“Skin is the body’s armor. It is the biggest organ in the body which is why it needs to be protected and repaired with the best products possible,” says Francesca Jones, a sophomore who is a part of the Independent Science Research Program. She is taking the next three years to research and refocus the idea of skin care and its importance.
Francesca plans to research and compare the benefits of natural antioxidants and synthetic antioxidants. Testing natural antioxidants on damaged skin to repair and restore is one of the many goals she would like to achieve on her journey.
In today’s society skin care has a lot to do with the beauty standard and how to look younger and prettier with skin care products. Most brands that pop up on Instagram feeds, television commercials, and social media host brands that have the most money and brands that might make one look younger or glowing.
Francesca hopes to break this pattern:
“My goal is to refocus and reset the idea of how skin care relates to the beauty standard,” she says. “We should be looking at more fact and science based skincare that actually protects and repairs the skin. Makeup and skincare cannot be combined. Skin care needs its own spotlight with a new meaning of importance that is based on the actual science of it rather than the false advertisements.”

Over the summer Francesca conducted extensive research and found that the majority of the people in our world, whether they know it or not, have damaged skin. It could be inflammation, hyperpigmentation, free radical damage, repair skin barrier or many more possibilities.
A way to prevent and help the many people that suffer through skin damage is to focus on products backed by facts and science instead of the false information portrayed on social media and the internet.
In the coming years, Francesca will be testing natural antioxidants on damaged skin in order to prove its benefits over synthetic antioxidants. She will aim to get an internship to further research in a proper lab over the next few summers and present her findings in symposiums in the local area.