Why should even the best anti aging products be avoided, (and what alternatives are there)?

There’s so many anti aging products around, it’s very difficult to choose between them. So many people search for the best anti aging products not understanding that so many skin care products on the market contain ingredients that should be avoided.

The advertising is seductive. Gorgeous models, wonderful scenery and beautiful music. Those creams and moisturizers just have to be good.

But the first thing to consider when looking for the best anti aging products is not how well they work, but how safe they are.

Safe? What has safety got to do with the best anti ageing products? Well actually quite a lot because so many of the big name skin care brands that you see on the market today contain ingredients which are potentially harmful to your health and to your skin.

We have focused on some of these ingredients in such products as anti aging creams and anti aging moisturizers and you can see these stories listed on the right. Today we want to talk about Propylene Glycol.

Propylene Glycol is found in a wide range of anti aging products. If you search at the Cosmetic Safety Database you will see that it is listed as being an ingredient in 945 moisturizers, 1118 facial treatments, 546 facial cleansers and 690 general anti aging products.

Whether or not the advertising says it is the best anti aging product on the market if it contains Propylene Glycol then it should be avoided. Here’s why.

If you visit the page on Propylene Glycol at the Cosmetic Safety Database you’ll see that it is linked to cancer, developmental and reproductive toxicity, allergies and immunotoxicity, irritation of the skin, eyes or lungs, persistence and bioaccumulation, organ system toxicity as well as some other worries of slightly lesser concern including neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption and more.

Scary?

Maybe now you’re beginning to see why any anti ageing products, including those advertised as the best anti aging products on the market, should be avoided if they have Propylene Glycol as an ingredient.

And Propylene Glycol is only the beginning. You’ll see that we talk about many other dangerous ingredients in skin care products on this website.

Propylene Glycol is used in anti freeze. There might be some in your cars radiator right now. The EPA actually requires people who work with Propylene Glycol to wear protective gloves as well as goggles and protective clothing if they are working with it and it is likely to come into contact with their skin.

How in the world could a substance such as Propylene Glycol be used in so many personal products (and this includes many other cosmetics, bath products and deodorants) when there is even the slightest risk to your health?

The answer is simple. The big name skin care companies put it there because it’s cheap, and because they can. The FDA is not required to satisfy itself that any ingredient in skin care or anti aging products is safe for consumers to apply to their skin.

The skin care industry is self regulating. In other words the manufacturers decide what goes into their products. And we know from so many previous examples that big business doesn’t care all that much about the safety of their products as long as there is a profit to be made. Just look at the tobacco industry.

So if you’re a woman who is starting to notice the first signs of skin ageing then what do you do? The good news is that not all manufacturers of anti aging products such as anti aging creams and anti aging moisturizers are lacking in ethics. There are manufacturers with a powerful commitment to product safety and an equal commitment to product quality.

These manufacturers make the best anti aging products. These are generally small companies that seek to compete with the big players in a huge marketplace. They have an evidenced commitment to product safety, for example by signing the compact of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics demonstrating their commitment to using only known safe ingredients in their products.

One company in particular makes what we consider to be the worlds best anti aging products that are made from all natural ingredients known to be safe and which are particularly effective. When it started it’s product research it’s brief to it’s researchers was that they wanted products made from ingredients that are “safe enough to eat”.

One of the reasons the big players use so many of these chemical ingredients in their products is that they are extremely cheap. There are excellent natural ingredients sourced from plants which are well known to be highly effective at anti aging skin care. But they are invariably much more expensive.

This one small company chooses to make its products from these ingredients. The products are safe and highly effective. But of course the obvious conclusion is that they are way more expensive than the big name brands.

Under normal circumstances they would be however this company chooses to market it’s products with no marketing budget. They don’t advertise on TV, in the women’s magazines or anywhere that costs big time. Chances are you’ve never even heard of them.

For this reason the product is competitively priced, in fact very competitively priced, with the big brand names. This is because a large proportion of the cost of the big name anti ageing products is television advertising and magazine advertising. By removing this cost this small company can market it’s ultra high quality anti aging creams at a price that might surprise you.

