Skin care and anti-aging products have been around forever. Age is revealed most by skin appearance, thus the effort to prevent the passage of time from reducing the youthful appearance of our skin. Bio identical hormone replacement therapy could aid in fighting unpleasant menopause symptoms, like acne and dry skin, but you may need a more specific route to tackle skin-care issues. There are many products available in the market today that claim to be (each of them independently) the one ingredient to achieve the objective.  This text is meant as a short and sweet description of available products and their functions.

The first group of ingredients is humectants. Humectants are substances used to retain moisture. Their chemical name is hygroscopic. This term simply means that a substance is able to absorb ambient water. The most common humectants added to creams, lotions and such other skin care products is glycerin (sometimes also called glycerol). Glycerin can be synthetic, in other words, made by man – mostly from petroleum derived raw materials; and glycerin can also be natural. It can be obtained from both vegetable and animal fats.

There are other common humectants, such as mineral oil. This product occurs in many cosmetics, but it can build up under the skin and cause it not to be able to absorb nutrients. Therefore, mineral oil has been gradually but surely retired from skin care products.

Humectants are important because they absorb water and can actually bring it into the epidermis (the outermost layer of the skin). Humidity helps reduce degrading of skin cells.

The next type of ingredients is occlusives. The function of occlusives is basically to prevent water from leaving the skin by evaporation. Evaporation is the process through which liquid water turns to its gaseous phase and is released onto the atmosphere.  Castor oil, beeswax, and lanolin are some examples of occlusives. The disadvantage of occlusives is that they are often greasy and can leave an undesirable coat on the skin that can cause pore clogging. Keep in mind that occlusives are best applied to damp skin.

Emollients are meant to reside on the outermost layer of skin and lubricate. Lubrication is needed to maintain pliability and smoothness. Sunflower oil and soy bean oil are examples of emollients.  These substances are supposed to “fill in” gaps between skin cells that are in the process of being shed and those still in good condition.

There are other ingredients present in skin care products, but the above three are the basic ones. You can make more educated choices by determining what you are after and reading the ingredients disclosed on product labels. Some products such as coenzyme Q10, vitamin E and other antioxidants are added to skin care products due to their acclaimed restoration properties.

No one product is all-effective and human kind has yet to discover a true anti-aging ingredient, but the above are helpful in maintaining a healthier and more resilient skin.

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