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 Anti-wrinkle and anti-ageing products:
Myth and reality
Anti-ageing products have become best-sellers to the delight of manufacturers. Anyone who looks at prices of these products will see that they are generally a lot more expensive than normal cosmetics. Is this because they are truly effective and perhaps even perform small miracles? If we are to obtain a realistic impression of their potential effectiveness, we must first consider the skin’s ageing process.
The ageing of the skin: a complex biological process
Everyone ages and their skin ages along with them. This is indisputable. However, everyone ages in their own way. No ageing process is exactly like another. Ageing processes have several causes and we can do a great deal to retain our skin’s youthful appearance for as long as possible. The main causes of skin ageing are genes, lifestyle and the sun.
 Genes: with the exception of identical twins, a person’s genetic makeup is completely individual. Scientists are still not certain which genes are relevant to the ageing process. Research is being carried out with human ageing chips, but so far it is not possible to tell whether other genes are also of central importance to the skin's ageing process. Modern genetic research is interesting, but has little bearing on our actual lives. What is relevant is our personal genetic heritage. Some people are luckier than others as far as this heritage is concerned. People who have inherited good ageing genes can celebrate the fact they at least possess certain resources for maintaining a youthful appearance for longer.
Lifestyle: Though we cannot choose our genes; we can choose our lifestyle. As is generally the case with health issues, a healthy lifestyle plays a key role in the skin’s ageing process.
The sun: is ageing skin's greatest enemy. Nothing is as ageing as too much sun.
A great deal of research is still to be done
A large number of biologists, physicists, doctors and chemists have tried to get to grips with the secrets of the skin’s ageing process. For example, the EU research project “Cellage” examined what happens in and to the skin with increasing age in and in terms of biochemical processes. The most important findings were: 1. The oxidation processes in cells accelerate. 2. The enzyme activities of cells change. 3. Typical markers do exist for ageing cells. 4. A large amount of DNA destruction takes place in the cells.
This may look like a great deal of information but we still have very few answers to the central questions of “How?” and “Why?” We have no answers, for example, to questions such as: Which factors are responsible for which type of development? Which regulators regulate what, and how do they do it? How do these complex processes interact with one another? What do the hormonal changes during menopause affect and how are these effects expressed? Science is still a long way from deciphering these complex relationships.
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Look younger and more beautiful without spending a cent
Good looks are really not only a question of your date of birth. Many experts say that about 40% of skin ageing is caused by “environmental effects”. This refers to premature skin ageing caused by external influences, lifestyle and attitude to life. American studies have proven what almost everyone knows from their own experience: if you are sad or depressed, this will express itself in faded, tired skin. Emotional stress leaves as many traces as overworking, illness, smoking or too much alcohol. What keeps your skin fit and young?
• Getting enough exercise and a lot of fresh air will keep you looking young. This stimulates the vital functions of the skin more intensively than stimulating cosmetic ingredients could do.
• Drinking a lot of water also keeps you young and beautiful.
• Vitamins in oranges, kiwi fruit, apples and other types of fruit have more effect than vitamins introduced from the outside. They offer significantly more skin-protection power than the spot of cream you apply to your skin.
• If you frequently tan your skin, either naturally or on a sun-bed, this will accelerate the ageing process a lot. Another important aspect: take preventive action in good time! Your skin will not forget. Sunbathing and sunburn during your younger years will not show up immediately, but later, once you are over 40, when their ageing effects (age spots and wrinkles) will appear.
Conclusion: the best antidote to premature ageing is to lead an active, healthy, self-determined life. Cosmetics will make a contribution to good looks, but they can only iron out some of the damage done by a skin-stressing lifestyle. Psychologists have found that the fear of ageing, alone, will prevent cosmetics from working effectively, as – in the long run – fear leaves deeper traces of aging than cosmetics can do. |
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What anti-wrinkle and anti-ageing products do
 The fact that anti-ageing products exist could lead us to assume that they are completely different from “normal” cosmetics. This is a fallacy. The dividing line between skin care products is not as clear as is commonly believed.
- Anti-ageing or anti-wrinkle products work with essentially the same ingredients as other creams and should be evaluated accordingly. This means that it is not simply a question of the individual ingredients but above all of the quality of the basic additives and the quality of the overall composition.
