Are you being mislead by cosmetics advertising?

Just the Essentials...

Did you know?

Neither cosmetic products nor cosmetic ingredients are reviewed or approved by the FDA before they are sold to you.

The FDA cannot require companies do safety testing of their products before marketing.

There is no regulation that says a cosmetic has to have proof that their product lives up to it's advertised results.

Are you being mislead by Cosmetics Advertising?
The huge number of things we are told about skin care and other beauty concerns is nothing less than astounding. That's why, when you begin thinking in terms of reality, facts, and balanced information, it is important to ignore the baseless, unfounded claims that are constantly bandied about in the guise of serious information. You may have run into the following terms and sales pitches for myriad skin-care and makeup products. These come-ons entice purchasers, even though they are vague or illogical.

"Soothing botanicals"
Botanicals is simply another name for plants, such as herbs and flowers, or plant extracts in the form of oils or juices. Is any of that soothing? There are definitely some soothing botanicals, such as green tea, kola extract, willowherb, bisabolol, licorice root (glycyrrhetinic acid), and burdock root to name a few. But there are also a great many natural ingredients, from lemons to strawberries, lavender oil, and jojoba, that can be problematic for lots of skin types, either as irritants or because they can clog pores. I can't tell you the number of products I've found that make claims about being good for sensitive skin, even though they contain a host of these irritating ingredients.

"Superficial lines"
Watch out for the word "superficial"; it is a powerful tool when used in cosmetics advertising. "Superficial lines" really refer to the temporary, transient lines caused by dryness, not sun damage (sun-damaged wrinkles are hardly superficial). Most products could make elaborate claims about smoothing superficial wrinkles and they would not be lying to you. Superficial wrinkles go away when you put on any moisturizer, and that is wonderful. But—and I repeat, but—superficial wrinkles are not the ones you are worried about. Permanent wrinkles, like laugh lines, furrows between the eyes and on the forehead, and expression lines, are not eliminated by a moisturizer unless it contains irritants that temporarily swell the skin. The word "superficial" is misleading because it doesn't really refer to the lines and wrinkles women are most concerned about.

"So advanced, it's patented"
Patent law just means that the company was able to show a formula or ingredient was in some way unique. It can also establish that an existing ingredient or formula has a unique use. None of that has anything to do with efficacy. A company could patent a terrible formula or a good formula; an erroneous or verifiable claim; as long as it's unique—that's all a patent means. The patent is simply about who can use or sell the formula or ingredient, or who can make a specific public claim about the use of a formula or ingredient. Most major cosmetics companies own thousands of patents, but that doesn't tell you anything about how advanced or mediocre those patents are.

"Just for your ultra-delicate eye area"
The advertiser may want you to use the eye cream only around your eyes, which means you have to buy a face lotion separately, yet the ingredients of these products are rarely different enough to warrant the extra expense and rarely have any special formulary function specific to the eye area. There is no reason an eye cream can't be used on the face or the face lotion can't be used around the eyes. The only time a special eye cream would be necessary is when the skin around the eyes is different from the skin on the rest of the face, which may require a more or less emollient moisturizer, but that's a different issue from the need for an eye cream.

"Visible lift with proven results"
The study mentioned in this ad doesn't say what the improvement was based on. A comparison to another product? To one side of the face that was stripped bare with alcohol? It also doesn't comment on who made the assessment about the improvement. If it was the company's own appraisal, they clearly had reason to notice that the skin looked better. Claims like these are meaningless, but sound great.

To the cosmetics industry a wrinkle signifies a pot of gold. So do liver spots, dry skin, and gray hair. People have tried all sorts of concoctions for centuries , even millennia to reverse the signs of aging. Today’s arsenal of chemicals, though, is unique. Some products may actually work. The trick is to know which may be based on scientific evidence and which are just fantasies. Consulting a licensed professional who has studied and continued to study cosmetics and their ingredients can prevent you from wasting money on products that either don’t work, or just aren’t worth it.

Concerned about what you are spending your money on in the cosmetics isle? Want to know what really works? You wouldn’t eat something without knowing what it was. Don’t you want to take the same care with what you put on your face? I choose only professional skincare products that I’ve personally researched and believe in their results. Call me to find out about simple things you can do to improve your skin, without wasting your money.

Pam at Skin Essentials.
316-250-0287
www.skinessentialswichita.com