By Lora Condon
In a world of selfies, intense job competition and reality stars, everyone wants to look their best and many will spend whatever it takes to look great. Cosmetic companies prey upon people’s insecurities and develop products that promise big results with little to no ability to deliver. Whether it’s mascara that promises long, think lashes, scrubs that promise to erase wrinkles or highlights in an $8 box, the beauty industry knows if they can get a few million people to buy their product at least once, they’ve made their money and generated a profit. So what’s a consumer to do? Well, I’m here to reveal and bust out the biggest beauty industry lies.
Microdermabrasion creams are all the rage and nothing except a scrub. True microdermabrasion requires a high-powered machine shooting out corundum crystals onto the skin and sucking them back up while the intensity is carefully controlled by a licensed professional. Rubbing beads or corundum on your face only yields the same benefits of a basic scrub with no anti-aging benefits. Home units do not use corundum and definitely do not have a high enough power to shed enough skin for serums to really get through and create change.
SPF is a hot topic and most people have no idea how to use it correctly. It seems easy enough, but in reality, most people never put enough on to protect their skin. In order to get the benefit of the SPF, you must apply a very thick layer and reapply it every hour if you’re outside and sweating and right after swimming. Even though you might not be burning from the UVB rays, or if it’s a cloudy day, you’re still getting the UVA rays that cause aging, wrinkles and discoloration. An SPF higher than 30 really does very little to protect from UVA rays which do the long-term damage, so an SPF 30 is sufficient also more gentle to the skin.
One of the newest lies making companies millions is home-use beauty machines. If home-use beauty machines really worked as well as professional ones, why would professionals pay thousands of dollars for a machine instead of $19.99 – $199.99? The most popular ones claim you can get a professional treatment at home with a micro-dermabrasion, laser or hair removal system. The truth is, they don’t work. The company will tout that their machine is FDA approved. Approved to do what? The only thing the FDA approved it for, is to not do anything to anyone’s skin to the point they can sue no matter how badly they misuse the product. The FDA does not approve these machines to actually work the way they promise, with guaranteed results. It’s actually illegal to sell the effective machines to the general public!
The newest home device on the market is micro-needling. This is a roller with very fine, needle like prongs sticking out of a plastic head and rolled across the skin to create superficial damage in order to stimulate collagen production and give a more refined texture when healed. While this treatment will work in a doctor’s office, in no way does this transfer to home use. In order to work, the skin is numbed and the needles must be a length of 1.5mm and a diameter of .25, which only a doctor has access to, and anything less is just creating holes and scars in your skin.
The next time you’re tempted to buy the next, best beauty, must-have, remember if it’s too good to be true it probably is! Visit your local spa and ask an experienced esthetician or do some online objective research. Take that extra money you save and get a facial!
