Young-Looking Skin

The preservation of youthful looks is certainly one of the modern man’s (and woman’s) greatest obsessions. One proof is the billion-dollar growth of the skincare industry in the last few decades. There is, nowadays, a new skin wash or lotion coming out almost every month.

The buzz words these days are “anti-aging,” “rejuvenating,” and “cell renewing.” Most of the successful beauty products bear these words in their labels. Yet, as a matter of fact, all that they offer is “hope in a jar.”

Still, people are so eager to look younger that even the most intelligent will occasionally fall for an outlandish claim about the rejuvenating, wrinkle-removing effects of cosmetic products. Common sense should indicate that if the product being touted by a famous cosmetic doctor really worked, he himself would not look so old, and the president of a top makeup company would no longer be using photos of herself taken in the 1950s. Notwithstanding, the desire for youthful looks is so widespread; people are so willing to suspend disbelief, and throw their common sense into the air.

Various “supercream” formulas advertise special age-reversing ingredients. They claim to make old skin become like younger skin because they contain a substance which, supposedly, can deeply penetrate and turn back the skin’s internal clock. One such ingredient is collagen, the connective tissue that keeps the skin firm but breaks down over time, causing the skin to sag.

Collagen found in skin creams is made from animal protein. It is touted to enhance the production of human collagen once applied. The trouble is, collagen molecules are just too large to be absorbed by the skin by surface application. It’s like trying to get an elephant into an apple box, according to a prominent dermatologist.

Other anti-aging skin formulas brag of some highly scientific-sounding ingredients, like RNA and DNA, to rejuvenate cells. But, experts say, these have no effect on the skin’s internal chemistry. It’s just like rubbing blood on your skin if you need a blood transfusion.

The truth is that these touted rejuvenating skin products simply moisturize the skin, slightly swelling it up so that lines and wrinkles are less noticeable. But removing or reversing the tracks of time is something no skin cream can do, no matter how high-tech sounding its name.

No matter how much good fortune the sophisticated, well-informed upper class may be willing to bleed for an “iguana placenta” masque or snake egg bath or sandpaper facial cleansers, all the benefits it may offer will be very temporary. If the incredible claims of cosmetic companies about their products were valid, if these products really alter the structure and function of the skin, these would have been classified as drugs, not cosmetics. Government would then have stepped in for proof that these products were safe and performed their claimed function, something that is not required of cosmetics.

The true masters of beauty, especially those with no products to sell or endorse, would say that no miracle creams, lotions or potions can deliver what the person himself or herself can do. Skincare need not be expensive. Young-looking skin, in particular, and youthfulness, in general, is mainly the work of a positive attitude, healthy lifestyle, proper nutrition, sufficient water intake, regular exercise, and protection from the sun.

Nature cannot be fooled, and not the skin either. So let’s not fool ourselves. The skin knows if we’ve been worrying too much or holding a grudge. And the skin knows if we’ve been skimping on sleep, forgetting to exercise, neglecting to wash our face at night and forgetting the sunblock when outdoors. The skin not only knows all our sins, it tells these to the world by the way we look.