Hair Optimization with Dr. Carolina Reis Oliveira, PhD | Longevity Optimization Podcast

In this episode of the Longevity Optimization Podcast, Dr. Carolina Reis Oliveira, co-founder and CEO of OneSkin, shares her journey in stem cell biology and the development of innovative products focused on skin and hair health. With a PhD in immunology and a background in stem cell and tissue engineering, Dr. Carolina leads OneSkin’s research and development efforts to create molecules that target cellular aging, including the groundbreaking OS-01 peptide.

OneSkin is a biotechnology company founded in 2016 and based in Silicon Valley, focused on developing anti-aging skin and hair products. Under Dr. Carolina Reis Oliveira’s leadership, OneSkin aims to delay the onset of age-related diseases by targeting cellular aging mechanisms. Their flagship innovation, the OS-01 peptide, is scientifically designed to reduce senescent cells, promoting skin and hair health at a molecular level. The company combines cutting-edge research with practical applications to create products that support longevity and wellness.

Interested in trying OneSkin’s OS-01 HAIR? Visit oneskin.co/kayla and use code KAYLA for 15% off your purchase.

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Timestamps

00:00 Introduction to Longevity and Skin Health

02:50 Understanding Hair Biology and Growth Phases

07:00 Root Causes of Hair Loss

10:10 Addressing Hair Loss: Diagnosis and Treatments

12:03 Current Hair Loss Products and Their Limitations

17:12 Innovative Solutions: OS1 Hair Product Development

20:51 Clinical Study Results and Efficacy of Hair Treatments

24:22 Combining Therapies for Optimal Hair Health

25:03 Scalp Care and Hair Washing Practices

28:24 Understanding Scalp Health and Microbiome

33:55 Preventative Measures for Hair Loss

39:57 Innovative Approaches to Hair Thinning

46:18 The Science Behind Peptides and Hair Care

Transcript

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (00:00.13)

I'm so excited today on the longevity optimization podcast, we are going to have my friend and second time guest, Dr. Carolina on the podcast. Welcome.

Thank you, Kayla. So happy to be here again.

Yes, absolutely. So for anyone that hasn't heard your previous episode, tell the audience a little bit about your background and what you're working on.

Yeah, so I'm a scientist by training. I got a PhD in stem cell biology and tissue engineering. Always wanna use the science to create something that would improve people's health. I didn't expect that I would be working in skin health and hair, but here I am and I'm so glad that this path brought me here.

But yeah, out of my PhD, I started studying, I started growing skin tissues in the lab. And initially we start using that as a platform to test products that were in the market to validate if they work, mainly when it comes to reverse aging. And to our surprise, a lot of these products not only didn't work, but some of them were actually causing some toxicity in the skin.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (01:15.614)

most important, none of them were actually addressing aging at the cellular level. And since we are scientists and I started this company with three other PhDs, we're all from Brazil, we knew that there was a better way to tackle aging and the science has evolved and no one was actually using a novel approach. So that's how we decided to research pneumatics that could address like aging at the cellular level.

And fast forward nine years, here I am with one skin and these products that are targeting aging for skin and hair.

Thank you for that update. Yeah. So for anyone that is listening and hasn't heard some previous episodes, we'll link them. But, I just obviously love what you're doing because number one, it's like for female PhDs, which is like super exciting. And we love that and your products, you know, they speak for themselves. So I first became familiar with you guys through, you know, your hero product, the OS one, one skin reversing biological age in the skin. Amazing.

And now you guys are working on or trying to tackle another big problem. So obviously skin aging is huge, but most recently even working on hair, which is a big problem for men and women. think it's more spoken about for men because it's like very obvious, but I think it's, it's a big issue going on like under the water for women too. So I want to just talk about like hair in general. So what's the anatomy of the hair kind of like, let's go deep into hair biology.

Yeah, so one of the reasons that we got interested in hair, first of all, our scalp is the skin. So our scalp is a continuation of our skin and the hair follicle is embedded in the epidermal layer, the outer layer of the skin. And the hair shaft is the visible hair that we see, but the hair follicle, it's what is determining the hair growth and the hair cycle.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (03:16.974)

And talking about the hair cycle, we have like three main phases. We have the anagen, that's the hair growth phase. About 85 % of our hair follicles are on the anagen phase, and this can last like from two to seven years. Then we have the catagen, that's like a transition phase when the hair starts to detach from the hair bulb. And then we have the telogen phase, that's when the hair detaches and...

it falls out and this can take like a few months. So several things impacted this hair cycle and I think that's why it's important to understand what's driving hair follicles into the telogen phase where we're gonna see more hair falling out, more shedding and how we can stimulate the hair follicles to go into the antigen phase when it's like the growth phase that we want.

