To wonder whether everyone accepts that beauty products don’t work?

[SinkGirl]

I don’t know about anyone else but I’m so used to beauty (and especially) hair products not doing what they say they do that I’m often really shocked when they do what they say they will. I spent a brief spell in marketing for an insurance company and everything we said was so tightly regulated. Beauty companies can say whatever they like it seems, digitally manipulate images, do a “trial” on 11 women and then proudly state that almost 90% of women said it worked... 🙄

I hadn’t spent a penny on make up or skin care for years until a few months ago when I bought a few bits which were okay but nothing staggering. Got an event coming up tonight and I went a bit mad - I bought heaps of stuff: hair care, make up, skin care etc.

Most of it is absolute crap and doesn’t live up to its claims. I generally just accept this in a way I wouldn’t with other things but whenever they work it’s always a nice surprise (will list the few things I’m happy with below in case anyone is looking!)

I find it strange that we are so (rightly) hot on false advertising but this is an entire industry that seems to get away with it. I realise everyone’s skin and hair is different, but if you buy something that’s meant to volumise fine flyaway hair, which you have, but does absolutely nothing, surely that’s a bit ridiculous? And these things are always no returns so even if what you’ve got is basically scented baby oil, you’re scuppered.

These are the things I’ve tried that work as advertised this week - three out of over 30 products (yes, I splurged!)

• The Ordinary AHA BHA peel - have used loads of acid peels before so I was a bit blase about this one. Ended up burning the skin off my cheekbones after only a few minutes 😳 It’s very effective though!

• Estée Lauder powerfoil night recovery mask - got one of these in a lot of mini EL products. Used it last night and my skin this morning is absolutely amazing. Not greasy at all but softer, smoother, lines reduced, calmed the burnt cheeks... it’s amazing. Shame it’s so expensive (cheapest I’ve found is about £55 for 4 and you’re meant to use 1 a week but I’m considering using one every month / couple of weeks maybe)

• The Ordinary coverage foundation - I bought a few foundations as my skin changes quite a bit during my cycle and this one is awesome. Lasted all day even while running around, sweating etc. And it’s onlh £6 so you can buy a few shades and mix if you find it hard to get a colour match.

Oh - for hair frizz, I can't live without Bumble and Bumble Straight Blow Dry.

I tried loads of other brands and this one is tops. I often do a rough dry and it still looks nice. I try to wash my hair every other day and a bottle lasts me 6 months +.

But some products do make a difference. The right products. So in your 40s/50s you need acids, vitamin c, retinol and SPF every day of the year. My skin has been utterly transformed with these ingredients (don’t have to cost £££). I wear no foundation and just a primer, skin looks better than in my 20s. I don’t look young though I guess just the quality of my skin is better. Agree diet and lifestyle have a huge impact though too.

Nadine Baggot is 55 and is supposed to have amazing skin in real life so not sure if the point is proved there!!

Oh and i always get told off for being bitter when I say this but it’s easy to look like
you are in your 20s when you’re in your 30s... Ageing doesn’t really kick in until your 40s.

I can’t think of any 40 somethings in real life or famous who look 10 years younger...You can look good and have great skin and get botox etc but most people still look 40 something.

Being fat with oily skin is good for wrinkles. HTH.
Dermatologists consistently say skincare is a waste of time, if the products were strong enough to do anything significant you'd need a prescription for them.

Beauty companies have been making millions for years by just making womenfeel shit about themselves. If it sounds too good to be true it is.

Hate when my hairdresser tries to sell me something that will 'put protein in' my hair (not possible) or that is 'chemical free' after I've just sat that for an hour while she puts Bleach and ammonia on my hair.

If it makes you feel better - fine, get it. But don't buy into this anti aging crap. You can't stop aging. It all depends on genetics and sun damage. And I don't care if my neck' gives away my age'. I'm not ashamed of time.

Dermatologists may say moisturisers are a waste of time but I doubt any would say the same about retinol and spf...

It depends what you are expecting. A moisturiser won’t get rid of wrinkles but retinol will reduce fine lines.

Vitamin c will improve clarity.

My dermatologist has me on active skincare I don’t actually use a moisturiser my spf does that.

Has anyone got any recommendations for frizzy hair that actually work? I'm talking major full-on frizz...so imagine frizzy hair, then multiply that by 10.

I've found Aveda Be Curly great. Pricey though.

Oh and i always get told off for being bitter when I say this but it’s easy to look like you are in your 20s when you’re in your 30s... Ageing doesn’t really kick in until your 40s.

