How To Choose the Right Skin Care Brand For You
What are some things a person should consider when choosing an expensive skin care brand that is right for them?
The two most important questions to ask when choosing a high-priced skin care brand or product are:
- Are the claims realistic when you think about them using your common sense?
- Are the ingredients high-quality and is the packaging secure enough to keep them fresh?
The skin care marketplace is filled with a lot of products selling “hope in a bottle.” If you have the cash to spare and like the treasure-hunting fun of buying expensive products, then trying pricey products is entertaining. If you want a high return on your skin care investment, then you need to research product claims.
The 500 Dalton Rule
For example, large molecules won’t get into skin. There is the 500 Dalton Rule which explains why many molecules larger than 500 Daltons in size just don’t get into skin, no matter what’s written in advertisements or on a product’s front label.
The best example is collagen-added to creams. We all know that wrinkles, crepey skin and thin skin happen from the loss of skin collagen. It’s tempting to think that we can apply new collagen on the outside of our skin and hope it gets absorbed and adds collagen to what we’ve lost. Sadly, it doesn’t.
Your skin is good at keeping the outside, foreign world out and the precious inside world of your body in. Collagen, as a molecule, is larger than 500 Daltons and just too big to get into skin from the outside.
Applying collagen to your skin is a waste of time. - Dermatologist Dr. Cynthia Bailey
To get more collagen inside the dermal layer of your skin, you need to use products that stimulate the cells in that layer (called fibroblasts) to make more collagen. That’s the only way to do it. Proven ingredients include retinoids, pharmaceutically-stable glycolic acid and Vitamin C.
Peptides are another expensive ingredient larger than 500 Daltons and so I'm not a fan of spending money on products that boast miracle peptides. - Dr. Bailey
They are too big to get into skin. There is a question about peptides acting through signaling pathways (to stimulate deeper skin cells) to ramp up collagen production, but I’m not convinced. Most studies cite proof from mechanisms studied in a lab test tube or petri dish. Studies need to be done on living humans and substantiated by biopsy specimens, in my opinion.
Gold is another expensive ingredient with little to no proof of real return-on-investment in skin care - don't even bother! - Dr. B
I like to run a Google search for “scholarly articles” on the latest and greatest claims of expensive skin care products. You can see what science has to say, and you often don’t need a degree in chemistry or biology to understand what you find.
Does price play a factor in getting results from your skin care products?
In other words, is a pricier product or skin care brand usually better?
Price can play a factor because quality ingredients and stable formulations cost money. When you get into tricky ingredients like Vitamin C, antioxidants or retinoids, this is really important. On the other hand, price does not always indicate quality. The “fairy dusting” of small amounts of “actives” is often used to make a product read well on the label but disappoint when it comes to results.
The price of skin care product packaging can add up, too.
Airtight packaging that preserves fragile actives like antioxidants will add to the cost of a product. Also, luxury packaging that adds kinesthetic or visual pleasure to the use of a product will tip up the price, too.
A great example is my Ageless Rejuvenation Kit. You see pharmaceutical products with stable actives in airtight pumps. This routine contains compatible formulations of products meant to be layered for a specific goal. The ingredients are substantiated by scientific study, the routine is created based on my 35 years of experience and proven by thousands of patients. No fairy-dusting of shenanigans and silliness.
Lastly, small-lot manufactures will inherently have higher costs to produce unique formulations.
It’s cheaper to mass produce products on an industrial level, but many small companies work on a small production scale. This is especially important with natural formulations that have a short shelf-life. If you want a small-lot natural-product, it’s going to be more expensive. But many times, it’s well worth it. Click here to see my natural skin care product line, all made with organic ingredients in small lots here in the USA. Of course, the formulations are science and results oriented
What are some expensive skin care products that you think are 100% worth it?
I love my products, and many of them are not that pricey. They are made in the United States using the highest quality ingredients. My natural products are made with organic ingredients and my pharmaceutical grade products are made with the latest technology in formulations that are stable. I'm fussy, whether I'm a consumer, a doctor or a business woman. I buy my food and other personal care items from artisan or expert producers, I eat organic, and I make have created the best skin care line that's patient proven and based on my 35 years of clinical experience.