good this do for yourself that you fell in love with your routine. It's just, it's not a burden anymore.

So do you lift weights?

Yes.

Right answer. Okay. You know, I was going to have to edit that if you didn't answer correctly.

4 times a week. Yeah.

Awesome. I love it. What do you wish more women knew about their skin in midlife and beyond as they start going through hormonal changes?

I think one thing is like, it's not just downhill. You know, the science and the aging research is showing that no matter when you're start in your life, the aging process is a malleable process and we can help our body to reverse some of the damage that we had accumulated. So this for your skin, but a lot of the research on aging and longevity is bringing this information that we should not be scared of aging anymore. We should take ownership of this process and embrace the beautiful process of aging because we, we get more mature, we learn more, we have more experience, and we need just to help our body to feel strong during this process. So, no matter which age you are, there's always things that you can do to feel better about yourself, to regain, like, self-esteem, and to, to help your body to function better and younger.

And I think for so many women in midlife, I mean, there are just so many changes that happen. And every woman's journey is different. I mean, we, we are face forward. It has so much to do with just our confidence. And, and I think sometimes it catches me by surprise. Like, I feel one way internally and maybe mindset-wise, then I'll catch myself in the mirror. I'm like, no, no, no, that's not, that's not me. That's not the image I had of myself, you know. And so doing things that I think might feel like they come out of vanity end up up actually reaching you, reaping rewards and benefits in all areas of your life. What excites you most about the future of skincare and longevity? Because the longer we age, the more issue skincare will become.

Yeah, I mean, I— what excites me is this, where exactly I'm working at this intersection of biotech and skincare, where we see now that like the products, they go deeper than just like marketing claims. We will see more products that can help your own biology work better. So that excites me a lot. And the learning of how we can even understand better this process of aging to create better products and maybe more even personalized products in the future. That's what's exciting me a lot.

Wow. And so I want to lean into that just a little bit in such a great way to wrap up here as we close. But your Onescans philosophy on transparency and validation about, you know, the clinical benefits and rewards and speak into that just a little bit about the importance of that to you and the team.

I mean, we are founded by 4 scientists. So for us, data comes first. And as we approach all the product development, that's the number one thing we are developing. We are learning what this product does, and then we are creating the marketing claims based on the data that we see in our lab and then in clinical studies. And then we publish all this data in scientific journals. So it's peer-reviewed by the community. And that's very important for us because we, We are proud of the products that we bring in the market. We are users of the products that we develop and we know that they are not miracles, but they have like a strong potential of helping and benefiting the skin. And we continue doing research to learn how, how better our products can be in the future. So the vision of OneSkin is not that we will just be creating products products just to add, but we are understanding, learning more with this science of aging. So eventually we will be updating our products with the latest technology that we have. So far now it's the OS-12 peptide, but eventually we'll have either the OS-12 or another molecule, another version. And we want to bring whatever we learn in our research, we want to bring to the market.

So valuable. And to our listeners, you know, I liken this to so many of you are science girls. I'll do a masterclass or we'll do a podcast and you'll be like, where's the science? Like, and it's like, by the way, the references are in the slide or they're in the show. And so like your muscle, like your bone, you wanna know the protocols that you're doing are actually going to deliver you the transformation. The way we first know that is what worked with the subjects in a study. And this is no different. So I love it. Those of you who are listening who are saying, okay, how do I try it? You're— you've convinced me. You can visit oneskin.co/Flipping50, flipping 5-0, and use code Flipping50 for 15% off your first purchase. I'm going to warn you, you're going to love it. Alessandra, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for having me here.

And thanks for the work you're doing for all of us.

Oh, thank you.