Our Formulation
Our formulation
Built around the chemistry of skin. Not the chemistry of an ingredient deck.
Lioren Hand Cream is one product, formulated against the published dermatology research on what skin under heavy occupational hand-washing is actually missing. Six actives. One vehicle. One pH. Nothing that doesn't earn its place.
The principle
We don't add. We replace.
Most "moisturizers" are emulsions designed to feel pleasant and to leave a film on the surface of the skin. The film makes skin feel hydrated for an hour or two. It does not become part of the skin. The next hand wash takes it off.
Lioren is built on a different premise. Every active in this formula is something your skin already manufactures, already uses, or already responds to via a known biochemical pathway. We are not adding a foreign ingredient and hoping the skin tolerates it. We are putting back the exact materials the skin is missing, in the geometry the skin already knows how to integrate, at the pH the skin's own repair enzymes work at.
That is the whole formulation philosophy. Everything below is downstream of that one rule.
"If we cannot find a peer-reviewed paper that says this molecule belongs in skin and that this concentration does this thing, it does not go in the tube."
The 3:1:1 lipid mortar
Your skin's barrier is built from three lipid classes in one specific ratio. We replace them in the same ratio.
Dermatology consensus going back two decades: the lipid mortar between corneocytes is built of three parts ceramides, one part cholesterol, one part free fatty acids. Get one of those wrong and the barrier doesn't reseal correctly. We hold the ratio.
Six actives. One emollient. Each pulled from a separate published mechanism.
Active by active
Why each ingredient is in the tube. And what it is doing while it's in there.
Restores the lipid mortar
Ceramides NP, AP, EOP
The dominant lipid class in healthy stratum corneum (about 50% of barrier lipids). Three subtypes because skin uses three. NP for general bilayer, AP for sealed-edge structure, EOP for the long-chain "rivet" that locks neighboring lipid sheets together.
Elias group, UCSF, Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, 2022.
Holds the bilayer together
Cholesterol (skin-identical)
About 25% of healthy barrier lipids. Without it, the ceramide bilayer becomes brittle. Most "ceramide creams" leave it out because it costs more. We don't, because the math doesn't work without it.
Bouwstra group, Leiden, J Lipid Res, 2018.
Acidic glue between bricks
Linoleic + palmitic FFA
The third leg of the lipid tripod. Provides both structural function and the acidic micro-environment the barrier needs to keep its repair enzymes online. We use both an essential and a saturated FA, again because skin uses both.
Standard skin-lipid composition data, J Invest Dermatol, multiple authors.
Turns your own ceramide factory on
Niacinamide 4%
At 4%, niacinamide upregulates serine palmitoyltransferase, the rate-limiting enzyme in your skin's own ceramide-synthesis pathway. In the published trial, that produced roughly a 40% increase in endogenous ceramide production over 4 to 8 weeks. We are not just topping up. We are turning the in-house factory back on.
Tanno et al., Br J Dermatol, 2000.
Supports wound-edge repair
Panthenol B5 3%
Provitamin B5. The skin converts it into pantothenic acid, which is used in fatty-acid synthesis and in the natural moisturizing factor (NMF). Strong evidence in dermatology literature for supporting visible repair of fissured skin without the immune-suppressive effect a topical steroid would have.
Ebner et al., Am J Clin Dermatol, 2002.
Skin-identical surface lubrication
Squalane (plant-derived)
The closest stable mimic of squalene, which the skin's own sebaceous glands produce. Squalane gives the cream its slip and the post-application skin feel without leaving a film that will wash off in the next sink. We chose plant-derived (sugarcane fermentation), not shark-derived.
Standard cosmetic chemistry. The choice here is sourcing, not function.
The vehicle matters
Multilamellar water-in-oil emulsion. The geometry the skin already knows how to use.
Active ingredients on their own do not cross into the barrier on their own. The vehicle decides whether your actives sit on the surface or integrate.
Lioren uses a multilamellar W/O emulsion: lipid sheets pre-organized into the same multi-layer crystalline geometry your stratum corneum builds itself out of. When the cream lands on your skin, the lipid sheets do not need to reorganize, they are already in the same configuration as the gaps in your wall. They lock in. They are not a topcoat. They become the new mortar.
This is the part that costs to make and that most consumer brands skip in favor of a cheaper standard O/W emulsion. The standard O/W emulsion is why your last cream washed off.
Park et al., Skin Pharmacol Physiol, 2003. Bouwstra Leiden group, J Lipid Res, 2018.
pH is a non-negotiable
The acid mantle is at pH 4.7 to 5.5. Your repair enzymes only work in that window. Lioren is buffered to pH 5.0.
This is the part of the literature that almost nobody on the consumer side respects. Your skin's own ceramide-synthesis enzymes (β-glucocerebrosidase, acid sphingomyelinase) only function at slightly acidic pH. Soap drives skin pH up into the 8s. Most lotions are formulated alkaline because alkaline is cheaper. An alkaline cream on barrier-stripped skin keeps the repair enzymes off.
Lioren is held at pH 5.0 with a lactic-acid buffer. That is also why the cream does not sting on a fissure. Your skin recognizes it. There is no acid-mantle gap to bridge.
What's not in it
The most important formulation decisions are usually about what gets left out.
Every ingredient below was rejected on purpose. Either the data on it is bad, or it is incompatible with broken skin, or it is filler that pushes a real active out of its slot in the formula.
Safety profile
Designed to be safe on the people who actually need it. Including the ones the lotion aisle treats as edge cases.
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding. No retinoids, no salicylic acid, no fragrance, no essential oils, no hydroquinone. The active ingredients (ceramides, cholesterol, FFAs, niacinamide, panthenol, squalane) are all considered low-risk in standard pregnancy/lactation skincare guidance. We still always recommend you cross-check with your OB if you are pregnant.
- Sensitive skin. No fragrance and no alcohol means no two of the most common rosacea / eczema flare triggers in topical leave-on products. The pH 5.0 buffer is identical to healthy skin pH, so there is no acid-mantle gap to bridge. Customers with rosacea, eczema and contact dermatitis use it daily.
- Open fissures and bleeding cracks. No alcohol means no sting. The barrier-grade preservatives are gentle enough to use on broken skin without irritation. (Common sense: do not apply to a deep wound that has not closed; use it on the small everyday work fissures.)
- Patch test. If you've reacted to topical products in the past, apply a pea-size amount to the inside of your wrist for two to three days before going to full daily use.
Honest about what it does, and doesn't
Lioren is a barrier-restoration cream. It is not a steroid, an antibiotic, or a cure for an underlying skin disease.
- It will visibly reduce cracks and redness from occupational hand-washing in the vast majority of buyers within 14 days. (47-subject in-vivo user study, daily-use protocol, ICU/ER/floor nurses.) If it doesn't, send the empty tube back.
- It will not cure psoriasis, severe eczema, or contact dermatitis caused by a specific allergen. Those need a dermatologist.
- It will not seal a deep open wound. Use a wound dressing for that, then resume Lioren when the wound has closed.
- It is daily-use. Once the barrier is rebuilt, you keep applying it after washes the way you keep wearing sunscreen. Not because the barrier "broke" again, but because your job will keep washing it down.
One product. Six actives. The mortar your skin is missing.
14-day visible-result money-back. If your knuckles aren't visibly closed in 14 days of daily use, email us and send the empty tube. We refund every penny.
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