Function and tone in the same ingredient: JAJALE® Red-Puccoon Fermented Oil.
October: skin sends the bill
Summer leaves its mark: sun, salt water, chlorine, long days outdoors. Then October arrives, with the first cold spells, wind, sharp temperature swings between outdoors and indoors, and the heating switched on. This is when the skin barrier shows how fragile it is: tightness, redness, sensitivity that were not there before.
That is why autumn puts one priority back at the centre: skin repair. Products that soothe, help the skin repair itself and reduce visible redness. It is also when formulators define the products for the seasons ahead.
A formula you recognise
Looks matter too. A formula that stands out on the shelf tells a story before it is even opened, and consumers increasingly value it when what they see matches what the product does.
With Red-Puccoon the tone is not added: it is the signature of the active itself. The same molecule that works on skin gives the formula its red tone, without synthetic colorants. That tone has to stay stable over time, though, because plant-derived pigments tend to degrade with light and heat: today an ingredient has to bring function, identity and stability together.
From red root to formula
JAJALE® Red-Puccoon Fermented Oil starts from a plant with a long history: Lithospermum erythrorhizon, gromwell, known as zicao in China and murasaki in Japan. JAJALE uses plateau-grown plants, whose red-purple root is rich in shikonin, an oil-soluble naphthoquinone.
The root undergoes a multi-enzyme treatment and supercritical extraction, then is co-assembled into sunflower oil with a patented technology. The complex is completed by a Lactobacillus ferment lysate, from strains selected in extreme environments, which helps stabilise the actives.
Three versions, one plant
Red-Puccoon comes in three versions, with increasing levels of extract and shikonin:
- Standard — 2% gromwell extract, natural index 1.0, tone adjustable between 0.5 and 5%;
- Max — over 1000 ppm shikonin, stable with no additives;
- Maxol — 6% extract and shikonin-type actives of at least 0.8%: odourless, with a tone already visible at 0.05%.
What it does on skin
The heart of Red-Puccoon is its action on skin.
It reduces visible redness. In a VISIA analysis, after one week of use of Red-Puccoon Max at 0.5%, facial redness was markedly reduced.
It soothes. In vitro, all three versions reduce inflammatory markers at very low levels: the Standard version inhibits TNF-α and IL-6 at 0.125%; Maxol reduces IL-6, PGE2, IL-1α and IL-8 at just 0.0625%.
It supports repair. The Maxol version significantly increases keratinocyte migration, the mechanism skin uses to close its micro-lesions: exactly what skin stressed by the change of season needs.
A tone that lasts
Stability is the second concern for any formulator, and JAJALE’s data are solid: the Standard version stays stable for 102 days in natural light and at 4 °C and for 47 days at 60 °C; Max withstands three weeks of sun, artificial UV and temperatures from 4 to 45 °C with no additives; Maxol shows no change in tone or odour over 60 days at 4 and 45 °C.
How to use it in formula
The use level ranges from 0.05 to 10%: add at 45 °C or below, or in cold process, and store protected from light, preferably below 4 °C. A few ideas for the season:
- Soothing facial and cleansing oils for post-summer skin
- Creams and lotions for sensitive, reddened skin
- Lip oils and balms for lips dried and chapped by the cold
- Hair and scalp oils, bath oils, foundations and cushions
Like other naphthoquinone pigments, shikonin can change shade with pH, shifting towards purple in alkaline conditions: it is worth checking the tone in the finished formula. With the Maxol version, avoid silicones of 100 cSt or more.
The bottom line
The trend is clear: multifunctional ingredients that work on several levels with a single entry on the label. Red-Puccoon brings a soothing, repairing activity and, with it, a natural, stable tone that makes the formula recognisable. For anyone working on the next generation of skin repair products, it is an ingredient worth putting in the pipeline.
Want to evaluate it in formula? The comparison of the three versions, efficacy and stability data and the downloadable brochure are on the JAJALE® Red-Puccoon Fermented Oil product page. Our specialists are on hand for samples and technical support.
Credits: JAJALE Biotech image