Is anti-aeging skin care a lie?

[KissKiss29]

I'm 29 and I have never cared about my skin... up until now. I have a few dark circles and I don't know what to do about them!

I've thought about starting some kind of skin care but I am hopeless. I'm not the type of person to think long-term so I think I need some convincing.

I want to know if anti-age products worked for you? I know you will never truly know, but just going off of a feeling, what do you think? :/

My mum has amazing skin and has never really used any products. I normally have great skin, but postpartum it's gotten a bit wrecked with the hormone changes and tiredness.

I can't imagine that any product can improve on a basic 'cleanse, moisturise and keep out of the sun as much as you can' regime, otherwise there would be no weathered, wrinkly, wealthy older women.

I've tried a range of brands (Clinique, Elemis and dermatological) but the best is boots no7 newest range called future renew. I'm 41 and my skin has never looked better. I use the serum, vitamin c oil and the day and night cream. I use cerave hydrating cleanser and then medik8 retinol twice per week (as recommended by my therapist).

That's a bit simplistic - decades ago when those older women were young the only thing available was probably Olay cream or similar. We weren't aware of things like sun damage, and how smoking affected your skin, plus people's diets weren't as healthy. All those things can have an affect.

OP, no cream is going to stop you ageing, but there are things you can do to maintain good skin for longer - namely a good SPF - sun damage is one of the biggest causes of accelerated ageing of the skin.

Also if you want to go down the road of decent skincare then tretinoin is the ingredient with the most research behind it.

Yes simplistic - the OP asked about anti-ageing skin care products not about smoking, diet etc.

@Scruffington
Thanks for that. Do you have any links to good quality evidence on skin thickness and/or long term safety of retinoids? Genuine question, I am curious about this topic.

Is it really ok to keep stimulating cell turnover long term? And does that mean that you don't in fact need to wear high SPF all the time after using retinoids (as seems to be repeated in literally everything I hear about them)?

My skin appears to be the same no matter what skincare products I use. I have normal/combination skin that is even tempered, and have been told I have good skin, but I think that is mostly down to luck, using moisturiser since the age of 15, never having smoked and never wearing make up to bed. I drink alcohol (moderately) and tea (lots) and coffee.

I have only recently started wearing factor 50 though.

A lot of it is a lie or at least over hyped. I used to love all the fancy brands but now I use SPF 50, Tretinoin, Vitamin C, glycolic toner and Cerave Cleanser, Eye cream and Moisturiser. I do try the odd serum here and there but the above are my core products and I think they do work.

I have dark circles too, in my case they are cause my anaemia and go away pretty much with iron supplements, being well hydrated also really plumps up the skin there. Dark circles can be caused by lots of things like pigmentation, volume loss, fat pad herniation, iron deficiency, exhaustion and each one requires different treatment so it's key to find out exactly what the issue is.

The one best thing to do is SPF 50 every single day from now to forever.

Vitamin C with ferulic acid serum every day morning and night.

Only wash your face at night.
Splash with water in the morning.

That's it. Everything else is extra, that's the bare bones of it.

Ahh thanks everyone. Does anyone know of a light SPF moisturiser I can use? I don't use anything at the moment.

Garnier hydra 24hr protect spf 50.
Soaks in nicely and foundation on top is fine.

4 drops of olive oil underneath.
And 4 drops of vitamin c serum on first.

yes, anti-aging skincare is a lie. Tret is the only thing that works. It's marketing bollocks.

So called anti ageing products and treatments have been around for a while now. Pretty much all of us would like to stay looking young, and many of us literally buy into the hype. If they truly worked, everyone who uses them would have skin like a baby's. You can't do anything about genetics (well not yet, anyway) but a good diet and hydration will certainly help, and not just your skin.
Having said that, many of us do indeed feel that our skin looks better when we use certain products. So use whatever you think works for you, but don't go thinking you can truly turn back the tide on ageing.