Okay, tell me one more time how long is each phase?

So the anagen is two to seven years. So imagine, you know, seven years if you're letting your hair to grow super long. The ketogen is only a few weeks and the telogen it's a few months. Got it. Yeah.

So just curious before we get into all product details, what are some of the root causes do we think of hair loss?

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (04:44.908)

Yeah, the most common is called pattern baldness and can be male or female and is mainly genetic driven or androgen related. So what happens is that testosterone is converted in dihydrotestosterone or DHT.

and DHT will bind into receptors in the hair follicles and will induce hair miniaturization, basically hair shrinking. So this is the most common cause in men, but also affects about 50 to 70 % in women. And then we have hormone or stress-related hair loss. So whenever we go through a period of stress,

we can see a lot of the hair follicles shifting to the telogen phase and a lot of hair shedding. We also have hormone induced hair loss when, for example, menopause or postpartum, there is a significant drop in estrogen in the case of menopause also progesterone, and estrogen keeps our hair in the antigen phase. So when it drops too fast,

that the hair will shift into telogen and will shed fast. That's why we see that in menopause and in postpartum. And then finally we have age-related hair thinning. That's basically all of us are experiencing age-related hair thinning that as we age, our scalp accumulates these aging cells. We also call them senescent cells. Senescent cells in their hair follicle.

will lead to inflammation and will compromise that hair cycle. And so this affects all of us and we start to accumulate senescent cells as early as our 20s. And so one very interesting way to prevent hair thinning and hair loss is really to target or prevent the accumulation of those senescent cells in the scalp.

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (07:00.846)

Question for you related to cellular senescence. So if you reduce the amount of cellular senescence in your body, does that reduce it throughout all areas or is it completely different areas? Your head could have a ton of senescent cells but you don't have a lot in your body.

It could happen both ways. So for example, it depends on your habits. So if you are in the sun too much, obviously your skin will be affected by UV damage. Your hair will also be affected by UV damage and oxidative stress and that will lead to the increase more of senescent cells specifically in your skin or in your scalp. Also, obviously your habits will impact your

the accumulation of senescent cells in your whole body, but there are some factors that can drive more senescent cells on the outer layers of skin and skull.

But in general, it probably would be, should want to be like reducing in turn.

Yeah, totally. Yeah. Ideally, you want to reduce all over because you see experiments that do, like if you have a high level of senescent cells or inflammation in your body, that will compromise your skin and vice versa. Like when they have done experiments injecting senescent cells under the skin in some animal models, we can see that compromise the whole...

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (08:28.994)

body levels of inflammation and age-related diseases. So it's definitely like a two-way path.

Got it, what are your favorite ways to reduce nest and cells internally?

There are things like autophagy or like fasting that can help your body recycle those cells that are already like old dysfunctional that for some reason can for a lack of efficiency of our immune system can you know is linger in our tissues but a general healthy lifestyle can help. There are some supplements can

also targets senescent cells internally like phycetine, cursitine. So these have been studied and are now in several clinical trials to address senescent cells internally and also treat or prevent some age-related diseases.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. There's just kind of like new supplements. I know this is not the main point of the podcast, but anthazanthin. Do you know much about that one for skin health?

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (09:42.158)

Yes, it's a powerful antioxidant, right? Yeah, we haven't studied that in our lab because it's mostly oral, orally taken, but yeah, I've seen that it has powerful antioxidant properties.

Interesting. Okay, so going back to hair, if someone's hair is falling out, out of nowhere, they should probably get some labs done, don't you think?

Yeah, 100%. I think you wanna check some nutrient deficiency. There are several things like vitamin D, iron, zinc, and also your hormone levels, if you have your thyroid dysfunctioning well, if you have any dysregulation in hormone in general. And try to understand, obviously, if you are going through any stress situation.

And then finally a dermatologist can help you diagnose like if it's androgen related, you know, hair loss, and then try to address the cause in, you know, with like different treatments.

I love that. There's a lot of new like hair scalp products like little massagers and stuff on the market too. Do you like these?

