When Should I Start Using Anti-Wrinkle Products?
Lucia longs to know…I’ve heard that you should start using antiaging products in your twenties, so you’ll get less wrinkles, is that true? If so, will using a Retinol cream at night and moisturizer with SPF 30 during the day enough? I wanted to add some brightening formulas (like Vitamin C or Glucosamine), but not sure if I should or when. I’ve been a beauty junkie since I have memory (Believe it or not I started cleansing and moisturizing twice daily at the age of 10), and I have recently found that I don’t have enough time in the day to use all the products I read you “should” use in the magazines.
The Right Brain rejoices:
You’ve been moisturizing since age 10? Wow, You are a beauty junkie! (Hey, that’s not a bad name for a blog – The Beauty Junkie. Hmmm.)
Anyway, you’re not alone in that feeling – a survey by the Environmental Working Group found that the average woman uses 12 products per day, and that one woman in four uses at least 15 products. Junkies indeed!
And you’re right about not having time in the day to use all the products you “should.” Another recent study showed that if you were to use all the beauty products recommended in the July 2006 issue of Vogue, it would require 19.5 hours of application time each day. And that’s just for the skin care!*
But seriously, the single most important anti-aging precaution for your skin is to guard it from the sun. You don’t need to use a retinoic acid treatment in your twenties to prevent the wrinkles that will develop in your forties and unless you have really dry skin, you don’t need to moisturize daily. Niether do you need to rub vitamin C on your skin and there’s NO WAY you need to apply glucoasmine (that molecule is way to big to penetrate your skin and it dosn’t do anything just sitting on the surface.)
What you DO need to do is protect against UV radiation which has a long term affect on the appearance and physical condition of your skin. So a daily moisturizer with SPF 30 is a good precaution.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
Diligent use of a a good sunscreen (perhaps combined with an appropriate antioxidant) is the best way to protect your skin from aging effects, including wrinkles. (For more info, check out these Wrinkle Cream Reviews.)
*Ok, we totally made up this one.
How Does Garnier Ultra Suave Work?
Estefani nos pregunata: Hey Dear Right and Left Brains how are you? In Spain there’s a new line of shampoo, conditioner and deep treatment called Garnier Ultra Suave and supposedly it has walnut oil and peach leaves among other ingredients.. I wanted to know your opinion and is it really that different from the regular Garnier shampoos?
The Right Brain le responde a Estefani:
Estefani, thanks so much for your question. Garnier has not released Ultra Suave in the United States yet so we had trouble finding a complete ingredient list. With our limited knowledge of Spanish, we were able to determine that they use “vegetable milk” as a conditioning ingredient. Vegetable milks are not milks in the real sense, they are vegetable oils that are emulsified to produce a thin, milky liquid. In leave on conditioners these vegetable milks can help smooth the hair. But they don’t work from rinse off conditioners because they are not substantive to the hair, in other words, they don’t stay behind after rinsing.
Therefore, we don’t believe Garnier is using any new technology in their Ultra Suave products. It looks like the vegetable milks, along with the walnut and peach leaves, are just there to make the product look more appealing to consumers, not to make it work better. As we always point out, this doesn’t make it a bad product. It just means that you shouldn’t buy it only because Garnier tells you it’s made with walnuts and peaches.
Do Pearl Proteins In Elvive Nutrigloss Really Work?
Anne asks...What’s your opinion on the new LOreal Elvive Nutri Gloss? Can it really make hair shinier? What’s the truth behind the ’special pearl protein’ does it really work?
The Right Brain retorts:
Pearls are so pretty, this product MUST work better! Right? Wrong!
L’Oreal is the king of cool sounding ingredients. In addition to the pearl protein that you asked about, they also sell products with Nutrileum, Regenium XY, and EXPANSYL®. We’re not sure but we think they have a hair mask with ground up Ruby Slippers too.
All sarcasm aside, our point is that this pearl protein is just another featured ingredient used by cosmetic companies to attract your attention. That’s what Marketing is all about! L’Oreal has some very fine formulas (they have some not-so-fine ones too), but don’t believe the fairy tale they tell you about the special ingredient that makes the product work.
Some proteins can have a (minor) beneficial effect on hair IF they are the right kind and are processed so they “stick” to your hair. Quaternized wheat protein, for example, has been shown to have some conditioning effect. But most “regular” proteins won’t do anything for your hair when applied from a rinse off product.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
If you want to splurge, try the product and see what you think. But don’t expect the “pearly gates” to open up. That’s all of our “pearls of wisdom” for this post. If we wrote anything else, we’d be “casting pearls before swine.” Hey, did you hear about the new smaller bottle of Nutrigloss? It contains “Minnie Pearl.” But seriously, this stuff is so good you should buy extra bottles and keep them in your “Pearl Harbor.”