Absolutely. I actually prefer to follow older beauty vloggers like HotandFlashy and Beauty By Anne-Marie to understand what's coming.

Love Hot and Flashy!

@PookieDo, Palmers hair products are SLS free and around £4ish a bottle. Noughty products are on offer at the moment for £5 a bottle. OGX and Maui Moisture are a bit more expensive but still affordable. No point spending a fortune on shampoo that’s going straight down the drain.

What made a difference to my hair is using a hair serum- mostly Toni&Guy for me.

Also, bought a hair regrowth shampoo that was really effective (and yes I was shocked), I don't think it helped my hair get any thicker, but it left the hair really light so it looks like there's more of it. I still weight it down with hair serums though as otherwise I get too fluffy. this one paid like half from Boyes though and the conditioner is too weak to do anything for me.

Face wise, what helped was a silver peel mask thingy from TKMAXX as it essentially waxed all my very, very fine hairs on my face, but bloody painful and not at all what I'd bargained for! this fucker

I'd really like to incorporate something like the Korean routines as they sound relaxing, but I can't use products all of the time, I need breaks!

I don't use anything, look my age (50's) spent most of my life outside. I sometimes wish I had and indeed bought a pot of creme de la mer once - made not a jot of difference. I lived in the tropics too which certainly didn't help..do put on a cheap daily Boots botanics moisturiser with spf15 in but suspect it's too late!

I've gone off Hot and Flashy woman since she banged on about training herself to sleep on her back on a high pillow to drain the fluid from her face and "that's ALL I've done apart from a small amount of Botox" FFS 🙄

I was starting to be interested in Hot and Flashy until I read Loaf's post! FFS indeed.

What’s the problem with that?
I wish I could sleep on my back.

She’s honest about what work she has and hasn’t had done. Don’t underestimate the effect of lasers, she’s had Botox and is honest about that. She uses pure retin A for many years.

I think some things work for some people. Makeup does work if you take it literally- red lipstick colours your lips red. Whether the staying power or moisturising or whatever else it claims is true is a different story.

I won’t use a lot of the brands mentioned here because they are not cruelty free, so that immediately cuts down my options., though the cruelty-free/vegan options are definitely growing and there’s some decent websites which give info on what companies are doing. I do like Skyn Iceland moisturisers as they work really well in the climate I live in. Last year I discovered the holy grail of sunscreen that I can actually bear to wear - Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen. It’s pricey but I am actually happy to put it on every day. Most sunscreens are too thick and gloopy for me to bear. I’ve yet to find something that truly works for my hair though.

I was mistaken for being in my late 20s/early 30s until I was 45.
Then whooomph. I've always used sunscreen and looked after my skin, and at 54 I am now mistaken for mid 40s. It's still great, but that gap is closing

The best hair treatments I have found is the macadamia range from allbeauty. The masque is a-ma-zing.

I have heard a dermatologist say that re.skin beauty products, the only "personal" recommendations that are worth listening to are from family members with similar skin to yours. What works for somebody else is not very recant unless their skin type is very similar to yours.

I'm trying to simplify my products. I now use a soap as a cleanser (it is a snail secretion soap but it is a bar that will last months and makes my skin feel great) and once I've finished my no 7 moisturisers I'm going to get a bog standard one
I also use a solid bar shampoo and conditioner. They last for ages and I'm avoiding plastic packaging. I am pleased with the results and am determined not to get sucked into buying brands again.

Bio oil makes scratches from play fighting with my cat almost disappear overnight. Body shop vitamin e under eye cream brightens my dark circles. I think generally basic products work better than none.

The skin is not designed to absorb any of these products.
We are a marketing mans dream with the promise of younger, healthier looking skin/hair etc.
All skincare products do is ‘temporarily ‘ plump out the wrinkles - you stop using & hey presto they are back again so off we trot to rebuy said product & the cycle starts all over again.
I’m not adverse to the sale - I love the smell of new products.
I use rosehip oil every 2 nights.
I wake up most mornings with a shine of oil on my face & convince myself oily skin is keeping the wrinkles away 😂

(it is a snail secretion soap but it is a bar that will last months and makes my skin feel great)

Please God, let this be a typo.

The main reason women need skincare IMVHO is cleanser to wash off makeup/dirt from the day then moisturiser to put back the natural oils you've washed off. As an oily person I start to get blackheads if I don't. I also wear SPF in summer or I get dark brown patches.
What products you use makes very little difference as long as you use something. The state of your skin is much more down to overall health and genetics IMVHO.

It isn’t. There’s a whole range of snail skin products.