At CHOSEN, we think a lot about reducing friction.

In skincare, that means products that work hard without making skin work harder.

And since this thought process is core to how we operate, a mechanical pencil felt like the right symbol of this philosophy (shipping out along with orders, today onwards for a limited period).

Why a pencil?

A pencil has a calm that a pen does not.

It feels lighter, less rigid, more forgiving—good for lists, ideas, notes in the margin, and thoughts that are still taking shape.

What gets in the way, of course, is the sharpening.

So we chose the version that keeps the experience and removes the interruption.

It is a small parallel to how we think about skin too.

Friction can contribute to inflammation, and sometimes the simplest improvements come from removing the things that create unnecessary friction in the first place.

Friction has a very literal meaning in dermatology.

Repeated physical friction can irritate the skin and contribute to inflammation.

But physical friction is only one of the things our skin deals with repeatedly.

UV, visible light, heat, pollution, stress and lack of sleep all form part of the exposome: the sum of environmental and lifestyle exposures that affect our skin over time.

These exposures don't always happen in isolation.

Over time, they can influence how our skin cells behave, how they age, and even how they communicate with the cells around them.

Over time, repeated stress can change the way our skin cells behave.

Some ageing cells become ‘senescent’, cells that have stopped dividing but remain active, releasing inflammatory and other signals into the environment around them.

And this is where it gets interesting.

Skin cells don't function independently; they are constantly communicating with each other.

So when the behaviour of one cell changes, the cells around it can respond too.

Pigmentation is a good example of this.

We tend to focus on the melanocyte because that is the cell that makes melanin.

But especially in ageing-related pigmentation, the melanocyte is also responding to signals from the cells around it.

Think of the fibroblast and the melanocyte as roommates.

They are completely different cells, but they share the same neighbourhood and communicate with each other.

As fibroblasts age and become senescent, they can release inflammatory and other signals that encourage melanocytes to produce more pigment.

Sometimes, the melanocyte is simply responding to trouble elsewhere in the house.

But a good roommate doesn't just stop causing trouble.

The fibroblast also has an important job of its own; producing collagen and helping maintain a healthy dermal environment.

So we want fibroblasts that aren't sending out inflammatory, passive-aggressive signals :), but are also actively doing their job and helping keep the house in order.

Keeping fibroblasts healthy and supporting the dermal environment may therefore be another part of keeping the melanocyte happy as skin ages.

And this is where collagen supplements become interesting.

Collagen peptides may not only provide some of the building blocks needed to make collagen; research shows that these peptides stimulate fibroblast activity.

Clinical studies have also reported improvements in skin hydration, elasticity and density with oral collagen peptide supplementation, all measures of younger, healthier, calmer skin.

And being consistent on collagen intake seems to be one of the biggest unlocks to stay younger for longer.

With TOR Prime coming in soon, we at CHOSEN hope to have provided you with access to the best performing collagens from around the world, right here in India.

That’s it for this week - I know there are quite a few updates pending from me to you :

will pick them up in the coming week.

For now, I hope you enjoy a few moments of calm with the new pencil, journaling, organizing your day, doodling - whatever helps you be more connected and present in your day.

Warmly,

Dr. Renita Rajan