Death by moisturizer?
The product launch for ZO Skin Health started off just like any other launch for the press.There were the usual faces from the beauty and lifestyle rags, the trusty, fusiony food from East Cafe Rustan’s, and a mind-boggling lineup of new skin care products claiming to be the stimulus package that will bail you out of the aging crisis. Jue Wong, executive vice president of global sales and business development, flew in from New York to tell us about Dr. Obagi’s new range — yes, that Obagi of the chemical peel fame.
As someone who just throws water on her face and calls it a day, I often find little use for the anti-aging freebies we get, except to hand up to my mom. However, something that Wong said challenged a notion I’ve held for a long time (one that my mom handed down to me), and that was that moisturizing can actually be bad for you. That it can — gasp — cause cancer. What. “Did you know that only two percent of people have clinically sensitive and dry skin?” Wong demanded. “Yet so many of us think we have dry skin — that’s because we overuse products, especially moisturizer.”
It’s true. The mantra of “cleanse, tone and moisturize” has been drilled into our heads as the basic foundation of skin care. But, if we don’t actually need additional moisture (and I guess that’s 98 percent of us) then using the product will create an imbalance and pull moisture away from our skin. “It sends a message to stop producing moisture, because there’s already a lot of moisture outside. That’s why it’s important to use a nourisher that mimics the balance of the skin,” Wong explains, and introduces the ZO Skin Health Ommerse Creme, which is not a “moisturizer” per se, but rather a “nourisher.” Thank you, marketing department.
The cancer part is a bit trickier. A study done by researchers at Rutgers University, reported on the Dermatology Times and picked up by other news agencies has shown that simple moisturizers, those you can find at the drugstore, increased the incidence of skin cancer in mice who have been exposed to UV rays. Now before you start freaking out, remember that humans are not mice, and these mice were already prone to tumors anyway. But you might as well lay off the moisturizer if you don’t need it. According to Paula Begoun in The Complete Beauty Bible, moisturizer overuse can mask or exacerbate a skin condition which you think is just dryness, and it can cause breakouts, and can inhibit the skin’s natural immune/healing response.
The ZO Skin Health line is Dr. Zein Obagi’s retail, over-the-counter line that completes his hardcore medical line. The theory is, your skin needs to be prepped before undergoing a serious procedure like a chemical peel. “Skin cells need to be awakened to better absorb nutrients,” Wong says. “It’s like running a marathon. If you don’t prepare yourself you can get hurt. With IPL, your skin thinks its under attack. It produces melanin and an inflammation response. People who do IPL without a six-week prepping course will struggle with these procedures, particularly Asians who tend to have hyperpigmentation.”
Wong says that Obagi customers who looked horrible after the Blue Peel (an extreme chemical peel and the deepest one available in the market) did so because they did not use sunscreen afterwards. “After a procedure, your skin is very raw. The melanin is trying to protect the skin—it oxidizes with the environment and turns dark unevenly,” she explains. Hence, the ZO Skin Health Sunscreen + Primer SPF 30, which innovatively contains melanin, following the premise that if you put melanin on your skin, it won’t produce more melanin, and won’t result in new freckles, spots or pigmentation.
The rest of the products are heavy on the retinol—even the eye cream— and geared towards serious, industrial strength anti-aging. Retinol has got a bad rap for being a known irritant. The ZO Skin Health products contain time-released encapsulated technology, meaning its retinol formula is stabilized, water-free and not inflammation-inducing. As journalistic guinea pigs, we layered samples of all the different creams on the backs of our hands, and the application felt very light and harmless, despite the one-percent concentrated retinol, 10 times the industry average. In fact, our hands did a Benjamin Button and suddenly we had toddler-sized fists, with very bad handwriting.
Dr. Obagi believes that the essence of the skin cell is Vitamin A, which in its final metabolized state is retinuic acid. That is why retinol is his signature ingredient. When we are 30 years old and above, our skin is in an “inactive state,” meaning we start to see the effects of the past sebum-filled, hormonally-challenging 20 years, when our skin was in a state of overactive production. The damage comes in the form of fine lines, wrinkles and hyperpigmentation—battle scars from our oily youth. But, as Wong tells us, “Dr. Obagi would say, ‘I’m not trying to sell products. I want you to be educated.’”
So do we really need another skin care line? Maybe not. But it’s good to know.
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ZO Skin Health is available at Rustan’s.