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (11:04.546)

I think they are good to improve circulation. Obviously, the hair needs to be nursed with the oxygen and all the nutrients that come from the bloodstream. And so that scalp massage helps with that. I think it's also important to keep your scalp very clean and sometimes like...

products can help with soothing the scalp because if it's irritated, it's gonna produce inflammation that will compromise your hair. But I think for the massage itself, it's more about the microcirculation to help delivering more nutrients to the hair follicles. Yeah, it relaxes you and then you're relaxed. Your cortisol reduces and that brings a bunch of benefits.

That makes sense. It also feels so.

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (11:56.342)

Yeah, I love that. So what have hair loss products primarily been focused on?

So there are several classes that are focused on preventing the conversion of testosterone into DHT. These are mainly like finasteride, detasteride, and they are not recommended for women in the reproductive phase. And for men, they can have some really significant side effects like sexual dysfunction and other really serious side effects.

So it is an option and it works for a lot of people, but we needed to be aware of the side effects.

And so that's blocking the conversions, then potentially leading to something.

Yeah, so if you block the conversion or like the formation of DHT that will not bind into the receptor. There is also another product that basically competes with the receptor. again, all of them are preventing DHT to bind into this receptor that will cause like hair miniaturization or hair shrinking.

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (13:08.878)

Miniaturization is just.

I know, yeah, it's a dermatological kind of term, but...

I always joke with Warren because we got him like a hair analysis actually from my friend Dr. Bauman. And so he said the word, said, yeah, you have some miniaturization here. And I'm like, no, not miniaturization. I know, not it. I know we have to get him on one skin ASAP. So is medoxinil the same thing?

No, this is not a good sign.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (13:37.048)

So no, minoxidil, also known as Rogaine, it's basically a vasodilator, so it's basically increasing the blood flow, and that will help, again, with the hair growth. The problem with minoxidil is that it can cause hair shedding when you start using and after you stop. it caused hair shedding because it's gonna initially,

A lot of hair will go into telogen and then they can go into antigen again. And so in that initial phase you can experience more hair shedding and after you stop as well. So again, and I say for myself because I was using minoxidil but I'm also trying to conceive and I don't want eventually to stop and have the hair shedding. So that's one of the...

disadvantages of minoxidil, but again, there are several studies showing that it can help. And also minoxidil and both finasteride, you have options that are topical and oral. Again, oral, you can have even more like potential side effects. Minoxidil, for example, you can grow hair in other areas of your body that you don't want to sew in your face. And so for women, it's definitely not ideal, but it is an option. And I know that

when people are going through hair loss, like they wanna try everything because it really affects you so much emotionally. And then there are scalp serums and obviously supplements as well that can help you, again, replenish some of the deficiencies. Also there are supplements including salt, pomegranate, that again,

prevents the conversion of testosterone into DHT because salt pomero also affects like hormone levels for women that are in the reproductive phase is not advisable. So we just need to be aware again how we are addressing this problem without compromising other areas that we're focusing.

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (15:56.578)

What is this oral product that people take neutrophil?

Yeah, neutral. What's that one doing? So that one includes salt, tomato, includes a lot of other, you know, biotein and other vitamins or nutrients. But salt, tomato is one of the main ingredients. And again, it's supposed to prevent the conversion of testosterone into DHT.

I'm definitely not a fan in general of suppressing hormones or like the production or conversion of hormones without having labs. You know what mean? If you had labs and they were like really out of range and you do that to like buffer it for a little bit, but that may be, but I'm definitely not not a fan. It's interesting, you know, because supplementation, you know, it's, it can have essentially same effect as some pharmaceuticals, right? Like statins versus red rice yeast.

Yeah.

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (16:55.864)

but just unregulated, so it's interesting, but that's a whole nother topic. Okay, so what about the OS1 hair? I I love everything you guys do because you put science behind it. You really, it's super thoughtful. So tell me, what did you guys do with this product?

Yeah, so there are an increased amount of studies that have shown that senescent cells, this aging cells accumulation or hair follicles is associated with hair loss and hair thinning. And so because we have this peptide that we discovered the West one that has shown to reduce up to 40 % of the burden of senescent cells in the skin.

we were hypothesizing if this peptide could also prevent or reverse hair thinning. And so in order to validate that to what we did in the lab, we were able to induce cellular senescence in hair follicle cells with a stress hormone molecule called like CRH. And then we were able to reduce that senescence applying the peptide.

We increased senescence with a stress hormone and we were able to reverse that with OS1. And we also did experiments with hair follicles that we could see the growth of the hair follicle in the lab and we could see that we were outperforming some other products in the market. And then we decided to formulate this into a scalp serum formula that now it's water-based.

