Face Creams - Worth It?
A Hot Topic on ‘The View’ was a dermatologist’s statement that there’s no need for any fancy face creams, they don’t do anything - all you need is a good cleanser, washrag and sunblock. Well, amen to the last part, anyway.
As discussed in previous articles, there are incredibly high expectations of what a cream (or lotion or serum) can do, kept aloft by advertisers who prey on the fact that hope springs eternal while youth doesn’t. Maybe this dermatologist became disenchanted with the yawning gap between expectations and results and withdrew his support from all but the basic essentials.
While it’s understandable why someone would just throw their hands up (the industry's lack of integrity, the patchy scientific data, the different, often contradictory approaches to skin care) implying that the last few decades haven’t brought any significant advances in skin care technology doesn’t make sense.
First, there’s the evidence that exfoliation (retin-a, glycolic, i.e. exfoliation beyond washrag) helps to ‘normalize’ cell production, and given what skin cells can mutate into, that’s a benefit we want. Secondly, it doesn’t credit any of the benefits of newer, topically applied anti-oxidants, which have shown to reduce the skin’s reactivity to the sun, a strong indication they reduce the risk of skin cancer and premature aging. And that’s based on research out of Duke University, not advertising claims.
Still, it’s sometimes difficult to quantify the subtle improvements creams bring, especially as they’re eked out slowly over months, not days. It’s pretty incredible, when you think about it, that skincare professionals can stop or slow the clock at all, let alone reverse it. But it often does happen. It may happen slowly and subtly, but it happens.
Cellex-C* (a line of vitamin c serums formulated by a University of Wisconsin biologist) had a very convincing advertising campaign. No hyperbole, no dewy 17 year olds, just a picture of a pair of hands, one that had the Cellex-C Vitamin C serum applied to it daily and one that hadn’t. The difference was amazing. The untreated hand was blotchy and weathered; the other smooth and even.
That’s what the best products do – protect the skin and bolster its resilience to the ravages of sun and time. People who are disappointed the clock hasn’t reversed ten years are missing the point. The years it removes are the ones your skin would show had you never started the regime.
Theskintellect.com does not sell and is not associated with any product lines.
