Ditch The Wrinkle Creams: Health Is Charisma
June 2, 2009 by Jen Hopkins
Filed under Skin Care
Every woman ages. Most would prefer not to, especially when creases show up around the lips and eyes in our thirties. How many hours have been wasted scrutinizing that face in the mirror! Is there a jar or bottle which contains magic wrinkle-killing substances?
As you can imagine, the number of ads and articles I found in just a few magazines overwhelmed me. Each product seemed to claim the same thing, that they’d help me win the battle against wrinkles. What wasn’t clear was why some products were only a few dollars a bottle and others cost nearly ten or a hundred times as much. I looked at the products being offered by the traditional brands and there didn’t seem to be any indication that they would do anything more than generic brands I encounted. I wondered how much money women my age and older would spend to try all these seemingly-similar products and found myself realizing I would have to make some budgetary concessions if I was to buy wrinkle creams for the rest of my life.
A look at any beauty forum on the internet, or reviews in shopping websites, reveal thousands of reviews from users who have tried some wrinkle cream or the other. A few users claim that a certain product worked for them, and this sees a new flurry of buyers for that product. Until many other users post disappointing reviews of the same product. So, what works, and what doesn’t? Why do some women swear by wrinkle creams while others don’t?
The more I examined the reasons why we get wrinkles, the more I discovered that those lines are caused by many things which I have to admit I was not paying attention to. I spend a lot of time in the sun without wearing some kind of sunblock, and UV rays can be harmful. I don’t exercise like I should, I have friends who smoke, I have what is probably a drink or two too many from time to time, and I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t eat fast-food as much as I do. Unfortunately for me, all of those things (plus the fact that I am getting older, as much as I’d not like to admit it) can cause skin to wrinkle.
It appears that if a woman is having success with a specific product, her wrinkles aren’t really going away because of it. Rather, she’s taking better care of herself. I also recently learned that independant labs which test creams have not been able to prove than any of them match up to the claims made by the companies which produce them. In one case, the report said the best I could expect from a wrinkle cream is that it will take off the outer layer of my skin, which may give it a bright appearance but can be damaging if overused. Some creams also contain ingredients make the skin retain water or plump up, but I don’t want to have fat cheeks just to get rid of a few lines – and how good can it be for my skin to be irritated like that?
As I looked at the ingredients in most of the skin creams I researched, I saw the following over an over again. Vitamin A. C. E. Green tea extracts. Copper. Coenzymes. All are supposedly antioxidants, but I’m not even sure what an antioxidant is, and apparantly neither are the labs which tested the creams because there is not one single statistic which shows which ingredients really help skin look better when applied to the surface.
Some believe antioxidants get rid of “free radicals” that cause skin damage. Maybe you’ve heard about using peelings from fruit to clean your face. It’s the antioxidants that is supposed to cause new skin cells to grow on your skin, and the acids in the peels are acting as an abrasive. So, again – you’re literally removing skin in the hopes that newer cells will generate a more attractive appearance.
It’s obvious to me that there is no miracle cure which is going to fix my crows feet. Some pepope have success with some ingredients, but it mostly comes down to health. I need to start using sunblock, drink more water and less soda, eat a little better, and try to avoid smoking and drinking. I also need to exercise a bit more, but who doesn’t? I used to jog in my twenties and I always had healthy skin, probably from the circulation. Of course, feeling good about yourself and being in shape brings a glow that will probably overpower any tiny lines which show up over the years. I think it’s time for me to stop staring in the mirror and get on the treadmill.
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