Skin Care Products – What really works?
Every morning and every evening
The Three Tomatoes face the daunting challenge of trying to decide what skin care products to put
on our faces. Our bathroom cabinets and dressing tables are crammed with creams,
lotions, and assorted other skin and facial care products that include day creams,
night creams, eye creams, Monday only and Wednesday only creams, and stuff with
the labels worn off with expiration dates from the disco era. In utter desperation,
we usually end up slatthering on several lotions and creams. The “less is more”
theory does not apply. Sound familiar?
Well really, it’s not our fault. Everywhere we turn some new product is being
promoted that promises to restore and radiate our skin, eliminate wrinkles overnight
(while also improving our sex life), and containing “breakthrough” ingredients
that read like your daily multi-vitamin, a fruit smoothie, and scientific sounding
stuff like “peptides” and “bioflavens”.
In an effort to educate ourselves a bit more,
The Three Tomatoes will share some of the information and products we’ve found useful and you may
too. But first, the disclaimers. This is not a research paper or thesis on the
topic. And we’re not going to explain what peptides are because we don’t know
and don’t care. The info here is based on a few articles and conversations by
and with plastic surgeons and dermatologists. So feel free to take this with
a grain of salt, or a shot of vodka whichever you prefer.
Here’s the skinny as we know it.
Sunblock: All the experts agree that over the counter sun block (recommended SPF 36)
works and you should use it daily year round.
Moisturizers: They make the skin temporarily look better. But guess what? Any moisturizer will do the job (including Vaseline,
although that can clog pores.) Forget the stuff with special ingredients like
Collagen. According to Dr. Gerald Imber, a noted NYC plastic surgeon, collagen
in a cream does not get into your skin. Any over the counter moisturizer, applied
to moist skin, twice a day will do the job.
Anti-Wrinkle Creams: The experts agree that creams containing Vitamin A based derivatives found in
Retin-A and Renova (prescription-controlled), or Retinol, a less potent form found
in over the counter creams, do indeed help smooth out wrinkles and surface irregularities
by stimulating collagen renewal. And the good news about the over the counter
Retinol products is that they are milder than the prescriptions (which can irritate
sensitive skin) and can be used daily.
Exfoliating Products: Over the counter products containing AHA (from 2 to 10% solutions) help exfoliate
the top layer of skin, which can help improve superficial wrinkles and sun-damaged
skin. Lots of over the counter products contain AHA , but it is recommended
to stick to the purest products and use it as an exfoliant. Also new to the over
the counter market are the at home AHA (glycolic) peels. But be careful -- if
you’re using an at home microdermabrasion kit (like Neutrogena’s which we heaped
praises on in a previous
The Three Tomatoes, and still love), it’s suggested that you use either/or no more than once a
week. For a true AHA therapeutic peel, see your dermatologist. We received
emails from several tomatoes that rave about the benefits of a glycolic peel three
to four times a year.
Antioxidant Creams: These supposedly help fight things called “free radicals” which we don’t fully
understand either, but accept that they are bad (even though we associate the
word free, like “free range chicken”, as something that should be good.) Vitamin
E, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin C are all antioxidants that have been shown
to reverse sun damage. While you can and should consumer these internally (through
food or vitamins) there is some evidence that using them topically via creams
can help too. If you’re buying a Vitamin C cream look for a pH between 3.5 and
4.2 and a concentration of at lest 10 % vitamin C.
So there you have it. Maybe less is more.
Copyright©2005. The Three Tomatoes. All rights reserved.
