The hardest thing I face in skin care is really the same thing everyone else does – the sea of products, product claims, and pricing. Luckily as an “expert” it’s my job to immerse myself in product knowledge. This means that in a normal month I spend about 12 hours researching new products, learning about cosmetic chemistry, dissecting new ingredients, and testing new product lines. To some this may sound very exciting. All those creams, lotions, and potions. But anyone who has seen my skin after a bad “testing” can understand why I as a professional frown upon anyone testing a new product on themselves without my go ahead. It isn’t that I’m a control freak…well maybe a little…but mostly it’s due to the fact that unless you understand product ingredients, cosmetic chemistry, and labeling, then you are playing Russian roulette with your skin and wallet!

So let’s get down to it. What the heck makes the $10 cream found your local drugstore different from the $50 cream found at a department store, different from the $50 cream found at a dermatologist or esthetic office? Heck what makes the $50 cream I sell different than the $200 cream another person sells? Well a lot. An awful lot. And an awful lot that is hard to describe, but I’m going to try anyway. By the end of this series of articles we will have covered all the pieces that makes product quality different/better/worse:

• Type of Ingredients
• Active Ingredients/Amount of Active Ingredients
• Ingredient Processing
• Delivery Systems
• Studies/Research
• Packaging/Advertising

But before we get to all that we need to understand the anatomy of a product. To understand the quality of a product you must be able to read a label, and to do that you need to understand the major categories of what makes up a product. This list is compiled thanks to www.smartskin.com.

Antioxidants: Antioxidants are substances that neutralize free radicals. Damage by free radicals is one of the key mechanisms of the aging process. Also, free radicals mediate many forms of inflammation. Antioxidants reduce the skin’s exposure to free radicals. Not all antioxidants are created equal, they vary by the range of activity, solubility in oil and water, and other properties.

Active Ingredients: An optimal skin care product should contain one or more active ingredients in an effective concentration. These are the ingredients that actually do something to the skin. For example Retinal or Vitamin C would be an active ingredient.

Binding Agents: Substances that hold products together and prevents separation of the water and lipid components. The most important binding agents in skin care are emulsifiers.

Emulsifiers: Emulsion is a smooth blend of oil and water. Since most skin care product formulas include both water and oil soluble ingredients, emulsions are very popular in skin care. Most creams and lotions are emulsions. However, emulsions are unstable and quickly separate. Emulsifiers are substances that stabilize emulsions and prevent products from separating.

Delivery Enhancers/Systems: Ingredients that enhance delivery of other ingredients into the skin and/or insider skin cells. This is easily the most important category when it comes to separating the good and the bad products since the delivery system dictates how much product is actually used by the skin.

Emollients: Substances that smooth and soften the skin. There exist a wide variety of emollients, each providing its own individual texture to the skin. This is usually the ingredient that creates “slip” or “feel” which in product lingo mean how the product feels to the user. Often companies spend more money on making a product feel good than making it work since feel sells to the ignorant.

Humectants: Substances that can attract water, usually out of the air. By definition, all are also moisturizers. In fact, any good moisturizer has to contain potent humectants. Serums are comprised of humectants.

Lubricants: Substances that make skin feel smoother to the touch and reduce friction; more common in hand creams. Once again we have slip and feel.

Preservatives: Substances that kill detrimental bacteria, yeast and/or molds, thus prevent spoilage. While some preservatives may occasionally be irritating to the skin, the use of products spoiled by microorganisms may be equally or more damaging. Sometimes antioxidants and stabilizers are also referred to as preservatives because they inhibit chemical degradation of products.

Solvents: Substances, such as alcohol or water, which dissolve other ingredients.

Surfactants: wetting agents, substances capable of reducing the surface tension of a liquid in which it is dissolved. In skin care, surfactants enable a topical product to easily spread and glide across the skin.

Vehicle: The base that carries the active ingredients.

Fragrance/Color: the other stuff that goes into a product to make it more appealing for sale.

Next we will use this knowledge to learn how to read a label.