So if you’re asking yourself what is the best anti aging product then remember, the most important consideration is the safety of the ingredients used in the product. Many of the big name products contain chemical ingredients you don’t want to be putting on your skin. Read the rest of this entry

There are eye anti aging creams that work effectively, if you know where to find them.

One of the most visible aspect of aging is ageing of the eyes. As we grow older our skin shows our age and for so many women the eyes are the place where this is seen first. Let’s discuss why eye wrinkles, bags under the eyes and puffiness occur and how to combat them using a high quality eye anti aging cream.

Eye wrinkles, bags and puffiness under the eyes are caused by a range of different factors. Puffy eyes are caused by poor fluid drainage which causes a build up of fluid under the eyes. Loss of elasticity of the skin also contributes to puffiness under the eyes. Fluid can build up under the skin around the eyes from these factors and this starts to cause bags or puffiness which is unsightly, as well as dark circles under the eyes.

And just like many other symptoms of skin aging wrinkles around the eyes and puffiness can be exacerbated by lifestyle factors such as smoking and drinking too much alcohol. Too much exposure to UV in sunlight is also a factor.

Some of these factors are common to just about all signs of skin aging. For example the loss of skin elasticity causes many of the symptoms and signs of skin ageing that we see all over our face. As our skin ages it slowly loses its ability to produce collagen and elastin, 2 essential skin proteins which help maintain skin thickness, skin health and skin particular skin elasticity.

So for any eye anti aging cream to be effective at combating wrinkles and eye puffiness it needs to target a range of problems. There are many anti wrinkle eye creams available however many are relatively ineffective.

However there are some ingredients which can be used in eye wrinkle creams which are known to be highly effective at reducing the signs of skin ageing around the eyes and reduce puffiness and bags under the eyes. The best eye anti aging creams utilize these ingredients however it is rare to find a wrinkle eye cream that does use these ingredients because they are extremely effective.

Lets examine some of the ingredients you should find in the best anti aging eye cream, and see why they are effective.

1. Eyeliss. Eyeliss is probably the most effective ingredient that can be found in any eye anti aging cream. It has been known to some time that Eyeliss works extremely successfully at combating eye wrinkles and bags and puffiness under the eyes and the quite some time it has been quietly used by some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

However Eyeliss is very expensive.

It works to help puffiness and bags under the eyes by improving fluid drainage while increasing skin elasticity, as well is reducing the fragility of ageing capillaries in the skin, one of the factors in fluid buildup.

Studies have shown that Eyeliss can have noticeable effects within a month. A study of 20 people with chronic under eye bags showed noticeable improvements within 28 days for 65 percent of these people and over 70 percent show improvements within 2 months.

An award-winning anti aging chemist called Sam Dhatt, considered by some to be the leading skin care scientists in the world has said that Eyeliss should be found in all anti aging eye products.

Recently the claims made for Eyeliss were investigated by the Electronic Retailing Self Regulating Program which found the claims to be fully justified.

2. Using Eyeliss on its own may be effective however the very best eye anti aging cream available combines Eyeliss with a range of other ingredients to enhance it’s effectiveness against eye wrinkles and underwrite bags and puffiness. The second of these ingredients is called Haloxyl.

Haloxyl has also been shown to reduce eye puffiness and dark circles under the eyes by increasing blood circulation. When used in conjunction with Eyeliss, or when using a product that combines Eyeliss with Haloxyl, the effects at combating under eye wrinkles and underwrite bags and circles are enhanced.

3. The best eye anti aging cream, however, does not just combine Eyeliss and Haloxyl. Whilst using both these ingredients it also adds other ingredients which further enhance the ability of the product to combat the signs of skin ageing under the eyes. Ingredients such as Cynergy TK, some natural skin oils such as Babassu Oil as well as Active Manuka Honey which has unique skin healing properties.

The causes of skin ageing are well known, and this includes the causes of eye wrinkles as well as the causes of bags and puffiness under the eyes and dark circles under the eyes. Eyeliss has been available for some time however has been relatively unknown and has also been very expensive. However one company has now combined Eyeliss with a range of other ingredients to produce what we consider to be the finest eye anti aging cream available today.

