Do we spend our time worrying too much about what we see when we look in the mirror? Even though we are tending to live longer lives, it's still apparent that the effects of aging are still as much of a concern as they have always been.
Mark Twain once said that 'wrinkles are merely indicators of past smiles', but in today's world that is of little comfort to most.
In North America alone, the anti aging face cream and cosmetics industry has grown to become worth billions of dollars.
This industry is set to grow further in the coming years as 'baby boomers' continue their battle against aging.
Anti aging product manufacturers are well known for making ambitious claims: They promise to make your face look years younger, and claim their creams will make your skin firmer, get rid of age spots and make your skin glow.
These miraculous promises don't come without a price-tag, which sometimes can be very big indeed.
So, is the jar of anti-aging face ream you're thinking of buying really worth the money? or is it just a bunch of empty promises presented in elaborate packaging and endorsed by glamorous celebrities? We get wrinkles as we grow older, due to the fact that as we age we produce less collagen.
Collagen is the protein that boosts the firmness of our skin.
Without it, our skin looks less youthful.
Prolonged exposure to the sun, coupled with smoking, can speed up the loss of collagen significantly.
For this reason, its recommended to keep your skin protected from the suns rays, and try to avoid smoking altogether.
If however you're like most if us, and not perfect, how do you go about reversing the damage already done to your skin? To begin, lets take a look at some of the most common ingredients used in anti aging face creams.
Then we can understand exactly what we're smearing all over our skin every day.
Green Tea & Vitamin E Green Tea & Vitamin E, are two excellent examples of antioxidants.
These antioxidants help prevent the damage caused by the elements, thereby sustaining the collagen levels and stopping new wrinkles from forming.
Hyaluronic Acid This ingredient absorbs moisture efficiently, which causes the tissue underneath the offending wrinkles to plump up, making the wrinkles less noticeable.
Hydroxy Acids These ingredients are excellent for exfoliating.
They remove the dead skin cells so the newer skin can shine through.
Peptides: These ingredients have started to be used by the anti aging cosmetics industry because of their impressive healing properties.
They do this by boosting the production of collagen.
Peptides have many different aliases, but they are most commonly known as pentapeptides and copper peptides.
Look for these names on the labels of your anti aging face cream.
Retinol Retinol is another formulation of Retin-A.
Unlike Retin-A, Retinol is freely available over the counter.
Retin-A is available on prescription in various strengths.
It contains 'retinoids' that work by stopping the formation of compounds that would otherwise reduce the production of collagen.
With regular use, these retinoids can actually trigger the production of new collagen.
It has to mentioned however, that these vitamin A base compounds should be avoided if you are pregnant.
Out of all these anti aging ingredients, Retinol is perhaps the most significant in the fight against the years.
It is frequently recommended by dermatologists to actually reverse the signs of aging in the skin.
Retinol is therefore one of the only non-prescription anti aging ingredients that has actually been backed up by scientific research.
People using Retinol have reported substantial reductions in the number of wrinkles and skin blemishes caused by aging.
[source: Wadkya] In 2008 a study was carried out by researchers at Michigan University.
It discovered that the topical application of Retinol was one of three effective treatments for skin aging.
The other two proven treatments were hyaluronic injections, and CO2 laser therapy.
[source: Singer] Hyaluronic acid injection treatment is not to be confused with hyaluronic acid cream.
Although hyaluronic cream is highly beneficial, the most effective way to use this ingredient is by injecting it underneath the first layers of skin.
This method of injections under the skin, is also the most effective way of applying other anti aging formulas.
How effective is Botox? Its still the case unfortunately, that however much people may wish to avoid professional treatment, it still remains the most effective way of fighting the anti aging process.
However, this definitley does not mean that anti aging face products are not effective.
They certainly are.
The best alternative to professional treatment is to find a cream that contains the ingredient Argireline.
This is another peptide that works in a similar way to botox.
Botox works by breaking down the links between the muscles and nerves.
This results in a relaxation and kind of paralysis of the muscle tissue.
This 'paralysis' causes the tissue to relax entirely and wrinkles can disappear as a result.
The ingredient Argireline works quite like this too, but is less severe.
It merely blocks the connections between the nerves and the muscles, instead of totally breaking them as with botox.
This means that the results of Argireline are less dramatic than Botox.
You may assume that all you need to do therefore, is to hunt down an anti-aging face cream that is chocked full of retinol, with a few extra bonus ingredients thrown in.
This however is not the best approach.
Whilst anti aging cream packaging may emphasise the presence of these ingredients, its usually hard to tell what quantities these products contain.
Its all in the mix - the quantities of these ingredients in proportion to one another can make a significant difference in the effectiveness of the product.
Its not just a case of topping up the amount of retinol, as this could cause adverse side effects, such as skin rashes or an increased vulnerability to the suns rays.
A large number of people are guilty of smearing large amounts of new cream onto their skin, and then finding out that it causes irritation.
This causes them to write this cream off entirely.
How Quickly Do These Products Work? To really begin to see the results of these products, its best give them at least 6 to eight weeks for them to take effect.
If the label makes promises of making you look younger in less than 8 weeks, take it with a pinch of salt.
Also, some disreputable brands of anti aging face cream may try to conceal their ineffectiveness with complex scientific jargon.
Look for packaging that is straight up, concise and above all, easy to understand.
Read between the lines of these complicated product labels, and often you will find that even the most expensive of creams are nothing more than a glorified exfoliating moisturizer.
These manufacturers think that by baffling the consumer with techno-babble, they can convince them that they are buying some kind of 'medicine'.
Its worth noting though that if these creams and lotions were actually medicines, and changed the actual structure of your skin, then they would have to be officially classified as a drug, which they are not.