And so very different from the skin because we want to obviously have something that it's not greasy, that's going to be very convenient for everyday use. And we ran a six months clinical study and the results were really interesting of this clinical studies validating that this product in targeting senescent cells can help with hair growth, hair density.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (19:00.078)

and increasing the hair thickness. So some of the stats that we got, we got over 86 % of the participants increasing on average 40 % in hair density. Wow. Yeah, that's really impressive. We also saw over 80 % increasing on average 42 % in hair thickness. Because again, if you think of the hair,

amazing.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (19:28.878)

shrink your miniaturization is basically reducing the width. And if you increase the thickness, the hair will be stronger and it will stay there for longer. So that was another super interesting data. And the third one was that we saw about like 70 % shifting to the antigen phase. 70 % of the participants had on average

38 % of the hair shifting into anagen phase. So another strong indicator that we're inducing the hair going from telogen to the anagen phase.

How do you measure what phase the hair is in?

So there is this hair matrix. It's a device. So this is all done by like a third party organization. So they can basically detect like what's the phase that the hair is in and they have like different colors and they quantify everything is automated. Also this study was like double blind. So the participants didn't know what they were using and

randomized, so very like rigorous protocol, both like for the participants and for whoever was also analyzing their results as well.

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (20:51.2)

on it and what was the protocol so how many times per day or week did they do it for

Yeah, so this was using the product twice a day, morning and night, and using a derma roller once a day. Okay. Yeah, so the derma roller, it's basically this roller with micro needles that can help cause like small, you know, fractures in your skin, but it's not gonna make you bleed. It's like very gentle, but it will help like the absorption of the formula.

Yeah, yeah, I'm like a big fan of those in general. I think you like it more for the scalp than the facial skin though, I don't know.

Yeah, think for both, needed to, think sometimes for skin, people go too hard and can cause like, if you're doing yourself, you need to be careful to use a very clean device and be sure that you're not overdoing to not go too deep and potentially cause some scarring. But if it's very light, I don't see a problem.

But you need to just be very careful with the skin primarily on cleaning the derma roller. Make sure that if you're creating micro fractures, you don't want to have anything dirty or contaminated getting to your skin.

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (22:18.19)

Yeah, have you seen like a derma roller like in the lab? Do you see like how it kind of works underneath?

In the lab, I think we've tried once. I don't know if we could detect like in the histology. I can go back to the team and ask that.

Yeah, fun to yeah, because I hear like all these conflicting on the skin, right? Like, yes, you can do it at home, no, and so it's like

Yeah, I would just be mindful of not going too hard or too deep because I think like a light, it's basically inducing like a light physical exfoliation, if you will. So in that case, it shouldn't be a problem.

makes sense. many, so let's say you're doing the, let's say on the scalp with the derma roller, how many times can you use the derma roller before you have to replace it?

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (23:14.478)

Usually we say like a few weeks if I'm not mistaken. I needed to double check but I think you can also look at the device itself and if you feel that it needs to be cleansed. You just like spray some alcohol and let it dry so it shouldn't be, it's pretty easy.

Yeah, that makes sense. Okay, so they were doing it twice a day, one time per day with a derma roller, and then for the course of how long.

Six months, yeah. We did see improvements after three months. So I think that's one important piece of information that it takes time for you to start to see the results. So it's really, really important to be consistent and wait at least like three months. But ideally six months is when we saw a huge increase from three to six, like in terms of the...

the average of improvement.

Yeah. Yeah. What do you think about combining like a red light therapy with it?

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (24:22.06)

I love it. I think red light can really help with like, know, the mitochondrial health, the microcirculation with like oxidative stress. And I think it's a great, you know, different approach and a great like combination of therapies.

I agree, I think that's great. I think when it comes to hair in general, I don't know if there's an actual rule or like a scientific protocol for this, but like some people wash their hair all the time. Like I wash my hair every day, but some people like barely wash their hair. Is there any recommendations that you have on that?

Yeah, we don't. We have seen both as well in terms of... For me, my hair is very oily. I wash like every other day. Some people can spend like weeks without washing their hair and they say that's a lot better because if you don't... I mean, if your hair is not looking greasy and it's not, you know, whatever, affecting your appearance,

I can see that the hair can produce some very nurturing oils. So I think if you're washing every day, just be mindful of the products that you are using to not strip out the good, not only oils from your scalp, but also the microbiome, right? I think another very important piece of scalp health is the microbiome.

if you're using with a lot of sulfates in your shampoo, you can definitely disrupt that. So I would just be mindful of like how, what are the products that you're using every day. And also the hair when it's wet, it's more fragile. So it just needed to be, again, mindful not to sleep with your hair wet. And they also say that ideally you are

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (26:31.566)

combing your hair in the shower so you don't need to comb your hair wet to avoid breakage. the wet hair is more fragile, so you just need to be mindful. There are some dry towels that can help you dry faster as well. In the shower, so you just finish washing and then you brush and then you get out and you don't need to brush again.

