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.

OMG, I googled it and it's not a typo. Blech!

For me it's not so much that products don't usually do what they claim (I never expect them to), it's the reviews some people leave that give me the rage as I always check reviews before buying anything.

I shop a fair bit on QVC (agree with pp who said you send it back if it doesn't work) and I'm fed up with a product being released and 4 days later a load of 5 star reviews appear. Considering it takes at least 3 days to be delivered, those reviews are based on 1 use

And then there's the reviews for the anti wrinkle cream that "reduces your wrinkles by 90% in 3 weeks" and the reviews say "I give it 5 stars because it smelt lovely and my skin feels really soft"

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE BLOODY WRINKLES

The only topical 'cream' that has been proven to work on a molecular level in the skin is retin A. That is, it actually does increase cell turnover and boost collagen in the lower levels of the skin. However, it is an arduous and lengthy process getting used to retin A and you have to start with a weak strength and even buffer it with simple moisturiser, then over months and years gradually move up the strengths until you can use it on your skin. It is quite drying and easy to burn your skin with it, and can cause you to look way worse before you look better!
I'm talking about RETIN A (tretinoin) NOT retinols/retinoids which are a weak form of retin A.
Actual retin A is only available from dermatologists or doctors (usually for acne) and will not be given in the UK for anti-ageing purposes. If you know where to look you can get it online from abroad.
You MUST protect yourself from the sun while using it because it makes your skin susceptible to burning.
Also, factor 50 every day on your face (80% of ageing is from the UVA rays of the sun). Have you ever seen the photo of the truck driver, whose face is split into one half being quite young looking (the half in the shade) and the other half completely wrinkled/old looking (the half that the sun got to, as he was driving, the side next to the window of his cab?). Quite staggering what sun damage can do.

Hyaluronic acid is also decent and you should look for a cream which includes this. It holds onto water in the skin and plumps it up, making wrinkles look less deep. Cerave Am and Cerave PM are good cheapish creams with hyaluronic acid and other good stuff in them.

Vitamin C serum can diminish sun spots and is generally good for the skin, but the gold standard is retin A and sunscreen.

LoobyLou1976 speaks sense.

It’s too dismissive to say nothing works.

Lots of skincare stuff available in the shops really is rubbish. If you spend a bit of time to work out what ingredients are good for your skin, there are lots of products that will work to improve the health and appearance of your skin.

For me I use a basic moisturiser and vitamin c serum, azelaic acid, salicylic acid, glycolic acid and a prescription retinoid (tretinoin), and a good quality SPF50+ sunscreen with full UVA and UVB protection, my skin is looking better than it has in years.

There are better alternatives to most of The Ordinary products at similar prices too, Garden of Wisdom and The Inkey list are good.

@LoobyLou1976 you can get tretinoin for anti aging purposes. I get mine from dermatica! It's fantastic stuff.

I bought a facial oil from herb farmacy, but realised later from the ingredients that it was mainly sunflower oil. It smelled lovely though.

"I agree OP, I can’t believe no one has noticed that men do fuck all ‘skincare’ and their skin is completely fine."

Men have thicker skin than us.

There is also a theory that because men shave their face every day that it is brilliant for exfoliation and thus younger looking skin.

When women go through the menopause the loss in oestrogen has a huge effect our face. Men don’t have this. Their hormones remain more stable.

Looby - I've heard it said that Japanese men shave their entire faces too.

I meant women of course.

Sorry, been busy wrangling the kids up to London for our night out yesterday.

To try and cover some of the points raised...

1. No, this isn’t an Ordinary ad! It seems you can’t say anything positive about any products these days without being accused of being paid for it! I know the internet is full of paid nonsense these days but it seems sad that you can’t ever recommend anything.

And I did say that one of the products literally burnt my skin off (see my post in Style & Beauty about how to heal it as quickly as possible) so I’m not sure it’s a great advert, I just said it does what it says it will do (which is peel your skin!) unlike many other peels I’ve tried. I will say that their silicone primer and plant-derived squalane are amongst the other things I bought that do bugger all for me. Does that help?

2. As I said in my OP, I haven’t bought or really used much skin care or make up for years. On a good day it would be a quick cleanse, a bit of tinted moisturiser, blushes and mascara, but most days it was just washing my face and wearing nothing. Prior to kids / being in my 20s I could do that and still look okay. I’ve been feeling pretty low about myself recently, life has been very tough going, and I wanted to try and make myself feel better ahead of this very special occasion last night, hence my spending spree. Some of the products were shit, some were great, most were somewhere in the middle. I will say that my skin, make up and hair looked a lot better last night than they have in years, but that’s because I’ve been making so much more of an effort! I also wore lots of make up last night - I’m usually a less is more person but I noticed while watching videos just how much more make up these people are wearing than I’ve ever put on in my life. It did help!

3. Of course there are some skin problems that can’t be changed by skin products - i have hormonal skin issues that come and go with my cycle and no product is going to fix that. I do have some that need topical treatment rather than just lifestyle changes - I have stopped smoking and I don’t have wrinkles particularly, just a few deep lines around my eyes when I smile. However, I do have congested / thickened skin across my cheeks and very visible enlarged pores all over my face. Obviously you can’t shrink pores but making sure they’re cleaned really thoroughly and using acids to help with the thickened skin on my cheeks has made a big difference to how my face looks. I must say though, that Estée Lauder powerfoil mask has made the biggest difference (typical, it’s the most expensive).

No, I’m not being paid by Estée Lauder (EL, if you’re reading this I will gladly accept payment in the form of a lifetime supply of masks ).

