How to recognize cosmetic creams that promise impossible things

The cosmetics industry is one of the most wasteful industries (of money and health): impossible results are promised that can never be achieved, and there is deception about the characteristics of ingredients, a behavior that closely resembles commercial fraud.

There are then two premises to make. The skin, thanks to safe and quality cosmetic products, can improve in hydration and appearance, but it cannot be radically “transformed” in a few daysFurthermore, anyone who promises a lifting effect is lying, knowing they're lying, and is trying to muddy the waters by mixing cosmetics and aesthetic medicine, two profoundly different things.

Recognize the creme cosmetics that promise impossible results is above all a question of reading them with a critical eye marketing claims and advertising and do some checks by carefully reading the label.

Index of topics

The "miraculous" promises you shouldn't listen to

The first step is to be wary of phrases like:

“Eliminate wrinkles in 7 days”
“Lifting effect like Botox”
“You look 10 years younger”
“Locally melted fat (creme slimming)”

They're all promises false, which generate expectations that are impossible to realize, and have no scientific basis.

Decisive ingredients

There are some ingredients that are essential to ensuring good results from a cosmetic cream. Among these are certainly retinol and peptides. But it all depends on the quantity. If they don't appear among the first five or seven ingredients, their presence is purely symbolic, serving as a decoy. In particular, if you find them after the fragrance or preservatives, you're applying an infinitesimal amount, with no significant impact on your skin. For peptides, in particular, look on the label (checking where they are) for names like Palmitoyl and pentapeptide-4.

Hyaluronic acid

It's one of the most widely used molecules because it costs very little (just a few euros per kilo). And here's the trick: the packaging and marketing hyaluronic acid extol its benefits. But there are two drawbacks: if hyaluronic acid isn't fragmented into different molecular weights, it will remain on the surface like water droplets on the skin, and therefore have no effect. On the other hand, with this ingredient, manufacturers generally produce creme cosmetics can recharge them by 2.000 percent.

The stem cell bluff

This is one of the most profitable false miracles. It promises plant stem cells with the ability to "regenerate the skin." False. To perform a regenerative function, the cells must be alive and in a biologically active environment. A cream is an emulsion of water, fats, and preservatives, and is therefore an environment in which no cells can survive.

High price is no guarantee of quality

A high price doesn't guarantee effectiveness. You often pay:

Branding
the packaging
aggressive marketing

Not necessarily better ingredients.

Too low a price means an inert product

If, on the other hand, the price is too low, the product is exposed to oxidative stress every time we open it. In practice, after just 15 days, the cream we apply is chemically inert, and we've simply wasted our money.