Await…
We present a lot of information in this book, but the following list gives you an overview of some of the more salient, universal points we want you to keep in mind as you peruse these pages. In The Best Skin of Your Life Starts Here, you’ll find discussions and explanations of the following facts:
Why you should avoid jar packaging
Why many natural ingredients are bad for skin (really, really bad)
Why spending more money on skincare isn’t necessarily better
How irritating ingredients damage skin
Why your skin doesn’t always let you know when it’s being irritated or damaged
Why and how some anti-acne products can actually cause more breakouts
Why some eye creams are a problem for the eye area
How fragrance (whether natural or synthetic) damages skin
Why some “essential” oils are unessential and, in fact, seriously problematic for skin
Why antiwrinkle creams can’t work like Botox, dermal fillers, lasers, or light treatments
Why sunscreen is the most important part of a daily skincare routine
Why terms like “hypoallergenic,” “non-comedogenic,” “patented ingredients,” “dermatologist-approved,” and “cosmeceutical” are meaningless, and, in fact, are seen on some of the worst products you’ll ever use
Why there are no miracle skincare ingredients (just lots of great ones)
Why your skin doesn’t “adapt to” the skincare products you are using
How you might be causing a skin type or concern you don’t want
Which cosmetic ingredients you must avoid and what to use instead (and not based on the typical synthetic-versus-natural argument)
Why the best approach to makeup is to learn techniques that really make sense and really work, not just buying more products
And much, much more
What Are the Best Ingredients?
My team and I are continually asked which ingredients in skincare products are the best. If there’s a new ingredient being touted, we’re asked if it’s now “the answer” to their specific skincare woes, especially when it comes to wrinkles.
Aside from the fact that there are literally thousands of different ingredients that can be included in a skincare product, there’s no all-inclusive way to sum up which are the best. Actually, to even suggest there’s any one ingredient that will solve your skincare woes is just plain silly. Everyone is looking for a magic bullet from that one does-it-all product, but such a product just doesn’t exist in the world of skincare.
We wish skincare were as easy as finding the consummate skincare ingredient that can do it all, but it’s not … not even close. Skin, the largest organ of the body, has a vast range of substances and is the site of multiple hormonal and molecular interactions that keep it young, radiant, smooth, healthy, breakout-free, and even-toned. As you might suspect, countless things can go wrong when these systems become damaged or start slowing down.
When skin’s natural restoring system of antioxidants and skin-repairing ingredients are abundant and working correctly, your skin has a far better chance of healing and staying younger, longer. But when sun damage, age, hormonal changes, environmental damage, and other factors cause those substances to break down and those systems to slow down or change, you must provide your skin with what it needs to repair itself and prevent further problems. That repair can never be solved with any one ingredient or any one product.
Just like your body requires you to eat a complex assortment of beneficial foods to keep you healthy, your skin requires a similarly complex array of ingredients. In addition, different skin types require different products to meet different needs, such as oily, dry, or combination skin, skin that is affected by rosacea, sun damage, brown spots, red marks, acne, wrinkles, and so on. One ingredient may help some of these concerns, but certainly not all of them.
The good news is that there are hundreds of great good-for-your-skin ingredients. On the other hand, there also are dozens of ingredients (both synthetic and natural) that are a serious problem for skin. Whenever you read that some vitamin, plant oil or plant extract is the “best” ingredient for skin, ignore it. Think about it like this, green tea may be healthy for you to drink, but if you drink only green tea you soon will become unhealthy and even risk your life. Think of your skin the same way; it needs a range of substances naturally found in skin to keep “feeding it” day in and day out to be as healthy as possible. Unfortunately, that makes skincare complicated, but we have information and answers for you to help simplify it to the extent possible.
What About Natural Ingredients?
Natural or naturally derived and organic ingredients are a polarizing topic. Some people enjoy the idea of using only skincare products that contain natural or organic ingredients, but there’s no benefit to using natural ingredients if those ingredients are going to damage your skin. (Natural does not always mean better—after all, cyanide, lead and snake venom are all perfectly natural substances!) The question we always ask when evaluating any ingredient is: what potential benefit does it have for skin versus its potential to do harm? If it has the potential to irritate or damage skin, how strong is that potential, and is there an alternative ingredient that provides the same benefit without such concerns?
You will be shocked to learn how many natural ingredients can be a problem for skin, and actually damage it. Not all natural skincare ingredients are beneficial. Many companies touting their natural ingredients are not telling the truth when they suggest that synthetic ingredients are inherently bad for skin because, in fact, many are actually brilliant for skin.
In short, there are good and bad natural or naturally-derived ingredients and good and bad synthetic ingredients. That’s why we continually pore through the research literature, to help you find the products that contain more of what’s proven to help skin and avoid those loaded with irritating, harmful ingredients or over-glorified ingredients that can’t perform as you’ve been told.
To make it easier for you to understand what you’ll see on ingredient lists, we include in this book a portion of our Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary, which you’ll find in Chapter 16. It highlights some of the more typical (and controversial) ingredients you’ll find in skincare products. This resource explains what an ingredient is and does based on published research, not on hype or fanciful storytelling.
Don’t Try This on Yourself
We’re often asked why someone shouldn’t just try a product to see if they like it or just rely on someone else’s experience with a product to determine if it would work for their needs. We can’t think of a bigger mistake for your skin than to rely solely on personal assessment, whether yours or someone else’s, to determine the benefit and/or quality of a product. Even here at Paula’s Choice Skincare we don’t personally test all our own formulas to determine efficacy. It’s not that you shouldn’t use a product you like, but you should make your selection only from the best-formulated products, those that are right for your skin type and that have the best ingredients research has shown to provide incredible results. How a product feels on your skin alone doesn’t
