How Anti-Aging Creams Work

Have you seen a picture of Jennifer Aniston lately? How about Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman and Salma Hayek? Can you guess their age? Well, if you say somewhere in their thirties, you'd be half correct because they certainly look like they're in their thirties! But guess what? All of the famous actresses I've mentioned are all in their forties! What's their secret in looking more beautiful as they get older? Is it possible to look younger and defy the natural aging process without cosmetic surgery? These are the questions that everyone's been asking. More importantly, these are the questions that have spurred on the creation of a strong sector of the beauty products industry.

In this day and age, with these famous celebrities looking younger and more beautiful as they pile on the years, a high demand for more effective and cost-effective anti-aging products has emerged. Who wouldn't want to look younger and more beautiful like those Hollywood celebrities? That is why numerous beauty companies like L'Oréal, Estēe Lauder, Olay, and Shiseido have answered this demand by producing their own anti-aging lines. Even sunless tanning products nowadays contain advertise that they contain anti-aging components. So, how do these anti-aging creams really work? Are they really effective? Can they be considered as a good alternative for cosmetic surgery?

Let us first examine how anti-aging products work in order to determine if they can be considered as a step towards finding the fountain of youth. Different anti-aging products nowadays use a variety of active ingredients that they claim is key to having the desired effect of having younger looking skin devoid of wrinkles and age spots. Some anti-aging creams boast of containing the active ingredient called Retinol, which is a vitamin A compound that is claimed to effectively prevent the appearance of wrinkles. How? Well, Retinol is proven to battle against the effects of free radicals, which are essentially unstable oxygen molecules that cause damage to skin cells that lead to the appearance of wrinkles. These products claim that by applying their anti-aging creams twice daily, the development of wrinkles is nipped in the bud. In other words, wrinkles are killed off even before they start to develop.

There is a new active ingredient that many anti-aging products use that say they have revolutionized anti-aging technology. The use of pentapeptides, a chain of five amino acids, has recently become popular due to its ability to induce the body's production of collagen and elastic—two very important components of keeping skin firm and elastic. When collagen and elastin are produced at optimal levels, the skin will become firmer, tighter and more flexible, which effectively fills out wrinkles and prevents the onslaught of natural aging to the skin. These are the characteristics of younger looking skin that many desire. And thus, pentapeptide research has grown to such proportions as it is being labeled as the key ingredient to the fountain of youth.

With the promises that these beauty products, like sunless tanning lotions, facial cleansers, and soaps, have of making you more beautiful while at the same time making your skin younger looking, it is not a wonder why these products are so saleable! But are they really effective? The science behind it is indeed logical and its continued production seems to connote success. Well, let me just let you decide.