Ok, that’s enough bad pearl puns. We’ll stop now.
What Is Idebenone And What Does It Do?
Michelle muses: Speak to me, oh Beauty Brains, of “Idebenone” and its supposed anti-aging miracles. A spa in town carries True Cosmetics (www.truecosmetics.com), touted to be the only legal patent holder on this ingredient, but I see Elizabeth Arden is promoting it now. Also, is the similar sounding “idebenal” in any way related? Thanks!
The Right’s Brainy explanation:
Idebenone has been used for decades as a pharmaceutical “smart drug;” in the US it’s sold without a prescription and classified as a nutritional supplement. Chemically, this material is closely related to CoEnzyme Q10 – a powerful antioxidant which has gained popularity for it’s alleged ability to improve skin wrinkles. Idebenone has found its way into some high end skin care products as the next miracle treatment.
There is some data to suggest that Idebenone may have some efficacy in fighting wrinkels but it’s easily deactivated by contact with oxygen so it must be kept “fresh” or somehow stabilized in the formula if it has any chance of working at all. Just buying a standard skin cream formula that has idebenone thrown in won’t do much for you. And even when it is properly stabilized there aren’t conclusive studies showing its better than other wrinkle treatments on the market. For a detailed discussion on this subject to read this from our friends at smartskincare.com.
What about Trucosmetics? Well, we’re not impressed by the claims on their website. They claim that idebenone has more effective than Q10 and we weren’t able to corroborate that claim anywhere else. We also can’t find any reference to a patent on their website, but if you’ve seen a patent number somewhere pass it on to us and we’ll check it out. We do know that Idebenone has been used for years, so we’re skeptical that there are any significant new patent activity. (Often times patents on cosmetics don’t really mean all that much!)
You also asked about “Idebenal” – that must be a typo. We can’t find any reference to that material at all.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
Idebenone is derived from the Latin “I Debit In None” which, loosely translated, means “I’m tired of going into debt for all these cometic products that deliver none of their claims.” Capiche?
Are Sweetspot Intimate Cleansers Better Than Soap?
Lux longs to know…As a woman, I find that when I wash my “sweet spot” with regular soap, it stings and burns. I wanted to know what ingredients in regular soap cause this sensation. I’ve been using Cetaphil, which I haven’t had any problems with, but I’d like to find something that I can use all over my body. There is a new company Sweetspot Labs, which makes products exclusively for a woman’s “sweet spot.” I’m wondering what makes their cleansing products different from the regular body soaps on the market? I’m trying to decide whether they are worth the expense.
The Right Brain sweetly responds:
Soap and certain detergents (like Sodium Lauryl Sulfate which is in Cetaphil) work fine when you’re shampooing your hair or washing your hands, but they can cause irritation if they come in contact with senstive areas like your eyes or your “sweet spot.” (It has to do with the way certain surfactants affect cell membranes.) Anyway, that’s one of the reasons baby shampoos are used for children – they use cleansing agents that are not irritating, and won’t sting their eyes. The same is true for “sweet spots,” detergents may cause stinging or burning. The acidity of the product can also be an important factor in a cleanser. (We wrote about this in a previous post on vaginal pH where we talked about Sweetspot’s Balancing Mist – but pH was not as much of an issue for that kind of product).
So, what about Sweetspot’s Cleanser? Well, we don’t buy everything they have to say – they talk about delivering humectants from a rinse off wash product which is not very feasible and and they don’t disclose exactly which surfactants they’re using which makes it difficult to know the potential mildness of their product. Nonetheless, it seems like a reasonable option if you’re experiencing stringing or burning from conventional soaps and body washes.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
There are many surfactants that are milder than soap or SLS. If Sweetspot has formulated their product properly, it should be better than using soap and it should solve your stinging problem. If it works, then you can decide if it’s worth the money.
Beauty Brains Blog Blast for Friday July 1
Here’s a quick run-down of blogs entries that we here at the Beauty Brains found interesting this week.
Bella Sugar has an interesting look at the History of Lipstick.
The Beauty Blogging Junkie gives her take on the new Wonder Woman makeover. I know Right Brain would get a kick out of this one.
Viva Woman tells you the 5 things to know about your skin at night. Interesting.
The Dermatology Blog tells you how sunscreens might be causing acne.
Style Tips 101 tells you about Hairspray, backcomb, bump-its and other ways to get quick hair volume.
Of course, the Beauty Brains give you the bottom line on whether Talc in cosmetics is harmful.
Do you have a beauty blog that we should be following? Leave a comment and let us know about it. Or better yet, mention the Beauty Brains on your blog and link back to us. It’s the best way a blogger can express her appreciation.