Anti-Aging Skin Care Ingredients

There are nothing more than three categories: promoting collagen production, antioxidant, scavenging free radicals, and repairing light damage. 99% of the anti-aging concepts on the market are either repackaging of derivatives of these three categories, or pure IQ tax.

When I first joined the industry as a formulator assistant, I participated in the human patch test of Alcohol A for the first time, and I truly understood why it is called the "gold standard for anti-aging" - 0.1% alcohol A for 8 weeks of continuous use can increase the type I collagen content of the subject's dermis by about 30%, and the effect of reducing dry lines is visible to the naked eye. But the controversy about A alcohol has never stopped: the radical ingredient party will advise everyone to "anti-aging must use A", and even recommend a strong drug with a concentration of 1%, thinking that as long as tolerance is slowly established, there will be no problems. ； However, conservative dermatologists often recommend that people with sensitive skin and damaged barrier should not use alcohol at all. There is no need to risk a bad face for the sake of anti-aging. I have a best friend with dry and sensitive skin. I followed the blogger and used alcohol A three times to swell the skin. I switched to palmitoyl pentapeptide-4 essence and used it for three months. The dry lines under my eyes have faded a lot. To put it bluntly, there is no absolute good ingredient, only whether it is suitable for your skin type.

When it comes to promoting collagen, we can’t avoid Bosein, which has become extremely popular in the past two years. I helped my mother clean up the dressing table a while ago, and she actually had three bottles of Bosein cream of different brands in the cabinet. She said that the lady at the counter told her that “Bosein is the anti-aging ceiling”, and buying a few more bottles and switching them would have better effects. In fact, the essence of Bose is hydroxypropyltetrahydropyrantriol. Its core function is to promote the synthesis of glycosaminoglycans in the dermis, helping the skin to lock in moisture and support sagging contours. The debate about it is also very interesting: some people say that Boseine is a marketing scam of L'Oreal. The price of domestically produced products with the same ingredients is only 1/5 of the original version, but the effect is not bad. ； Some people also say that the molecular structure of the original Bosein has been optimized, and the transdermal absorption rate is much higher than that of domestic raw materials. I have tested several domestic 30% concentration Bose creams before. The transdermal rate is indeed about 12% lower than that of black bandages. However, the moisturizing feeling on the face and the firming effect after long-term use are not much different. Which one you choose depends on the thickness of your wallet. There is no need to think that if you use the expensive one, you will pay IQ tax, and there is no need to think that buying a replacement is low.

What many people tend to overlook is that no matter how much collagen they take, it will be useless if they cannot withstand the free radicals every day. Last month I went to an offline Ingredient Salon, and a girl took out a prototype VC essence wrapped tightly in a brown light-proof bottle. She said that she had been applying VC during the day for three years. Now she is 32 years old. Not only is she two shades whiter than people of the same age, her nasolabial folds are much lighter. Someone next to me immediately retorted that VC would turn black if used during the day, and if it was applied, it would be white. In fact, it really depends on the person: if the VCPH value of the prototype you use is around 3.5, and you wait two minutes for the film to form before applying enough sunscreen, there will be no blackening at all. ； If the skin cannot tolerate the stimulation of prototype VC, you can switch to derivatives such as ethyl vitamin C and tetrahexyldecyl ascorbic acid, but the effect is slower, there is no need to build tolerance, and it is much more friendly to novices. I have been using Prototype VC for four or five years for my oily skin. The tanned skin in the summer returned to whitening more than twice as fast as before, and the dullness at the corners of my mouth has also faded a lot.

Even more serious than free radicals is photoaging caused by ultraviolet rays, which accounts for 80% of exogenous aging. No matter how much anti-aging serum you apply, it will be useless if you don’t apply sunscreen when you go out. I used to have a male colleague who worked in R&D. He stayed in the laboratory every day and felt that he couldn't see the sun. He never needed sunscreen. This summer, he went to the factory to run the supply chain for half a month. When he came back, the dry lines on his forehead became two degrees deeper. It took two months to recover. Many people don’t know that ingredients such as ectoine and ergothioneine essentially help you repair photodamage. Of course, there are also controversies: many people say that ectoine is just an ordinary moisturizer and cannot resist aging at all. That is actually because many products do not add enough ectoine. Only ectoine with a concentration of more than 0.2% can resist ultraviolet damage and relieve skin inflammation. If the concentration is lower than this, it is indeed no different from ordinary moisturizers.

My current anti-aging routine is not expensive. When I get tired of using it in the morning, C and night, I switch to a 10% concentration Bosein cream. In winter, when my face is dry, I add an essence containing ectoin. It doesn’t cost much. My skin condition is much better than when I stayed up late every day for the past two years. To be honest, there is really no need to believe in the nonsense of "a touch of rejuvenation". Anti-aging is a long-term process. No matter how good the ingredients are, it will be useless if you fish for three days and dry the net for two days. Also, don’t mix it up blindly. I’ve seen people put A-alcohol, high-concentration VC, and fruit acids on their face before, and their face was so bad that they went to the hospital. It’s really unnecessary. What suits you is better than any "ceiling" or "strong medicine".