- In principle, any good cosmetic cream could bear the label “anti-ageing” or “anti-wrinkle” as it does what a cosmetic product should and can do: it smoothes and firms the skin and therefore minimises the appearance of fine lines.
“Contours become firmer by the day, wrinkles and fine lines are smoothed away. The face looks smoother.” Phrases such as this can be read in descriptions of extremely expensive products. But this is a description which could apply to nearly any cream! The specialist knowledge involved in creating a formulation which feeds the skin with water and fat and reduces the depth of the wrinkles is one of the basics for any competent cosmetics manufacturer.
So there is no new “miracle cure”. New products come out, but offer no miracles. Cosmetic raw materials represent a market in which new products are being created all the time, largely due to market competition.
- More recent cosmetic raw materials include ingredients which are isolated from plants (such as a plant-based bioflavonoid).
- New ingredients are increasingly obtained through biotechnology from microorganisms.
- Research is continuing into ways of improving the absorption of active ingredients.
- Sunscreens are also used in an anit-ageing context. Some manufacturers use large proportions of sunscreens in order to combat premature ageing of the skin.
- Cosmetics intended for dry skin generally contain ingredients to minimise pigment disturbances / age spots.
The range of active ingredients
Every year, the cosmetic and chemical industries invest billions into research and the development of raw materials. In order to recoup these investments, companies often pursue aggressive marketing strategies. The promise of a more youthful appearance is a lure which is difficult to resist and the temptation to spend a great deal of money to achieve this is enormous.
1. Effective skin protection products
The main aim of anti-ageing products is obviously to protect the skin against premature ageing and to prevent the oxidation processes which cause ageing. This aim can be fulfilled with traditional cosmetic ingredients such as vitamins.
Antioxidants prevent oxidation processes caused by light and acid. They prevent fats, which the skin desperately needs, from becoming rancid. Speaking about the significance of antioxidants, the Beiersdorf development manager Dr. Klaus-Peter Wittern, who has extensive experience in this field, stated the following: “If the antioxidant status of the skin can be brought to a high level, then the availability of lipids, which would otherwise have been oxidised away, increases and this strengthens the skin’s inherent defence and balance capacities.”
Because antioxidants are important in order to combat disintegration and destruction mechanisms, researchers are constantly looking for new substances with anti-oxidising effects. Researchers are particularly focusing on the ways in which plants protect themselves against external threats (e.g.UV light).
The main antioxidants used are:
• Vitamin A (retinol): vitamin A is an extremely fragile substance: pure vitamin A disintegrates as soon as it comes into contact with acid. For this reason it is generally used in cosmetics as a palmitate which is converted to vitamin A in the skin.
• Vitamin C (ascorbyl palmitate): vitamin C protects the cells against damage caused by the sun, vehicle exhaust fumes and cigarette smoke. It provides effective protection for the vital defence cells. Vitamin C is extremely unstable due to its marked anti-oxidising characteristics. However, a more stable form of vitamin C has been developed for use as a cosmetic ingredient.
• Vitamin E (tocopherol): many advertisements refer to vitamin E as it is an important skin protection ingredient. Although it is declared in the INCI list as tocopherol, vitamin E is used above all as an antioxidant to protect the product. Tocopheryl acetate; which is more stable, is used as a skin care ingredient (which is why it is declared as such).
• A traditional skin care product used to protect against free radicals is the coenzyme Q10 (declared as ubiquinone). Research has shown that it is extremely effective even in small doses.
• Alpha lipoic acid (declared as alpha lipoic acid) is also an antioxidant.
• Polyphenols (this term is not found in any INCI declaration; instead the term Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract is used for green tea extract). Like many other plant extracts, green tea extract is rich in natural polyphenols , which have wide-ranging effects. Other ingredients which help protect the skin include:
• Beta glucan obtained from oyster mushrooms. This active ingredient is believed to combat oxidative stress and strengthen the skin’s natural resistance.
• Substances for protection of the skin include samphire (a sea fennel extract), aspalathus linearis extract (from Rooibos tea), glycyrrhetinic acid (from liquorice root), andrographis paniculata leaf extract (from an Asian plant) and argan oil.
