Product Review: Remergent High Intensity DNA Repair SPF 30
Recently, a reader asked me to research and review Remergent High Intensity DNA Repair SPF 30 ($94.95, SkincareRx.com). The company’s “super concentrated” product claims to “protect your skin from the sun as well as help to regenerate your skin and heal the damage that has already been done.” But does the product live up to the hype?
Not “super” concentrated, after all
Based on the ingredients list provided by SkincareRx.com, the product is a physical sunscreen with 5.1% Titanium Dioxide and 0.97% Zinc Oxide. Unfortunately, many products, like Blue Lizard Australian Suncream for Sensitive Skin ($13.19 for two, Amazon.com) provide more sun protection, with 5.0% Titanium Dioxide and over ten times the Zinc Oxide, with a full 10% Zinc Oxide. It may also be noted that microfine zinc oxide absorbs appreciably more UV light in the long-wave UVA spectrum from 340 to 380 nm, according to Dr. Leslie Baumann’s Cosmetic Dermatology textbook. As a result, Remergent High Intensity DNA Repair SPF 30 does not provide more concentrated zinc oxide than other cheaper competitors.
Two network antioxidants, vitamin C and vitamin E, are included in the product as tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate and tocopheryl acetate, respectively. The combination of vitamin C and vitamin E synergistically enhance the power of one another, and have been reported by Djerassi et. al. to prevent the formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines (although in different forms of C and E). Vitamin C and vitamin E have also been shown in this 1996 study, amongst others, to enhance the photoprotective effects of sunscreen. Unfortunately, vitamin C and vitamin E are in low concentration in this product, as they are both amongst the bottom three ingredients on the list.
Extremely hydrating
The product contains cetearyl alcohol (which is one of the hydrating alcohols), glycerin, arachidyl alcohol, arachidyl glucoside, and several other ingredients as emollients. Unfortunately, this gives the product a very thick texture that is unappealing to some users.
Overall?
I do not like this product. It contains little vitamin C and vitamin E for the money, and its sun protection can be beaten for a fraction of the cost. Save your money! Or, if you are going to spend this much on antioxidant vitamins C and E and sunscreen, try one of my favorite products, Skinceuticals C E Ferulic ($95.99, Amazon.com), which contains a full 15% vitamin C as L-ascorbic acid, vitamin E as tocopherol acetate, and ferulic acid as a stabilizer, with a potent broad spectrum (UVA/UVB) sunscreen layered over top, like Neutrogena Dry Touch Ultra Sheer Sunblock SPF 70 ($18.49 for two, Amazon.com), . Overall rating of Remergent High Intensity DNA Repair SPF 30: 2/10 (expensive, good antioxidants but very low concentration of them, decent sun protection but not for the cost!)
Ingredients
Active Ingredients: Titanium Dioxide 5.1%, Octinoxate 5%, Oxybenzone 3%, Zinc Oxide 0.97%. Other Ingredients: Water, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Phenoxyethanol, Arachidyl Alcohol, Alumina, Arachidyl Glucoside, Behenyl Alcohol, Caprylyl Glycol, Cetearyl Glucoside, Disodium EDTA, Ethylhexylglycerin, Hexylene Glycol, Isopropyl Titanium Triisostearate/Triethoxycarpylylsilane, Crosspolymer, Lecithin, Micrococus Lysate, Plankton Extract, Polyhydroxystearic Acid, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Steareth-2, Steareth-21, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Tocopheryl Acetate, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, Xanthan Gum
Thanks, I think you just saved me a lot of money, and maybe even alot of sun damage!
Good review, but I still love it. My dermatologist recommended it a year ago and I still use it today. Personally I really like the way it feels. Even though its thick it absorbs into my skin quickly and makes my skin texture feel much smoother. It also puts a healthy glow to my skin which I love, better than my moisturizers. Some products with SPF put a purplish tint to my skin, this Remergent product does not do that, I think because of the quick absorbtion. It is pricey, but I recommend it.
Just so you know, Remergent DNA Repair Formula is used to REPAIR your skin. It also protects but focuses on repairing past damage. Here is part of a News Alert about it: Cyclobutane Pyrimidine Dimers (CPD’s) are not formed by oxygen radicals, so antioxidants like Vitamin C and E cannot stop their formation. Antioxidants cannot repair Cyclobutane Pyrimidine Dimers AFTER UV exposure. Experiments have been done where Vitamin C and E are put on BEFORE UV exposure. Since Vitamin C and E absorb UV, they act as sunscreens. Of course, any sunscreen put on BEFORE UV will cut down on Cyclobutane Pyrimidine Dimers, and there are a lot less expensive ones than SkinCeuticals. But to repair Cyclobutane Pyrimidine Dimers AFTER sun exposure or from past damage, there is only one product, DNA Repair Formula.
“Remergent has a unique point of distinction in that we recognize the 2 different ways in which solar UV damages the skin. In the first there is indirect damage, the sunlight causes free radicals, which then goes on and causes damage to DNA and to the cells. And what is ignored by all, is the direct damage caused by the sun. DNA directly absorbs ultraviolet light with no free radicals involved this means that antioxidants can’t stop the effects of direct DNA damage, the only thing that can be done is to have sunscreen to prevent and to increase DNA repair.”
-Daniel B. Yarosh, PhD
Please be careful using the Remergent DNA “Serum”. I used this just a few times and was left with broken blood vessels allover my face. It’s been weeks now and they still have not cleared up. I had good thick normal skin with no history of broken blood vessels. Something in this fomula caused all of these blood vessels close to the surface of the skin to rupture and now even if they calm down for the day by not using any products and a mild cleanser, they come back as soon as I wash my face or use makeup that has to be removed. I am going to have to have IPL treatments to remove them. Be careful with the Remergent DNA Serum, I have heard of this happening to a few people now and the company cannot explain why.