So when you supposed to brush your hair.

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (27:01.56)

So technically you'll still be brushing when it's wet though, right?

Yeah, but I think you don't brush like when you're like dry because you're dry and then then I think it becomes a little bit more fragile at that time.

Okay, and then no sleeping with the what? No, no. What happens at that time?

Well, basically, if you're like, you your hair is gonna be, I don't know, touching and it's gonna be like, it's easier to break when you're like sleeping, touching in your pillow and, you know, moving your hair on top, your head on top of your hair. Mom. Yeah.

So many sensitivities.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (27:45.183)

yeah, yeah.

but I feel like if you don't wash enough, could also be something where- Yeah.

but you to build up. Yeah, totally. I think that's another important piece. If you have a lot of build up, you're gonna impair like that hair cycle, the microcirculation. And even if you're treating your hair with a product like a hair serum, it's not gonna penetrate and work as well as if you have a clean scalp.

So in your protocol, did everybody wash their hair the same amount of times per week or?

That's a good question. I don't think we established this kind of protocol. Yeah.

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (28:32.472)

Just teach them. Well, that's actually good.

Yeah, because I think in the end it is hard to control and we know that when we're gonna, know, the consumer will have like different kind of behaviors. So we want to make sure that's gonna work on average for everyone. If you're using less or more often, if you're washing less or more often.

That makes sense. What are the other benefits of the product to the scalp outside of just the potential hair growth?

Yeah, so we have like prebiotic and other ingredients that are anti-inflammatory. And so we also collect the Sculpey microbiome before they started the study and after six months. And we sent it to another company to analyze the composition of bacteria and fungi. And we saw that the...

after six months there was a shift in more balance. It's called microbiome, meaning that we reduced the amount of bacteria that is usually associated with hair loss and we increased the amount of some bacteria that's associated with hair growth. And we also saw a decrease in some type of fungi that's related with dendruff.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (29:51.118)

So that was very interesting that again, this microbiome composition can help in the hair growth and also preventing conditions like dandruff. And in general, the scalp was very calm and nursed. And we see that a lot of people have itchy scalp and so the product can help with that as well.

Yeah, that's a good point. I forget about dandruff because I don't have it.

That affects so many people. Yeah.

So is it just this, first of all, I love that we're in a place that we're figuring out X-bacterial impact. I mean, it's for every microbiome. There's gut microbes that can impact your Alzheimer's risk. Yeah, it's amazing. So cool that we're learning all this stuff. But all right, let's talk about dandruff really quick. what are the reasons that people can have dandruff?

There are so many reasons and honestly I'm not an expert in the area but it's usually like your scalp will be irritated and it will be like inducing this kind of the ischemicion, I don't know the right term but but shedding of the skin. Yeah, flaking I think is the best term.

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (31:05.452)

Like shedding or something?

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (31:09.944)

like flaking.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (31:13.646)

So I think there could be many causes, but usually it's, you your scalp will be unhealthy, irritated, and so the microbiome could be influencing that.

Interesting. I wonder what do you think the mechanism is of the product that's improving the microbiome?

So we have like this prebiotic, yeah, that will help again your metabolism of like the bacteria and the fungi in your scalp to shift to that more balanced microbiome. But also when you have less inflammation and you know, by targeting senescent cells, you already have a more calm.

scalp that will help as well.

that makes sense. What is an example of a prebiotic for the scalp? Is it like same type of stuff as for the gut or totally different?

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (32:21.794)

I would say that's different because it's addressing different cells or different types of bacteria, but I can double confirm on that as well.

Yeah, is there like an example of one though? Like maybe for the gut, you you could say like a prebiotic might be like garlic has prebiotics or something. What's like an example of one for the scalp?

I know I have the name in my mind in blank right now, but yeah, I forgot. So I can...

No problem. Yeah, he guys just caught. But is it like food based or is it like a different thing?

I it's a plant extract like.

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (33:15.598)

My actual, okay, yeah. Cause like a lot of times pre-bag, that gut supplement will be like, yeah, you know, food based or something.

