Ever had someone say that dry skin can be fixed just by drinking more water or that tingling skin means a product is working?
Surprisingly, there is a lot of it is either inaccurate or just plain wrong! Read on to learn the truth behind these and more myths – and learn what really works!
MYTH: YOUR SKIN ADAPTS TO PRODUCTS YOU USE AND EVENTUALLY STOP WORKING.
Fact: Skin doesn’t adapt to skin-care products any more than your body adapts to a healthy diet.
If spinach and grapes are healthy for you, they are always healthy, and they continue to be healthy, even if you eat them every day. The same is true for your skin, if you are applying what is healthy for skin (and avoiding negative external sources such as unprotected sun exposure) it remains healthy.
You may see skin stop improving as much as it initially did, but that stands to reason: If you were using products with irritating or drying ingredients and then switch to brilliantly-formulated products, your initial improvement is going to be much more impressive than what you’ll see months later, when skin is maintaining its new-found healthy, younger appearance.
MYTH: YOUR AGE IS AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION WHEN SHOPPING FOR SKIN CARE.
Fact: Many products on the market claim to be designed for a specific age group, especially for “mature” women; mature usually refers to women over 50.
(So we wonder, does that mean if you are under 50, you’re immature?) Nonetheless, before you buy into any of these arbitrary age divisions, ask yourself why the over-50 group is always lumped together? According to this logic, someone who is 40 or 45 shouldn’t be using the same products as someone who is 50 (only 5 or 10 years older), but someone who is 80 should be using the same products as someone who is 50…? What you need to know is that age is not a skin type and choosing products based on your age is not a wise way to shop.
MYTH: THERE ARE SKIN-CARE PRODUCTS THAT WORK LIKE PRESCRIPTION COSMETIC INJECTIONS.
Fact: No skin-care products can work like cosmetic injections because the ingredients cannot reach their targeted areas.
There is absolutely no research showing that any skin-care product can even remotely work in any manner like cosmetic injections or like laser resurfacing. Regardless of the ingredients or the claims for skin-care products, it just isn’t possible. Even dermal fillers can’t plump up wrinkles when applied topically rather than being injected. When administered by professionals, cosmetic injections almost immediately make wrinkles in the treated area disappear. Believing that skin-care products can do the same is a complete waste of money. There has never been a single skin-care product that has ever put a plastic surgeon or cosmetic dermatologist out of business!
MYTH: ALWAYS LOOK FOR COLLAGEN AND ELASTIN IN ANTI-WRINKLE PRODUCTS.
Fact: Collagen and elastin in skin-care products can serve as good water-binding agents, but they cannot fuse with your skin’s natural supply of these supportive elements.
In most cases, the collagen molecule is too large to penetrate into the skin. But even when it is made small enough to be absorbed it cannot bind with the collagen existing in skin, and there isn’t a shred of research indicating otherwise. What does exist are myriad studies showing that collagen is a very good moisturising ingredient, which is great for skin, but not unique or the only formulary option.
MYTH: YOU’LL EVENTUALLY OUTGROW ACNE.
Fact: If only that were true, lots of people’s skin-care struggles in life would have been very different. In fact, women in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and even 50s can have acne just like teenagers, and the treatment principles remain the same.
Not everyone who has acne as a teenager will grow out of it, and even if you had clear skin as a teenager, there’s no guarantee that you won’t get acne later in life, perhaps during menopause. You can blame this often-maddening inconsistency on hormones! What is true is that men can outgrow acne, because after puberty men’s hormone levels level out, whilst women’s hormone levels fluctuate throughout their lifetime, which is why many women experience breakouts around their menstrual cycle. What about the association between acne and food, stress, and over-cleaning your face?
MYTH: EVERYONE NEEDS AN EYE CREAM.
Fact: There is no evidence, research, or documentation validating the claim that the eye area needs ingredients different from those you use on your face or neck area or décolletage.
Any product loaded with antioxidants, emollients, skin-repairing and anti-inflammatory ingredients will work wonders when used around the eye area. Those ingredients don’t have to come from a product labelled as an eye cream or gel or serum or balm—they can come from any well-formulated moisturiser or serum.
Whatever product you put around your eye area, regardless of what it is labelled, must be well formulated and appropriate for the skin type you have around your eyes. You may prefer using a specially labelled eye cream, but you may also do just as well applying your regular facial moisturiser and/or serum around your eyes.
If the skin around your eyes is drier than the rest of your face, that doesn’t mean you need a special eye cream. Instead, you simply need to treat your eye area with a more emollient, fragrance-free facial moisturiser. A well-formulated serum is another great option to use around the eyes (it doesn’t need to be labelled “eye cream”). The same is true for eye gels or serums.
MYTH: THERE’S A PRODUCT OUT THERE THAT ELIMINATES WRINKLES.
Fact: Regrettably, there is no magic potion or combination of products in any price range that can make wrinkles truly disappear or prevent them. Daily use of a well-formulated sunscreen (and never getting a tan) are the two best things you can do, but there’s more that helps, too!
The wrinkles you see and agonize over (not to be confused with fine lines caused by dryness, which are easily remedied with a good moisturiser) are the result of cumulative sun damage and the inevitable breakdown of your skin’s natural support structure. Skin-care ingredients, no matter who is selling them or what claims they make for them, cannot replace what plastic surgeons and cosmetic dermatologists do. There are literally thousands of anti-wrinkle products being sold and we buy more of these than almost any other beauty product. But despite this onslaught of products, plastic surgeons and dermatologists are not going out of business.