Excellent article in Guardian on moisturisers - links to scientific article on what works (not much) and doesnt (most stuff)!

[janmoomoo]

Great article in Guardian today
www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/12/should-i-use-moisturiser

But even better is the article it links to at the end - research papers. Gives a scientific outline of what works and what doesnt. Very interesting.

www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/12/should-i-use-moisturiser

My only issue is with the people who fund these research papers - they all have a hidden adgenda. The author of those papers, for example, has his own skincare patents (using copper peptides) and hairloss patents. Research papers are just as much of a marketing tool as adverts in a magazine and just because one paper shows certain results, they don't necessarily reveal the true story. There is no information on the sample sizes/demographics, nor on the tests used.

I'm no chemist and I'm not going to argue with anything in those publications but I would say that all information of that type should be taken with a pinch of salt. In my experience - if you see results then it's working (and my skin looks frigging awesome thanks to elemis and decleor).

Good point MrsM. Hard to know what to trust.

True, mrsmartin, but there really is no proof (except for creams with SPF) that spending a fortune makes a difference, no matter what of who or where the research is from. I think most dermatologists, including cosmetic dermatologists would agree with the gist of this article.

I think the cosmetic industry is the greatest load of pseudo-scientific twaddle in the history of man. And it makes billions.

I suspect your fabulous skin has more to do with genetics than any topical creams. And good diet, sun cream and no smoking.

I know it's been around for years, but Ben Goldacre's book Bad Science has a great chapter on the cosmetic industry if you haven't read it yet.

In short, their magic ingredients are added to their products in talismanic quantities only, because to add enough to see results would also cause unwanted side effects. He recommends hydrobase at £10 for a half litre.

Consequently all cosmetic advertising is a semantic battle with the regulators, with high prices being 'a self administered, voluntary tax on people who don't understand science properly'.

retinol cream - missmacross - where could I buy that?

MissMac, where do you get all those scary sounding (and thus must work) ingredients from?

Agree MissMacross. Complete nonsense. And I occasionally stil fall foul of the industry's advertising, so powerful is it. My most recent purchase was that ridiculous Nanoblur. My DH HOWLED with laughter when he saw it. At me. For falling for the twaddle.

One of the worst advertising offences I heard was when Estée Lauder sold an anti-ageing night cream. The only active ingredient was.......SPF(sunscreen) and it was for night. When there's no sun (obviously). Completely unethical.

Retinol, prescription only stuff, not the stiff you buy OTC, is the only thing proven to reverse ageing and sun damage.

thanks!

Is Nanoblur no good then lurking? I was just about to invest in some of that.

Nanoblur is only any good for those who don't need any base. It 'lifts' it otherwise. Rubbish product.

I would just like to say that, no - my fab skin is not down to good genes (my mother looks like a proper hag, is extremely jowly and has awful skin, my father very much the same and they have different social origins). It is of course influenced by environmental factors (such as not being thick enough to smoke) but I definately don't lead a particularly healthy lifestyle. I eat crap, never drink enough fluid, don't exercise, sleep no more than 3 hours a night...by rights my skin should be crap and it was for years. I grew up with very oily skin, masses of conjestion, and red angry sores on my face. I also had a couple of light scarrs caused by acne and and an unfortunate childhood. When I left home I didn't earn much money at all so I began doing the whole thrifty skincare thing (ie oil cleansing and rosehip as my cleanser). I did that for six and, whilst my face was clean and quite soft, it did nothing to stop the conjestion and sores. So next I moved on to high st chemist stuff - high alcohol contents that ripped the moisture out of my skin. They left my skin itchy but did get rid of the sores. I then ordered a decleor cleanse tone moisturise set from qvc and pretty much all of my skin problems went away. I tried alpha h for a while but didn't like the chemical smell and so went for tri enzymes from elemis. It has taken a long time to get the routine right but I now cannot wrinkle my eyes into crows feet - even if I really scrunch them up tight - and pretty much all of the light scarring has gone. I have zero blackheads, my pores are no longer blocked with crap and I haven't had a spot for nearly a year.

Obviously alot of the cosmetics industry is hocum - but experts can't agree on anything these days (eg some say red wine will prevent cancer, others say it causes it and both have evidence to support their claims). I say if it works for you then go for it and enjoy it.

Also, if it wasn't for the environment and culture that we have created for ourselves, we wouldn't need to do anything to our skin - not even cleanse it.

also - if you are putting on an spf in the morning that isn't photostable it's a bit frigging pointless - get some ultrasun or be prepared to go without make up because if you put on factor 30 at 7am it isn't giving you factor 30 protection at 10am.

I personally use ultrasun - it's main sunscreen is titanium dioxide and it is full of alcohol and parabens but it is photostable, doesn't contain Avobenzone and it doesn't give me breakouts. It also contains ectoin which is good. The second largest ingredient is phospholipids - I think they act as the carriers for the sun protection to put them in the right place in the skin and bind the formula there - see here on wiki. I find it to be the most convenient sun protection I have ever used and it is a total god-send on holiday (I use the factor 30 body and factor 50 face when away) as it is a single application sun protection (if out all day I still but a second layer on but it isn't like putting bog standard boots solaire on every 45mins).

For everyday use though - I leave the house when it is dark and I usually get home when it is dark (and I don't get to see daylight inbetween!) so I tend to just use my BE make up - which is factor 15 in itself due to the zinc content.

I wear facial moisturiser because I have to, for comfort. So ime if I don't have burning, itchy, flaking skin then it's working, which is most stuff I've tried.

MissMacross, I'm sure I read that iQQU sunscreen can be applied over make-up, however I havn't tried it out for myself yet. I'm allergic to loads of sunscreen though so have to be careful what I use.

good thread, have read with interest

Humph - just spend loads of money on clinique super-defence anti-aging what not - reckon I need all the help I can get.

But surely a large part of it is texture? I like Olay Regenerist because it's lovely, light and velvety, doesn't make my skin greasy and feels comfortable. It makes my skin velvety even for applying makeup to.

Sunscreen is hard to get right. But rem it is the only proven anti-age (preventing) stuff. There aren't many sunscreens that last very many hours. But they are getting better. And a lot now advise to supplement with vitamin D if you're a faithful sunscreen user.

mrsmartin I'm still not convinced it's the magic of decleor that has changed your skin! There are so many variables in the appearance of skin, diet, hormones, age. I'm still envious tho!

Experts do differ, but then they have huge world wide ethical trials to decipher, discuss and debate. And it is incedibly difficult to prove cause and effect, which is why it took so long to prove cigarettes caused cancer, COPD, etc. and why there are differing opinions on stuff. I don't think it's a fair comparison, medical theories with worldwide trials and open discussion, and the magical cosmetic world.
The cosmetic industry makes fabulous sounding fuzzy claims with no proof at all. I don't know of any decent trial on cosmetics.

I'm with muslinsuit, choose for comfort, not for sort-of promised sort-of miracles. And wear sunscreen.