Shiseido chose Pure Retinol because it is highly effective, despite its weakness to external factors.
Retinol is known to have a number of skin-affecting properties. Shiseido focused in specifically on Pure Retinol, which is a highly active variety. This ingredient is extremely weak to the effects of light, oxygen and other common external factors, but Shiseido employs proprietary technology to protect Pure Retinol. In 2017, it became the only quasi-drug active ingredient in Japan to be officially certified as having an improvement effect on wrinkles.
Retinol is a type of Vitamin A that is known to improve the skin’s resistance to oxidation damage, promote collagen production, and provide other benefits. Retinol derivatives differ in chemical structure from retinol, and also have different effects; the term “retinols” is used to refer broadly to all retinol types.
Shiseido specifically chose Pure Retinol, which is pure and undiluted retinol itself—not a retinol derivative. Although Pure Retinol is highly effective in improving skin wrinkles, it is unstable as an ingredient, exhibiting weakness to the effects of external factors such as light, oxygen and heat which cause it to break down. It is not uncommon for pure-type retinol to break down during the production process or when stored in standard, non-specialized containers, but Shiseido solved this by developing proprietary Shiseido Retinol TripleLock Technology.
Using our technological strengths, we firmly protect Pure Retinol during its formulation, manufacturing and packaging phases, making sure it does not degrade in any way.
Researchers discovered that retinol can function as a skin-treatment ingredient in the 1980s, and Shiseido set out in pursuit of research aimed at developing retinol into an active ingredient that could help customers with wrinkle-related skin concerns. For more than three decades, we conducted research on the mechanisms and effects of retinol.
In order to obtain official certification of retinol’s effects in improving skin wrinkles, it was necessary to pass stringent tests related to effectiveness, safety and stability. Shiseido managed to pass each and every such test with our Pure Retinol ingredient. Finally, in 2017, we successfully obtained Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare certification of Pure Retinol as an active quasi-drug ingredient with an improvement effect on wrinkles, which was the first such certification in Japan for a retinol product.
Masahiro Ota, Researcher
In the 1980s, scientists first discovered that retinol is effective against damage to the skin caused by light. People throughout the field of dermatology were amazed at the new ingredient and praised it widely, but successful development of practical applications was still a long way off. Based on our strong desire to discover a means of developing retinol and its beneficial effects into something that could be used by customers everywhere, we embarked on our research.
In order to get retinol certified as a quasi-drug active ingredient, it was necessary not only to develop wrinkle evaluation indicators and obtain useful experimental results, but also to find ways of making its reliable effects on human skin visible. We took sufficient time to search for other ingredients that have positive effects on skin wrinkles, but in the end, retinol was the best one we could find. With support from dermatologists at renowned medical education institutions, we tirelessly worked toward our goal of retinol certification, developing technologies to protect the delicate ingredient and by extension its effective mechanisms during the formulation, manufacturing and packaging stages. Today, we can confidently deliver Pure Retinol to customers around the world.