Yeah. Yeah. can. Yeah. I can at least I can give you the information after this. can take a look. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

and let all this go in general. Okay, so we talked about scalpels, we talked about the de-injury stuff. All right, what about using this maybe like prophylactically for people? Or I think most people typically tend to think about hair problems once they have them, actually they think about all problems once they have them, health problems too. So what is your thought on that?

Such an important topic. We were talking with the dermatologist, that's one of our advisors, and she shared that we lose about 50 % of our hair before we start noticing that we're experiencing hair loss. 50 %? 50 %! I know, it's shocking. Gosh. And if you think again,

you know, today and I compare my hair when I was like in college or, you know, high school, I know that I have a lot more hair, less hair, but I'm losing it gradually and, you know, maybe, you know, a few years ago I really started noticing also because I, you know, runs in my family the androgen related hair loss, but even for those that may not have the genetic component.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (34:44.544)

I think it's so important to use this as a preventative treatment because we all treat our skin to prevent wrinkles and to prevent fine lines and sagging, but we should do the same with our scalp. We should treat our scalp to prevent hair thinning because this is gonna affect us sooner or later. And if I could go back to my, you know,

late 20s, I would have started like at that time to make sure that I'm and another interesting fact from the clinical study is that not only people that had already like significant hair loss, but people that were in very early stage that you look at the pictures like this person has a hair, you know, head full of hair, why they're in this study, but they were noticing hair thinning. So probably they had a lot more hair in the past.

So even for people that still have hair, this can help increase your density. So even if you don't feel that like you are being affected, I think everyone wants to have more hair. And so I would definitely recommend using this as a preventative treatment. And one thing that we like to say is that,

For us, right now, your skincare routine is not finished until you treat your scalp because, again, you need to understand that the scalp is still your skin and if you care about your hair and the density and the volume, you should look into preventing that hair thinning early on.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I agree. And I haven't really thought about it too, too much until, you know, you guys came out with this product. I also am doing a little red light cap protocol. I see you have a bunch of new little hair. Add a couple to. That's great, though.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (36:43.639)

all just to

Yeah, lot of baby hairs all over. New hairs coming in. Yeah, and another thing that I did which studies is like PRP for the scalp that can help as well. So some of the protocols if you do

How effective is that?

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (37:14.2)

Some people can do preventative as well, but basically you're concentrating those growth factors that it's circulating in your blood and applying to the area that you want to promote more like regeneration and growth. And so I've done PRP for my knees. I've done PRP for my hair. I've heard that you can do for your ovaries as well if you're having any fertility issues.

So I think it's just like an interest. Obviously your body needs to be in a very healthy state because if you're circulating inflammatory cytokines in your blood and you put it anywhere, it's not gonna help. But if you're in a very healthy state, you're just concentrating a lot of those growth factors that can help a certain area to heal better and also to decrease inflammation.

Yeah, that makes sense. I think it's important too to think about it because once, so I'm just trying to imagine the process of miniaturization. So you start with like what is like a thick follicle, right? Like healthy, vibrant, and then it just continues to shrink and shrink and shrink. But once it's gone, there's no bringing it back, right? Yeah, there's no reviving it.

Yeah, so we needed to do everything that we can to save like even when it's like very fragile and thin we can still reverse it but when it's gone then only hair implants.

Yeah, so if you're noticing it, that's why it's important to get ahead of the game for sure. What about comparing your product, the new OS Hair, with some of the more prescription products that we talked about earlier?

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (38:57.838)

Yeah, so the main thing is that our product is specifically targeting senescent cells. I think another important, so none of these other products, again, they are targeting different mechanisms and they can be helpful as well. Our product can be combined with all of them. So for those who have like male or female pattern baldness, you can use more than one. You can combine with minoxidil. You can combine if you choose with finasteride.

But ours is the first product in the market that's targeting senescent cells. And again, we see that senescent cells in the scalp is a primary driver of age-related hair thinning, is a contributor of stress-related hair loss, and it's also involved in the female or male pattern baldness. That's the endrogen-related hair loss.

It's another angle that you can use to combat the hair loss, regardless of your condition.

What would you say, I don't know if there's any data on this or not, but is like the percentage of people that as you get older, let's say you're 75, like what percentage of people do you think you're gonna have significant hair thinning?

I think for men it's about like 90 % and for women it's 75%. I would say that's at least like from 50 to 70%.

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (40:35.192)

Do you know when is like the biggest drop off? Do we have any ideas? Or like, say like 40 or 30.

