Soie — Hand Beauty

EGF Hand Serum: Reading EGF and KGF as Skin-Conditioning Ingredients

In an EGF hand serum, EGF and KGF are skin-conditioning ingredients that keep the skin of the hands in good condition. The label lists them as oligopeptide-1 and oligopeptide-41, in a role distinct from moisturising ingredients.

The three letters EGF may be familiar from advertisements for facial serums. This page is written for anyone who has found EGF or KGF on the label of an EGF hand serum and searched to find out what they are doing there.

Let us say it plainly first. In a hand serum, which is a cosmetic, the role of EGF and KGF is that of skin-conditioning ingredients: they are included to keep the skin in good condition and refine its texture, nothing more and nothing less. Within that boundary, here is what is known, and what to look at when choosing.

What an EGF hand serum contains: EGF and KGF

EGF and KGF are usually referred to by their initials, but on a cosmetic ingredient list they appear under other names: EGF as oligopeptide-1 and KGF as oligopeptide-41. As those names suggest, both are classed among the peptides, and both appear on the list of a hand serum in small quantities.

Their role in a hand serum is skin-conditioning. In cosmetics, conditioning means keeping the skin in good condition and its texture refined, a role the label distinguishes from moisturising ingredients, which prevent dryness and roughness. Soie places these two, together with peptides (moisturising ingredients), at the core of a formula that moisturises mature hands and keeps them in good condition.

One thing deserves to be said clearly. Explaining what a cosmetic ingredient does inside the skin, in medical terms, goes beyond what a cosmetic may claim. What can be expected of an EGF hand serum is that it conditions the skin of the hands, and Soie uses no stronger words than that.

What conditioning the skin of the hands means

Soie measures the beauty of the hands by moisture, smoothness and radiance. Skin-conditioning ingredients look after the ground on which those three appear.

Refined texture. Dry skin loses its even texture and its clarity, and looks older than it is. Well-conditioned skin on the hands has an even texture, looks dewy and feels firm.
Smoothness. Skin-conditioning ingredients, moisturising ingredients and plant-derived oils together lead the backs of the hands from rough to smooth.
Radiance. Where moisture and smoothness are both present, the hands recover a silk-like glow.

The hands show age sooner than the face. The backs of the hands have little sebum and thin skin, and are exposed every day to washing, sunlight and friction. That is why a formula that replenishes moisture and conditions the skin in a single serum makes sense for the hands. The structure of the skin of the hands is also discussed in our Hand Beauty Q&A.

Skin-conditioning and moisturising ingredients on the label

Read a hand serum's ingredient list by role and it stops being confusing.

Skin-conditioning ingredients: oligopeptide-1 (EGF) and oligopeptide-41 (KGF), included to keep the skin of the hands in good condition. Dimethyl sulfone and horsetail extract are also skin-conditioning ingredients, there for the nails and fingertips.
Moisturising ingredients: the five ceramides EOP, NG, NP, AG and AP, peptides such as acetyl decapeptide-3, and sodium hyaluronate, which hold water in the stratum corneum and prevent dryness and roughness.
Plant-derived oils and extracts: squalane and jojoba seed oil smooth the skin, while rosemary, chamomile and other botanical extracts gently moisturise.

Choosing on the presence of EGF and KGF alone serves the hands less well than asking whether skin-conditioning and moisturising ingredients are both present, and whether the texture is one you will keep using. How EGF and KGF differ from other peptides is on our peptide hand serum page; reading the ingredients as a whole is the subject of a journal piece.

Choosing and using an EGF hand serum

The stated role. Are EGF and KGF described as skin-conditioning ingredients? A product described in the language of medicine deserves caution as a cosmetic.
A published ingredient list. Check that oligopeptide-1 and oligopeptide-41 appear in the full list.
Moisturising ingredients alongside. Because the hands lose their sebum film with every wash, ceramides, peptides and other moisturising ingredients should lead the formula.
Feel. If you will apply it several times a day, a texture that lets you return to a keyboard at once is the condition for continuing.

Using it is no different from any hand serum. After washing or wet work, before going out and before bed, take one or two pearl-sized drops on the back of one hand, bring the hands together, and work it between the fingers and around the nails. Skin-conditioning ingredients do their work through daily repetition, so layering at each turning point of the day is the whole technique. Try a new product on the inner arm first, and if redness or itching persists, stop and consult a dermatologist.

Frequently asked questions

What are EGF and KGF in a hand serum?

They are skin-conditioning ingredients that keep the skin of the hands in good condition. On the ingredient list EGF appears as oligopeptide-1 and KGF as oligopeptide-41, and both are classed among the peptides. Their role is distinguished on the label from that of moisturising ingredients, which prevent dryness.

What can I expect from an EGF hand serum?

Within the boundaries of a cosmetic, that it keeps the skin of the hands in good condition and refines its texture. Together with moisturising ingredients and plant-derived oils, it looks after the ground on which moisture, smoothness and radiance appear. Medical descriptions of changes inside the skin do not apply to cosmetics.

How do EGF and KGF differ from other peptides?

All appear under "oligopeptide" names on the label, but their roles differ. Oligopeptide-1 (EGF) and oligopeptide-41 (KGF) are skin-conditioning ingredients, while peptides such as acetyl decapeptide-3 and oligopeptide-34 are moisturising ingredients that keep the hands moist and supple, so the role stated beside each name, not the name itself, is what to read.

Can I use an EGF hand serum on sensitive skin?

Gentle formulas suited to sensitive skin exist, but no product suits everyone. Try a little on the inner arm first, and stop if you notice redness, itching or stinging. If the reaction persists, consult a dermatologist. A published full ingredient list helps you check for anything you know does not suit you.

How long should I keep using a serum with EGF and KGF?

It is not something to use for a set period but a habit: wash, then moisturise. Applied after washing or wet work, before going out and before bed, it keeps the hands moist, smooth and radiant. As a guide, a 30 mL bottle lasts about a month and a half for someone using it several times a day.

Soie's hand serum and its skin-conditioning ingredients

Soie (pronounced swah; French for silk) formulates Enlight Hand Serum, a beauty serum made only for the hands, with EGF and KGF (skin-conditioning ingredients) balanced against five ceramides, peptides and sodium hyaluronate (moisturising ingredients). The full ingredient list names them as oligopeptide-1 and oligopeptide-41. Plant-derived oils and more than twenty botanical extracts smooth the skin, over 95% of the ingredients are of natural origin, and the gentle formula suits sensitive skin and children.

Its light texture sinks in without stickiness and can be layered after every wash. 30 mL, in five fragrances composed by Soie's own perfumer, with a hand soap in the same scents for washing before you moisturise.