Earth, Water, Fire, and Air: the four elements ancient Greeks believed to make up all matter. While we now know that our world is a bit more complex than that, there is still an immense importance and beauty to each individual element. This is especially true for water. The origin of all living things is thought to have begun deep within our world’s oceans, and abundant life continues to exist because of these same waters. Humanity even regards water as a possible sign of life on distant planets.
There is an inherent importance and energy to water that not only allows it to be regarded as a vital resource, but as a lifeforce, and there is no greater representation of this duality than in Jeju Island’s lava water.
Jeju island was formed nearly 2 million years ago and sits roughly 130 km off the coast of the Korean Peninsula. The most prominent feature of Jeju is a dormant volcano, Hallasan, which stands as the tallest mountain in South Korea. Seawater penetrates the basalt layer of the island beneath Hallasan, creating an aqueous solution rich with minerals and entirely free of impurities, thanks to the filtering properties of the bedrock. This water, known as Jeju Lava Energy Water, exists as a marine resource that, industrially, can only be used in Korea. While there exist three other sites of volcanic groundwater in Spain, Japan, and Hawaii, none of these sites offer water as pure and as accessible. Jeju island truly offers a water source as unique as the products we create with it.
So why is water such a notable skincare component? It certainly is one of the most common ingredients utilized in skincare; products can contain anywhere from 60% to 85% water, on average, depending on the product type and system. Water is most notably known as a solvent, which is a liquid in which other ingredients (solutes) are dissolved, such as extracts or conditioning materials. This creates a homogenous and evenly dispersed mixture of ingredients.
With the additional use of an emulsifier and a solvent, such as oils or silicones, water is a critical part of many emulsions used everyday, such as lotions, creams, and even hair conditioners. Water-in-oil or oil-in-water emulsions allow for rich, emollient products without the greasy heaviness or afterfeel that would come from having a 100% oil-based product.
Pure Resource, Pure Ingredients, Pure Innovation
Acknowledging the importance and ubiquitous abundance of water in cosmetics products, we at RIMAN wanted to capitalize on its prevalence in our own products as another opportunity for innovation. Instead of using distilled water, which is most traditionally used in formulation, we chose to use a water rich with not only a unique history, but multiple skin benefits as well. Jeju Lava Energy Water has little variation in its mineral makeup and exists as a continuous and dependable resource. Testing shows it is completely safe for consumption and topical use, contains no heavy metals, microplastics, or contaminants, and it even offers multiple benefits via the minerals it contains, such as zinc, magnesium, and potassium.
Beyond the traditional benefits that come with mineral supplementation, Jeju lava energy water also has science-backed benefits. Sung Hoon Lee and colleagues in their paper “Skin Hydration Effect of Jeju Lava Sea Water” found that Jeju lava seawater increased moisturizing factors such as AQP-3, which maintains hydration within the top layer of the skin, and CD-44, which is a hyaluronic acid (HA) receptor that helps bind native HA in our cells to maintain moisture.
Furthermore, Minhyeok Song and their colleagues found that Jeju Lava water regulated signaling pathways in melanoma cells to reduce melanogenesis; melanogenesis is the cellular process that produces melanin in our skin, and overproduction is what leads to dark spots and hyperpigmentation, so this result suggests a possibility of not only treating typical signs of aging, but skin-pigmentation related disorders as well. Taking advantage of the positive effects of Jeju Lava Energy Water as established in literature, and with the potential for more discoveries to come, its incorporation into RIMAN’s skin care harnesses an opportunity to add benefits to a fundamental component for superior results.
Jeju lava energy water plays a crucial role in the creation of Riman’s Incellderm offerings. The use of the word “energy” is not to be interpreted as the capacity to do work; it is to be thought of as a reference to an entity, a power, a lifeforce. This water is utilized in multiple steps of our formulation process to guarantee even more benefits with every use of our products, and is truly the basis for our innovation. Our byungpool is cultivated with this seawater to ensure mineral-rich and substantive crops. We then utilize this lava water to extract the essential molecules from our byungpool in the lab, allowing for the purest concentrates of efficacious ingredients.
Lastly, the water fraction of each of our formulas is entirely composed of this water, promising that every ingredient in Riman technology can offer some benefit to your skin. This science places a central role on jeju lava energy water as the medium for creation for our skincare. In this, Jeju Lava Energy Water is the power that fuels our creativity, our innovation, and our commitment to your skin.