So for women, there is a big drop after menopause. So if you're doing hormone replacement, you can prevent that, but if you don't, you're definitely gonna experience that. Depending on the cause, if it's more age-related, usually after the 50s, you see more pronounced hair loss and hair thinning.

If it's again genetic-driven, can start super early in your 20s and 30s.

Interesting question about what about people using some of these like stem cell products and that's like one of the things you are. What do you what do you think about that?

Yeah, stem cells and exosomes are really popular right now. First of all, stem cells, the cells will not survive in a bottle. So if you see a product with stem cells in a bottle, these are not live cells. What they could be potentially using is what those cells secrete if they have like

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (41:50.03)

used what we call a supernatant, like basically what the cells produce, they can concentrate and put in a product. So there will be a lot of like growth factors and signaling molecules that can help with regeneration. The most important thing to understand, and if you're using a product that includes like exosomes or something related to stem cells,

ask about the one stability if like those growth factors or signaling molecules are stable on a room temperature because a lot of them, can, at least in the lab, we keep them like at the minus 80. And so you need to understand the stability. You also need to understand the reproducibility of those batches because depending on the source of stem cell, so some products are using a

pool of donors and they are collecting the stem cells of different donors and you're going to put in a product. I don't know the source of those, you I don't know who those donors are. I hope they're all healthy, but you understand it's so- Very few. Yeah, exactly. So it's really important to understand the source because if the source is not good,

few people are healthy.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (43:13.002)

Again, what those cells will be secreting may not be good for you. But if it's a serious company that have done extensive tests, if they have a very reproducible kind of process, the stem cells usually secrete a lot of regenerative molecules that will help with growth, regeneration, reduce inflammation,

healing.

What did you think about exosomes being used? Cause that's also really popular.

Yeah, so basically exosomes are like small vesicles that the cells secrete. They also can be unstable at room temperature. you just, again, you need to understand which cells are secreting those exosomes, where these cells come from, and how they are validating the stability and the reproducibility of those batches.

but they can be powerful, again, if it's like a serious brand. I like the concept, if you use this in office, if your derm has either like a frozen vial or one that you keep refrigerated and she thaws or uses fresh in your, it could be a skin treatment or a scalp treatment.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (44:43.284)

I would trust that more than anything that's like room temperature that you don't know for how long, you know, that product will be kept on shelf. So yeah.

I agree. Yeah, I agree with that. Okay, let's pause for one sec. Okay, we went through all the questions. What other questions do you think are important to review? Go over.

I think we covered all of it. I think we covered like prevention, we covered the difference of like the, you know, our product with the other treatments. I'm thinking if there is anything else that, yeah, I think, yeah, I think we talked about it, like I think for women and

Again, more and more women are experiencing hair loss. If you think of all the options, in the end there are not many options that you're not compromising something else, right? So I think that's why this product also, it's a good option for people that are either pregnant or like breastfeeding or don't want any side effects. This is completely drug-free.

You don't need a prescription, there are no side effects, very natural and gentle to your scalp. So I think just like another information that can be helpful for your audience.

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (46:18.4)

Yeah, no, that's great. Well, do you want, you want to just put that part in that you just said? Okay. Yeah. So re-add that part. You know, why don't we cover the OS1 peptide in general. Yeah. Peptides are. So, okay guys, pick back up, add in what Carolina just said for women, and then we're also gonna ask another question. So, okay, we know that, you know, the product that you have, and this is kind of like the science platform that your guys' products are built on.

Yeah.

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (46:46.99)

is this OS1 peptide, right? So what are peptides and how did you guys kind of come to identify it? And then my third question would be, is this the same peptide kind of that's in the skin?

Yeah, so peptides are basically a small piece of a protein or like a chain of amino acids. And so they can vary from like five to or even less, like a few amino acids to 50 amino acids. Ideally for skin and for hair, you don't want like a bigger peptide otherwise they cannot penetrate into the skin. So basically these peptides work

as signaling molecule, will induce some pathways, some signals to the cell to behave in a certain way. The way that we found our peptide OS1, we tested over 900 peptides to find the ones that could reduce the amount of senescent cells in the skin. And we also validated this later in hair follicle cells.

And then we found that this peptide basically works in two ways. It shuts off the senescent cells because senescent cells, produce inflammation and they induce the cells around to age faster, to become senescent. So just like a rotten apple, that senescent cells is spoiling the healthy cells around to become senescent. So we wanna remove, we wanna prevent as much as possible those

bad apples in our skin, in our body, in our hair. And the other way that the peptide works by increasing DNA repair capacity. So as we age and our cells are accumulating damage, different stressors, we keep ourselves really efficient in repairing damage so they won't become like aged or senescent.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (48:47.438)

So OS1 basically has this really significant effect in reducing senescence, reducing inflammation, and we can also show that reverses the age of the skin. And it's the same peptide that works for skin, works for the scalp as well, because as I said, in the end, we are treating the...

