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Do we all agree that most ingredients (active) are overrated.
From what I’ve learnt so far, over 99% of active skincare ingredients are overrated marketing hype. They simply do not have any visible effect on the skin. The industry is built on lies.
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6 Replies
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That is a bit of a cynical take on the industry. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but maybe too cynical.
First, skin care products work. We can make great cleansers, excellent moisturizers. Hair removal depilatories and exfoliation products all work. And of course, color cosmetics are effective at making people feel better about how they look. Cosmetics work! And cosmetic/drugs work too. Sunscreens, antiperspirants, skin lighteners, and anti acne products work.
I see 2 significant problems with the cosmetic industry that lead to what you call lies.
1. There haven’t been any consumer perceivable technological improvements in the last 20 to 30 years.
2. There is no consumer perceivable, proprietary technology that makes one company’s products better than another. That is to say, every company can make products that work just as well as every other company.
Of course, in the cosmetic industry consumers always want something new. The products they have might actually work but they get bored with them. Consumers want to look better and switching to a new product gives them hope that this time, they might look better.
And it requires stories to give people that hope. Stories in the form of “active ingredients.” Marketers need a hero ingredient. They don’t want to talk about glycerin, or petrolatum or mineral oil (the old ingredients that actually work). No, they’d much rather make stories about Hyaluronic acid, or Bakuchiol or Argan oil. Even though you can demonstrate that these ingredients probably don’t work as well as the old technology. But new stories sell new products.
So, yeah there is a lot of misleading and exaggeration going on in the cosmetic industry. It’s understandable and on some level, it’s what consumers want.
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@Perry. My whole take on the industry might be cynical. However there are hundreds of ingredients that are regarded as anti-acne, antioxidant, antiinflammatory, skin lightening, anti-aging e.t.c Vast majority (99%) do not have any visible effect on the skin.
Niacinamide is said to have antiinflammatory, anti-acne properties, but I am unconvinced about those claims. I still consider it as one of the beneficial ingredients to the skin, but most ingredients do not have any benefit on the skin. They’re simply overrated.
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@shuppy - yes, there are lots of exaggerators. I agree, there are tons of ingredients that make claims that are not real. I even think Niacinamide is overrated too. But I’m particularly skeptical. I think the claim “anti-inflammatory” is mostly a joke.
There are however, ingredients that do work for acne, skin lightening, etc. These have FDA monographs and data behind them to support their safety and efficacy.
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@Perry Thank you. It’s because of people like you I created an account.
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Retinol, Hydroquinone, Petrolatum, Salicylic Acid, Zinc Oxide, is just a couple of the ingredients that no one would argue about that came to my mind. There are definitely more.
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@ngarayeva001 I said “over 99%”. What you’ve listed are definitely part of the >1% that actually works. There are lots more that are purported to do amazing things but simply have no effect.
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