Cosmetics and Skin Care are the Foundation of Real Beauty.
People’s preoccupation with anti-ageing skin car products that claim to make you look younger, is not surprising when most of us can expect to live longer and have fuller more active lives. This group of products generally work by enabling the synthesis of collagen, which is the main protein of connective tissue in animals and the most abundant protein in mammals. The protein, Collagen, is related to groups of other Substances named Anti-Oxidants which assist in helping the anti-ageing process.
Although the benefits of vitamin C (an anti-oxidant) are well documented, it is still debated as to what our daily amount should be. Skin care treatments that are based on vitamin C, pose the problem of becoming oxidized themselves as they come into contact with air during their usage.
Manufacturers are trying alternative skin care treatments to vitamin C that do not have this oxidization problem or cost as much to produce. These recent anti-oxidant products do not perform as well as vitamin C, though other natural compounds, vitamin E and lipoic acid can have the same overall effect.
Our body uses vitamin E as an anti-oxidant and increases our bodies natural defense against disease, which does include many forms of cancer, and is a fat-soluble vitamin found in our blood. On the other hand, lipoic acid or alpha-lipoic acid is necessary for energy production which keeps us alive; it is in every human cell and another function is to repair skin damage caused by the normal ageing process.
Another group of products used to reduce the visible signs of ageing are phytochemicals which are compounds extracted from various plants and used in many anti-ageing skin care products. Another major plus, like the benefits of alpha-lipoic acid, is their ability to lower the occurrence of certain cancers like prostate, breast and colon cancer.
Other vitamins from the B group, are also used in anti-ageing skin care like vitamins B5, B6 and B12 for example. The use of anti-ageing skin care products is a huge scientific field to research and has far greater potential than just producing goods that reduce the visible signs of age.
While a great deal has been learned about this subject, it is only the tip of the iceberg and more long term effective methods need to be discovered to reverse or slow down the effects of time. Hopefully, these challenges will get resolved in due course and better and cheaper anti-ageing skin care products will be produced.
However, man-made skin care regimes should be used only as a supplement. So, drinking plenty of water, getting a good night’s sleep, exercising regularly, maintaining healthy eating habits and keeping stress at bay are essential means of delaying the ageing process.
