Luxury Ingredients for Your Skin
New products with the most spectacular luxury ingredients are continually being introduced onto the market. And “the more expensive the better” is what the cosmetic industry will have us believe. And seeing how we are so obsessed with having lovely smooth skin, we let ourselves be enticed by such products! But if you are a bit wise when purchasing your products and stop smearing the ‘bling’ into your skin, you’ll not only have lovely skin but also enough money left over to buy some ‘bling’ for around your neck or fingers…
The long term effect of many “hype” ingredients?
I welcome new developments in the area of skincare, but it is almost impossible for the consumer to differentiate, within the cosmetic industry, between significant developments and the development of “hype” ingredients. The latter don’t work or can – worse still – cause skin problems. It is not surprising that most people have lost their trust in cosmetic products. And that is a pity; we can benefit so much from cosmetics and there are enough good, safe and effective ingredients. For the manufacturers these ingredients are generally not “sexy” and need to be used in higher concentrations in order to have any effect. This makes it difficult to create a nice white attractive looking stable product.
Luxury ingredients such as Diamond, Roses, Gold, Caviar and Algae
A list of interesting substances…If you read the scientific literature you can say that there is no conclusive evidence that the above named substances do anything for skin. Gold (see also the blog ‘pure gold’) is even mentioned in the literature as a common irritant. That is never good. As for diamond there is no evidence that it is beneficial to the skin; and if it is added it needs to be so finely ground that you no longer have any diamond left to mention. Then it is just an ordinary “mineral”. There is also no scientific evidence to suggest that caviar works either.
For roses and algae it is less clear. Algae contains anti-oxidants and anti-oxidants are good for our skin. They protect us against the free radicals that are formed (for example by over exposure to the sun) and which gradually destroy and prematurely age our cells. In theory algae can, by virtue of their anti-oxidants, be effective in preventing skin ageing. There is no evidence that they can have any effect on existing wrinkles or lines though. There is certainly no reason why you should pay large amounts of money for products containing algae. There are no known “wonder algae”. As with algae there is some evidence that rose can have anti-oxidating and anti-inflammatory effects.
Instead of luxury ingredients: a list of proven ingredients
The question is, whether you have seen that with minimal evidence, you’re better off choosing products with ingredients such as Vitamin C and Niacinamide where so much more is known about concentration, effectiveness and safety. A list of substances which can be beneficial to your skin are shown here.
Regards Jetske
(Dr. Jetske Ultee-Research Physician Cosmetic Dermatology)
You can also read the blogs ‘Anti-Oxidants in Skin Care Products’,
‘Angel Dusting’ (about false promises…)
‘Human Fat in Beauty Products. Is It True?’,
‘Pots Are for in the Bottle Bank‘, ‘
Dehydrated Skin (and Moisturising Agents)‘,
‘Smearing in Anti-Cellulite Cream. Is There Any Point?‘ and
‘An Alternative to a Facelift. Or Not‘.