A (miracle) cream for 500 euros?
No matter how hard I try, I am still unable to convince people of the fact that miracle creams do not exist. Good skincare products can make your skin firm, smooth and radiant again, but that requires a good deal of patience. Wrinkles that just melt away like snow? There is no such thing; honestly! And yet, more and more people have assured me lately that the cream which was demonstrated recently in the shopping centre, the outlet centre, the new warehouse or at a cosmetics party made their skin ‘in no time’ beautifully smooth again.
The miracle ingredient varied from gold and diamond to bee venom, but the price of the products remained constant; around the 500 euros mark! So to the search for the secret behind this ‘magic product’! But perhaps the people who are familiar with this story and have just spent their holiday money should stop reading now. The rest may like to know that after a good deal of research I have found the answer.
Waterproof plant pots
It couldn’t be anything else; the amazing effect from these products was not the result of ‘miracle ingredients’ but from other components listed at the top of the ingredients list; glue like substances which leave a thin filmy layer on the skin. The most well-known and most commonly applied example of such an ingredient is sodium silicate (also known as water glass). This chemical compound is used to seal floors, concrete walls, election posters and plant pots. It is also used as a sort of joining kit for car exhaust pipes. The wrong choice in your skincare products then! This chemical has a very high pH value (i.e. alkali), can really irritate your skin and furthermore blocks your skin off completely. And even if there are also good active ingredients in your product, they wouldn’t, due to the film forming substance, be able to absorb into the skin to do their work.
Gold, diamond and bee venom
Now let’s go back to the gold, diamond and bee venom in those ‘special products’ for a moment. How do they work? Gold is a known allergen, crushed diamond is nothing but carbon (and just like the tablet Norit, far from exclusive) and in scientific terms, very little is known about bee venom. We do know that when your skin comes into contact with bee venom that an inflammatory reaction takes place. This ultimately stimulates a healing process in the skin and, along with it, the production of collagen and elastin, the same as with a wound. But that will only happen if the bee venom reaches deep into the skin. That is going to be highly unlikely by applying a cream, especially if it has a low concentration of the ingredient. Fortunately for us, because if it was that easy then it would be very risky, since quite a few people are allergic to bee venom.
More miracles
Would you like to know more about what a good cream can cost? Or about the sometimes enormous price difference between (the same) cosmetic products? Have a look at my earlier blogs about this (see the related articles below).
Kind regards,
Jetske.
(Research Physician Cosmetic Dermatology)