To obtain drug classification entails many years of expensive approval tests by the FDA.
Mark Twain once said that 'wrinkles are merely indicators of past smiles', but in today's world that is of little comfort to most.
In North America alone, the anti aging face cream and cosmetics industry has grown to become worth billions of dollars.
This industry is set to grow further in the coming years as 'baby boomers' continue their battle against aging.
Anti aging product manufacturers are well known for making ambitious claims: They promise to make your face look years younger, and claim their creams will make your skin firmer, get rid of age spots and make your skin glow.
These miraculous promises don't come without a price-tag, which sometimes can be very big indeed.
So, is the jar of anti-aging face ream you're thinking of buying really worth the money? or is it just a bunch of empty promises presented in elaborate packaging and endorsed by glamorous celebrities? We get wrinkles as we grow older, due to the fact that as we age we produce less collagen.
Collagen is the protein that boosts the firmness of our skin.
Without it, our skin looks less youthful.
Prolonged exposure to the sun, coupled with smoking, can speed up the loss of collagen significantly.
For this reason, its recommended to keep your skin protected from the suns rays, and try to avoid smoking altogether.
If however you're like most if us, and not perfect, how do you go about reversing the damage already done to your skin? To begin, lets take a look at some of the most common ingredients used in anti aging face creams.
Then we can understand exactly what we're smearing all over our skin every day.
Green Tea & Vitamin E Green Tea & Vitamin E, are two excellent examples of antioxidants.
These antioxidants help prevent the damage caused by the elements, thereby sustaining the collagen levels and stopping new wrinkles from forming.
Hyaluronic Acid This ingredient absorbs moisture efficiently, which causes the tissue underneath the offending wrinkles to plump up, making the wrinkles less noticeable.
Hydroxy Acids These ingredients are excellent for exfoliating.
They remove the dead skin cells so the newer skin can shine through.
Peptides: These ingredients have started to be used by the anti aging cosmetics industry because of their impressive healing properties.
They do this by boosting the production of collagen.
Peptides have many different aliases, but they are most commonly known as pentapeptides and copper peptides.
Look for these names on the labels of your anti aging face cream.
Retinol Retinol is another formulation of Retin-A.
Unlike Retin-A, Retinol is freely available over the counter.
Retin-A is available on prescription in various strengths.
It contains 'retinoids' that work by stopping the formation of compounds that would otherwise reduce the production of collagen.
With regular use, these retinoids can actually trigger the production of new collagen.
It has to mentioned however, that these vitamin A base compounds should be avoided if you are pregnant.
Out of all these anti aging ingredients, Retinol is perhaps the most significant in the fight against the years.
It is frequently recommended by dermatologists to actually reverse the signs of aging in the skin.
Retinol is therefore one of the only non-prescription anti aging ingredients that has actually been backed up by scientific research.
People using Retinol have reported substantial reductions in the number of wrinkles and skin blemishes caused by aging.
[source: Wadkya] In 2008 a study was carried out by researchers at Michigan University.
It discovered that the topical application of Retinol was one of three effective treatments for skin aging.
The other two proven treatments were hyaluronic injections, and CO2 laser therapy.
[source: Singer] Hyaluronic acid injection treatment is not to be confused with hyaluronic acid cream.
Although hyaluronic cream is highly beneficial, the most effective way to use this ingredient is by injecting it underneath the first layers of skin.
This method of injections under the skin, is also the most effective way of applying other anti aging formulas.
How effective is Botox? Its still the case unfortunately, that however much people may wish to avoid professional treatment, it still remains the most effective way of fighting the anti aging process.
However, this definitley does not mean that anti aging face products are not effective.
They certainly are.
The best alternative to professional treatment is to find a cream that contains the ingredient Argireline.
This is another peptide that works in a similar way to botox.
Botox works by breaking down the links between the muscles and nerves.
This results in a relaxation and kind of paralysis of the muscle tissue.
This 'paralysis' causes the tissue to relax entirely and wrinkles can disappear as a result.
The ingredient Argireline works quite like this too, but is less severe.
It merely blocks the connections between the nerves and the muscles, instead of totally breaking them as with botox.
This means that the results of Argireline are less dramatic than Botox.
You may assume that all you need to do therefore, is to hunt down an anti-aging face cream that is chocked full of retinol, with a few extra bonus ingredients thrown in.
This however is not the best approach.
Whilst anti aging cream packaging may emphasise the presence of these ingredients, its usually hard to tell what quantities these products contain.
Its all in the mix - the quantities of these ingredients in proportion to one another can make a significant difference in the effectiveness of the product.
Its not just a case of topping up the amount of retinol, as this could cause adverse side effects, such as skin rashes or an increased vulnerability to the suns rays.
A large number of people are guilty of smearing large amounts of new cream onto their skin, and then finding out that it causes irritation.
This causes them to write this cream off entirely.
How Quickly Do These Products Work? To really begin to see the results of these products, its best give them at least 6 to eight weeks for them to take effect.
If the label makes promises of making you look younger in less than 8 weeks, take it with a pinch of salt.
Also, some disreputable brands of anti aging face cream may try to conceal their ineffectiveness with complex scientific jargon.
Look for packaging that is straight up, concise and above all, easy to understand.
Read between the lines of these complicated product labels, and often you will find that even the most expensive of creams are nothing more than a glorified exfoliating moisturizer.
These manufacturers think that by baffling the consumer with techno-babble, they can convince them that they are buying some kind of 'medicine'.
Its worth noting though that if these creams and lotions were actually medicines, and changed the actual structure of your skin, then they would have to be officially classified as a drug, which they are not.
To obtain drug classification entails many years of expensive approval tests by the FDA.