All Bark & No Bite. Why Ingredient Trends Are Misleading.
I have literally made a career out of studying skincare ingredients, learning how to effectively combine them in routines, and explaining to my clients why they work and what they do.
There was a time in my early career when I was so overwhelmed by the types of acids, retinoids, and antioxidants that I would keep a note on my phone to jot down key ingredients I wasn’t familiar with, so I could Google them in my downtime.
Being a great debater in high school, I’ve always known that it’s important to research topics from all angles. So I would switch my browser to Google Scholar to make sure my information was factual, and I would try to read as many different articles as possible in order to get a full understanding.
It's a bit extra, I know, but keep in mind, skincare is a passion for me.
I did all of this so that I could confidently look at a product and pinpoint exactly how it worked and why, as well as identify any potential issues, etc. I would then head into work and relay this information to my clients in order to better serve them.
Fast forward a few years to when I got to teach the esthetics program in Plymouth, Minnesota, and it was INGREDIENTS WEEK!! (Yay!!)
I got to relay this passion to eager esthetic students who wanted to learn about the differences between key ingredients, vehicle ingredients, filler ingredients, etc.
We talked about lab formulation, organic chemistry, and my favorite of ALL… product derivation!
Ingredient knowledge is complex. Estheticians are like chemists. We mix and match different treatments, and homecare routines to find the perfect blend to get your skin to where it needs to go. This requires a lot of understanding about how ingredient formulating works.
With our advancements in technology, marketing companies are more able than EVER to sell you on a product without ever touching or seeing your face. They utilize influencers, pop up advertising, and even the words heard on your phone to throw “Buzzwords” at you like nobody's business.
Words like Retinol, AHA’s, Squalane, and Peptides are now household names for things we WANT. And if a product has Hyaluronic Acid in it, it MUST be the “real deal”. Even if it is on Amazon for $2.49.
You see, marketing companies KNOW that you’re looking for these words now. It's the entire reason these words are plastered all over the front of the bottle and magazine ads and it's all companies need to earn your undivided attention.
Lets begin with one of the biggest hype words out there - Vitamin C.
A couple years ago I was checking out at a local Goodwill store (because I have a serious obsession with thrifted sweaters and grandma-esq knick knacks). I was caught dead in my tracks. Next to the register I saw a sign that said “Vitamin C serum, $0.99” Are you f*cking KIDDING ME?!?
So the first thing I did after I picked my jaw up off the floor, I grabbed one of those bottles and flipped it over to reveal one single ingredient. “Orange peel”. These clowns were selling ORANGE PEEL IN WATER.
FYI, without proper formulation - putting an orange peel on your face will do absolutely nothing except make you smell like a fruit.
Vitamin C (an ingredient found in oranges) in its purest form is VERY unstable. This means that it is extremely reactive to heat and light. Due to this, it requires other ingredients to act as “stabilizers” to prevent it from going bad the minute you open the bottle. (Common stabilizers are Vitamin E and Feurulic Acid).
Additionally, there are many forms of Vitamin C (Calcium ascorbate, Sodium ascorbyl phosphate, tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, etc.). All of these forms are used for different needs and reasons. An example of this is that one Vitamin C derivative may be best used in an oil product, another may be water soluble. The most common form is L-Ascorbic Acid, because it is the most stable and well accepted by the skin.
Formulating a product that the skin responds well to, is stable, includes quality ingredients and is ethically sourced requires lab work. Lab work requires MONEY. These costs are generally then passed down to the buyer, and can bring the price of a quality product up drastically.
If Goodwill can use a Buzzword to trick you into buying a useless product that can be marketed because it does in some capacity have that ingredient in it, what makes you think you don’t have hundreds of companies trying to do the same to you on the regular? Skincare is, after all, projected to be a 200 billion dollar industry by 2026.
In reality, it only takes having any ingredient in its shittiest form present in that product, to put on a label to sell to you. There is no rule that says it has to work. The rest is just marketing hooplah.
Here are a couple of things to consider before you make your next product purchase -
Ingredients are listed based on amounts.
The higher up towards the top of an ingredient list it is, the more of that ingredient is in your product. This means that when you buy a product because it has “squalane” in it but it is the 397th ingredient after a whole lot of non-fatty alcohols and parfums, you really aren’t getting much (if any) of the benefit of that ingredient. Make sure the ingredient being marketed to you is listed within the first handful of ingredients.
Where the ingredient is sourced from determines how your body will respond to it.
Some products are animal derived, some are plant derived and some are synthetically derived. Where the product comes from matters because it determines how your body will respond to it. Hyaluronic Acid is commonly derived from animal fat but can also come from a mushroom. If you are peta-friendly you might want to know which one is in your moisturizer. Also keep in mind that your body may be more willing to accept certain derivatives more than others, making them more effective.
The size of the molecule.
Molecular weight is simply how large a product molecule is. The lower the molecular weight, the farther it is able to reach into the skin providing deeper penetration. High molecular weight (HMW) is fine when you might want something to sit on the surface of the skin (Think of occlusives meant for locking in other products) but Low Molecular Weight (LMW) is preferred when it comes to truly hydrating ingredients.
pH MATTERS.
Your skin has a pH of around 5.5-6.5. Acidic products are typically as low as 2.5 on the extreme to 3.5/4. This means they will be bringing the pH of your skin down with them to be effective. Some ingredients only work within a certain pH range. Glycolic Acid over a pH of 6 become SALT. This means that a company could easily list it as a key ingredient but if they don’t have their formulation down, it is doing absolutely nothing for you.
In any product, you will have Key ingredients and Vehicle ingredients.
Vehicle ingredients are designed to aid your Key ingredients and make them work (think back to Vitamin E and Vitamin C). Some ingredients can act in either way depending on the use for it. For example., we all know that Retinol is a very common key ingredient, but did you know that in some products it is actually used to help other products penetrate the skin? In these cases, small amounts are used and the product would not be considered a “Retinol” type product.
In a world of people mass buying a product just because someone with a filter is paid to tell you it is good, and Dermatologists who are being paid by pharmaceutical companies to push specific brands, always be aware of what you spend your money on.
If that is too overwhelming, an esthetician is truly the way to go when it comes to helping you pick out products that get you the most out for what you will pay. We do the research so that you don’t have to. It is what we were designed to do.
A great esthetician is irreplaceable. Not by product companies, Instagram or virtual recommendations. We have invested time and money into learning these things so that you can comfortably walk into our business and purchase products that are carefully chosen for YOU.
So next time you see an ad pop up for “Doctor Skin’s Super Magical Peptide Elixir” on your phone and you go to reach for your wallet, please just turn off your phone and call me in the morning!
Need help making sense of your products? Come on down!