The Eye Contour Gel produced by Xtend Life is probably the finest wrinkle eye cream available. It is not advertised and for this reason, because the cost of television advertising does not need to be factored into the price of the product, it is competitively priced with other less effective eye creams. And this is combined with the fact that Xtend Life offer a full 90 day money back guarantee on all their skin care products.

So if you’re looking for an anti ageing eye cream the first thing you should do is to try the Eye Contour Gel from Xtend Life. Read the rest of this entry

What alternatives do you have to anti aging facial treatments?

Anti aging facial treatments are big business nowadays and there are many many anti aging facials to choose from, some extremely expensive. And we’re not saying that these facial treatments are all bad, just that there may be better ways to achieve the same result at a much lower cost.

An anti aging facial can involve a considerable amount of time as well as expense. A facial may well include a range of different skin treatments including skin exfoliation to remove dead skin cells, an extraction to open the pores and clean the skin, facial massage and sometimes a range of masks and peels. Whilst you may enjoy having an anti aging facial you may find that it’s very expensive.

The purpose of an anti aging facial treatment is to clean the skin and nourish it to produce clear healthy skin. It’s intended to make your skin glow with health and feel great.

Lets see if there is another way to achieve the same result at a much lower cost and to produce a result that is more long-lasting.

The best way to have clear, healthy and glowing skin is to improve your overall skin health. As you age your skin starts to lose some essential components that contribute to skin health such as collagen and elastin. Aging and a reduction in skin health and in particular in skin elasticity means that your skin starts to show the signs of aging such as skin sagging and wrinkles.

Is it possible to combat this? Yes it is. And if you are able to achieve better skin health overall then this will be much more permanent than the results of an anti aging facial treatment.

So how do you achieve better skin health and at a reasonable cost? Here’s a few things that you need to understand about skin health that will help.

The first of these is that skin health reduces with age but it is not just age that contributes to a reduction in skin health. There’s a range of other lifestyle factors all of which help reduce overall skin health as you age. Here’s the things that you need to do to achieve better skin health right throughout your life to keep signs of skin aging at bay better than any anti aging facial treatment could ever do.

1. One of the biggest contributing factors to skin health, as well as to your overall health, is your diet. Many people understand that what you eat contributes to your general health, but don’t make the connection to their skin health.

A diet high in fresh fruit and vegetables is also high in essential nutrients as well as a wide range of antioxidants, all of which are very important to optimum skin health.

Skin is just like the other organs in your body. The good health of your skin depends on what you eat. And because skin is the most visible organ of your body then what you eat shows to everybody.

If you live on a diet of burgers and pizza this will show in your skin. You can’t have a healthy glowing skin on pizzas and burgers.

2. Exercise is also something that is overlooked when it comes to skin health. Whilst most people understand that exercise is important to overall health many do not consider the importance of exercise to skin health. Just as with diet, how much exercise you get in your life will show in your skin.

Exercise improves the circulation of the blood and this is very important to skin health.

3. One of the worst things you can do to your skin is to smoke. Smoking damages your skin and is about the fastest way to show your age prematurely.

If you’re interested in the best skin health then don’t smoke.

4. Almost as bad as smoking is getting sunburned. Sunburn is terrible for your skin and just like smoking and sunburn will age your skin prematurely. It is very important to avoid getting burnt.

If you’re out in the sun in the middle of the day, particularly in summer, make sure you wear a hat and a shirt. If you can’t do this then use sunscreen however it is better, if you can, to cover up.

5. Use anti aging skin care products that help improve overall skin health. We previously mentioned one of the most significant factors in skin ageing, namely the loss of collagen and elastin with age.

There are excellent natural anti aging skin care products which help stimulate the skin to produce more of it’s own collagen and elastin and by doing this skin will start to improve it’s elasticity and an improvement in skin elasticity will help reduce the visible signs of skin aging, skin sagging and wrinkles.

If you follow that 5 step program you’re well on the way to better skin health. Your skin will look better and feel better. You will achieve much more than you will simply by getting the occasional anti aging facial treatment.

And you’ll be much healthy generally and you’ll save plenty of money.

Whilst anti aging facial treatments may be worthwhile in the short term they are very expensive. Make some lifestyle changes and use some top quality anti aging skin care products and you’ll be healthier and your skin will look healthy and you’ll have money in the bank.