The scalp, which is also skin, is the epidermal layer of the skin. And if you're accumulating senescent cells in the skin surrounding your hair follicles, it will also contribute to hair thinning. So we have validated in our clinical studies support that the peptide works both for skin and for hair follicles.

Mm, I didn't even, 900 is so many peptides. How many are there?

So, I mean, there are limitless peptides out there. We tested 900 because we were basically studying this, we call like a library of peptides that were initially antimicrobial. And then we evaluated their effect into reducing senescence. And we used some algorithms, some...

machine learning to create like more effective versions of the peptide that we were researching. So it took us around like four years to test this 900 to find the West one to validate that it works, it's safe, how it works, it's stable, it penetrates the skin. then until we formulated in a topical formula, we ran clinical studies. So it's a long, long process.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (50:37.176)

process from like the initial testing of the peptide until it gets to a formula until it's in the market. took us at least five years to bring the first product to the market.

Yeah, that's a while. Another popular skin peptide, curious about your thoughts on it, is the GHCKU. What did you guys see with that one?

Yeah, we did the test in the lab and interesting enough, we test like different vendors and we found like really different effects. some didn't work at all, some worked and it worked like improving collagen, improving some other markers of like the skin proliferation, renewal, and basically activating some

regeneration of the skin. But again, we were impressed because depending on the supplier, you may have like GHK on your product and it may not work. So it's important to have that second validation for those who are including that peptide in their products. And that's something that we like to explore. think whenever we're developing a product, we test like different combinations to find

which combination leads to the best effect. And sometimes adding more peptide doesn't mean that the product's gonna be more effective. You probably know this with supplements a lot of times, like there's this canceling effect, like one supplement will neutralize another one, so more is not necessarily the better. But in general, this is a well studied peptide.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (52:26.67)

Several clinical studies show that improves the skin in many areas, but including regeneration, collagen production.

Nice. Do you think, do we think it's the difference is because of the amount in there differing or like the actual peptide itself in these products was concentration?

In our case, we tested the same concentration, just different suppliers.

So maybe it wasn't even in there or what does that happen?

It could be. We didn't test if the peptide was there. We could, but we haven't tested. usually we just assume like it's pure. We're gonna, you know, test the same concentration. Yeah.

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (53:15.17)

So interesting. mean, yeah, peptides are so popular right now.

Yeah, and they can be powerful. think there are so many great peptides out there. I think it's important again to understand the source, like the validation that has been done around that peptide, around the stability. yeah, and they can definitely be beneficial both like topically, you know, injectable.

Yeah, I wanna try a couple more in the near future. don't know when, but sometime. I've been doing peptides for so many years now. I haven't been on any lately, but this has been such a pleasure to have you here with me today. I think that we have a code too for everybody to 15%, which is Kayla. And I will include it in the show notes. And thank you guys for making such an amazing product yet again.

Yeah.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (54:12.964)

yeah, thank you. We've been developing this product for like three years. So really happy to finally bring it to so many people that are struggling with this problem, including myself. So I feel the pain for those who are going through this journey. And thanks, Kayla, for allowing me to share a little bit more of our science. yeah, always so good to be here.

I know it's so great. mean last question. So are you guys ever going to create like a internal supplement to reduce in essence?

Yeah, we thought about that, but again, supplements is a different world in terms of delivery and bioavailability. And so our goal is to continue to really focus on skin. I think we did this product for hair because it's really related. Supplements would be a completely different expertise that we would need to develop. So we want to continue to be.

the best in what we do right now that is to address the skin aging. so.

Well, keep us in the loop if that ever changes. Well, thank you again for coming out. This podcast is for informational purposes only and views expressed on this podcast are not medical advice. This podcast, including Kayla Barnes, does not accept responsibility for any possible adverse effects from the use of the information contained herein. Opinions of their guests are their own and this podcast does not endorse or accept responsibility for statements made by guests.

DR. CAROLINA REIS OLIVEIRA (55:24.948)

for sure. Thank you.

KAYLA BARNES-LENTZ (55:51.032)

This podcast does not make any representations or warranties about guest qualifications or credibility. Individuals on this podcast may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to herein. If you think you have a medical issue, consult a licensed physician.