I always read reviews too but it is hard to know whether they’re honest or not. A month or two ago when I was starting to look at improving my skin a bit, I bought some pore cleaning strips after seeing it on Facebook and seeing so many real people praising it, with photos and videos. It did absolutely nothing at all. Were they lying or do I just have different skin? Who knows.

4. I’m interested that some of you do complain to the companies - I have never bothered and assumed they don’t care. I might start firing off emails to some of these to make myself feel better about my wasted cash 😂

5. After last night I can add to my “does what they say” list:
   Benefit Porefessional primer (only had a tiny sample tube, will be buying a big one, it worked so well)

Urban Decay All nighter Foundation and pressed powder - really expensive but really worked once it was on and did stay on all night!

Maybelline made for everyone lipstick which is meant to suit lots of skin tones - I wore lipstick out last night for the first time ever, and it was red! None ever suit me. It also suited my sister who has completely different colouring. Only problem is that it doesn’t stay on very well even pencil, layers, powder etc. I bought a few shades and they’re all lovely.

Sadly I really wanted to like the Benefit they’re real eyeshadow duo thingies I got as a gift but I couldn’t get the applicator to work at all. The colours are nice enough but you could buy them cheaply from another range!

6. I would be grateful if anyone can recommend a cheap shampoo and conditioner which will allow me to get a comb through my birds nest hair. My ends are having bleached and genuinely a comb gets stuck in it after washing.

To this PP, I have hair that’s very straw like when first dried, and then gets very greasy within a day.

The best thing I’ve found so far is this mask (saw a vlogger who’s known for her honest reviews do a video about it and she was absolutely right!)
www.givemecosmetics.com/products/argan-oil-coconut-oil-hair-mask

And a professional tangle teaser that can be used on wet hair
www.asos.com/prd/9675177?acquisitionsource=pasteboard

Shampoo and condition and then stick this on - it says leave on for 15 mins I think, but I’ve left it on for hours in the past - then brush through with the TT, starting at the ends then moving up in sections in case you have any big knots. Don’t vigorously towel dry, just squeeze and then wrap in a towel.

I’ve tried much more expensive hair treatments recently but this mask is the best I’ve tried for me personally - obviously we are all different. Hair masks were the first thing I tried in my current “sort myself out and stop looking like a street urchin” phase 😂

Of course I’m not surprised that the financial industry has tighter regulation - I was just talking about my experience of working in an industry with strict compliance. There may not be a beauty ombudsman (probably for the best!) but advertising standards are supposed to apply to every industry and there clearly are some set for beauty, which is why they have to state that their sample size was 11 women, or that they’ve used false eyelashes in the after photo for a mascara. I just think the standards applied are ridiculous, and I can’t think of any other industry that gets away with making such claims when there’s nothing to back them up. I agree with the PP who said it’s because it mainly affects women so no one cares - this has been my experience of pretty much everything that mostly / exclusively affects women.

Poppins2016 Thanks for the tip! Annoyingly I weighed up that and a few other products and bought the Small Talk instead, but will get a small bottle next time I order stuff.

I had a sort of scrub thing from Virgin with blurb on the box that said it would make me “twice as beautiful” Always made me laugh!

RacheyCat have you looked on Baopals? I saw some stuff from The Ordinary the other day!

The only thing I have found to work for dark circles (other than a good concealer) is The Ordinary Alpha Arbutin 2% +HA. I don’t know why it works as it isn’t designed for them, but I have just finished my second bottle.

I dunno, I just think different people get on with different products.

The Ordinary stuff is horrible on me. Money down the drain.

I used a cheap and cheerful Garnier face mask the other day Ultralift Anti Ageing Radiance Boosting Face Sheet Mask 32g This one and my skin was AMAZING the next morning.

I also swear by the Prai decolletage and neck cream. I cannot fathom how it works better than any other cream, but I just cannot deny the visible improvements.

My hair is utterly different if I use John Frieda products or not.

I really like getting the Beauty Calendars etc as that enables me to try out different products and see if they are any good on me before splurging.

@Lollylarkin, I use Taobao, and there is The Ordinary stuff on there, but I try not to get sucked in to importing stuff too much. We've lived here eight years and I try really hard to make do with what's freely available. It was a big day for me when I started buying my underwear in China rather thank bringing it back from M&S!

I'm a sucker for skin care but I need to learn not to be. I use spf and started Botox in February. I think that's all I'll do from now on.

I do have retinol as well as many other acid type things but I never get any miracle results.

I’ve found the cheap products don’t work but the expensive ones do. I spend about £50 on my shampoo and conditioner (not each) and then face creams £45 toners, cleansers ect ect and they do work but you have to spend the money.

I shudder to think of the money I’ve squandered on useless products and treatments in my life.

I no longer listen to sales pitches and keep it very simple now - just a few tried and tested things that I know work for me. Some are expensive, some very cheap.

I also think that no product on earth works better than good nutrition, hydration and sleep. Plus sunblock, all day every day!

I’m 51, the one thing you can’t disguise at this age is your neck.

I’ve come from a meeting with 10 woman aged from about 45-55. Some have had Botox, some not. All (including myself) have saggy necks to some degree

Has anyone used Sisley make up? Was at the airport last week browsing the duty free and stumbled upon their range. I'm a total sucker for any long lasting foundation and liked the look of theirs but it was over £80!!

I've recently switched to Absolute Formula (from m&s) for my moisturiser. Only moisturiser I've noticed a real difference. The sleep cream is lovely and thick and I think my skin looks better for it!