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Secondary plant ingredients: a leading group of active ingredients
The fact that nature provides top-quality active ingredients such as polyphenols and flavonoids is a real gift for natural cosmetics. The positive effects of these secondary plant-based active ingredients also play an important role in medicine.
• Polyphenols, for example, offer protection against infection (cowberry), help with cardiovascular problems (red wine), improve the circulation (ginkgo) and even help to prevent tumours (in leukaemia, lung and breast cancer). Ingredients which aid tumour prevention include certain green tea substances and hypericin from St. John’s Wort.
• Flavonoids were discovered by the Nobel Prize Winner, Szent-Györgyi Nagyrapolt in the 1930s and were first known as vitamin P. They are contained in many plants and plant-based products such as lemon, grapes, tea and cocoa. Numerous studies have been conducted which confirm the beneficial effects of flavonoids. Particularly beneficial effects are produced by flavonoids from apples, green tea and bilberries. Quercetin from oak produces an excellent antioxidant effect.
• Green tea, lavender, blue grapes, poppy seeds, rose, berries and pansies and many others are all plants which contain anthocycanes (a subgroup of flavonoids). Because anthocycanes are more effective as radical scavengers than vitamins C and E, these ingredients are an ideal way of protecting the skin and keeping it fresh and healthy.
• Tanning agents (tannins) also come within the secondary plant ingredient group. They produce an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, astringent effect. They are an excellent anti-ageing ingredient due to the part they play in protecting the skin and keeping it healthy.
The importance of using natural cosmetics instead of isolated substances claiming to be “completely” natural is highlighted most clearly through secondary plant-based ingredients. An isolated ingredient is a “soloist”, whose effects cannot be compared with the overall effects obtained by the natural interaction between a wide range of ingredients. |
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The power of natural and bio-cosmetic products
Many of the achievements of modern anti-ageing cosmetics are based on a new world-wide approach to natural healing. This includes Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, thalassotherapy and phytotherapy – long-ignored or -forgotten knowledge about natural substances is “reactivated” and provides a starting point in a search for new active ingredients.
- The many different names of active ingredients almost hide the fact that most of the major active ingredients used to combat wrinkles come from four main sources: vitamins, phytohormones, polyphenols and flavonoids. What do wheat-germ oil, soya extract and green tea have to do with this?
- Wheat-germ oil is rich in vitamins, soya extract is rich in phytohormones and green-tea extract is rich in catechines, which count among the polyphenols.
- This means that a lot of the active ingredients described as having specific “anti-ageing powers” are found in natural ingredients such as vegetable oils and plant extracts. In addition, each plant-based ingredient is a real “active ingredient cocktail” on its own.
2. Stimulation, regeneration, anti-wrinkle effects
 Terms such as stimulation, regeneration or activation are frequently used for active ingredients intended to counteract tiredness and lack of toning. Extracts are good ways of improving moisture content, suppleness and skin tone. These include the following:
• Bamboo extract - for a better hyaluronic-acid status of the connective tissue.
• Soya extract - to promote cell regeneration. • Gingko extract - to improve the oxygen supply to the cells and to stimulate collagen production.
• Indian myrrh (commiphora mukul resin extract) – to stimulate important cell functions.
• Apple-seed extract - to reduce wrinkles by strengthening the collagen network.
• Caffeine - for its stimulating effect.
• Many algae extracts, such as an extract of the blue-green micro-algae spirulina, boost the skin's own regenerating properties to firm the skin.
• Punica granatum seed extract - an extract obtained from pomegranate seeds - boosts skin generation and acts as a toner.
• Guava extract (psidium guajava extract) firms and moisturises the skin.
• An extract of pear seeds (pyrus communis seed extract) will smooth the microstructure of the skin. The relevant ingredients of this and many other extracts are ursolic acid, flavonoids and phytosterols.
• Samphira, an extract of Crithmum maritinum, stimulates cell regeneration and strengthens a thinning epidermis. This extract makes an important contribution towards protecting the skin against premature ageing.
• Aspalathus linearis extract (obtained from rooibos tea) has good anti-oxidant properties due to its high polyphenol content.
• Andrographis paniculata leaf extract (obtained from an Asian plant) has protective, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This plant is well known in ayurvedic medicine and is also called “Indian echinacea”.
• Like many other plant extracts, green-tea extract is rich in natural polyphenols, which have a wide range of effects.
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