Marketing - Don't Get Suckered In!

The skin care market is a mega-billion dollar industry. There is so much demand for effective anti wrinkle products, cosmetic companies are continually introducing new anti wrinkle creams to take advantage of this fact.

People are hungry for products that promise skin rejuvenation, and will pay a lot of money in the belief that it will give them younger looking skin.

More often than not, however, it is the pricier skin care products that are ineffective. And it really annoys me when the products don't even come close to achieving the promises that the advertising leads you to believe.

Many of these products are generated and pushed onto the market without testing or proof that they will do anything beneficial for your skin. Instead of spending time and investing money to produce superior, proven anti wrinkle products, most manufacturers will spend their money on marketing and product staging.

And if you haven't realised it yet, marketing is very expensive! But even so, a good marketing campaign can turn a not-so-spectacular small bottle of goo into a huge earner for a cosmetics company.

But don't get me wrong. There are some excellent products that will give you younger looking skin. The complication is in knowing which skin care ingredients and products actually work. Without good information, it can be very hard to find a product that works for you.

Unfortunately, there will never be a lack of people willing to spend good money for the latest anti wrinkle creams, irrespective of whether they help or not. The reality is that most people will not make the effort to investigate cosmetic products and ingredients.

So do yourself a favour, start reading a few wrinkle cream reviews and GET INFORMED before you commit to purchasing that next product. As an informed buyer, you won't fall for the marketing hype. Find out which ingredients are effective and those that can actually damage your skin.

Peptides - The Good, The Bad And The Disappointing

Well actually, it's mainly disappointing!

Peptides That Inhibit Neurotransmitters

Neurotransmitters are things that make your muscles work when your brain tells them to. We're familiar with Botox and it's properties - Botox injections block the release of neurotransmitters to, in effect, paralyze the muscles. Thus, after Botox injections between your eyebrows, when your brain tells your eyebrows to squint, nothing happens.

There are anti wrinkle products being marketed to take advantage of the fact that everyone knows and accepts that Botox works. These anti wrinkle creams contain peptides, but do they really work like Botox?

Peptides are proteins consisting of small chain amino acids. Argireline is the name given to a certain peptide (a lot easier to say than acetyl-hexapeptide-3) that slows down the release of neurotransmitters. In wrinkle cream containing up to 10% Argireline, laboratory tests show that it provides some benefit towards the appearance of having younger looking skin. However, the jury is out about whether the peptides can actually go into the skin and through to the muscle level, which they would need to do to replicate Botox. Some have suggested that it's the product's accompanying moisturizing ingredients that reduce wrinkles by hydrating the skin. Also, if the product worked like it claimed, any muscles that came in contact with the cream (face, neck, finger tips) should cease working - but they don't.

Peptides That Stimulate Collagen

Another peptide (palmitoyl-pentapeptide-3, also called Pal-KTTKS or Matrixyl) is reported to encourage the manufacture of collagen and other proteins that are found in the skin's dermal layer. Sounds promising, but how does it compare with Botox?

Well, tests have been conducted. Unfortunately, it didn't do any better than the plain moisturizer it was being compared against.

Peptides For Stabilizing Copper

Copper plays a vital role in living organisms. For us, collagen and elastin creation rely on the presence of copper. In theory, peptides can be used to stabilize copper, transporting the element to locations in the skin to improve the appearance of wrinkles. In practice, trial tests on people have shown only minimal benefits.

Tretinoin - A Skin Rejuvenation Product

There are hundreds of anti wrinkle products on the market, from facial wrinkle cream to gels that fix under eye wrinkles. But, alas, not many of them work. If they did, we would all have younger looking skin and a lot of extra money in our pockets.

Retin A and Renova are the best known brands of tretinoin. It is derived from vitamin A and is only available by perscription. Tretinoin is one of the few anti wrinkle products whose skin rejuvenation effects have been tested and proven in skin studies. It is found to reduce fine wrinkles and roughness of skin, increase thickness of the epidermis and promote growth of collagen.

Tretinoin works by setting off processes in the skin that includes cell growth, production of collagen, elastin and sebum. It also slows down certain enzymes that damage collagen and elastin. These enzymes become increasingly active as we get older.

But Beware!

Side effects can be common and include irritation of the skin, dryness, peeling and sensitivity to the sun. It is recommended that tretinoin is used sparingly. If the side effects don't go away with continued use, it may lead to skin damage - certainly NOT the aim of the treatment!!