How long have you been loyal to your skin care regimen? Is it time to change it up?
Researchers at the University of Bath and Qatar University found that women were more loyal to beauty products and treatments when they didn’t work than when they did.
In 2007 interviews with nearly 300 women ages 27 to 65, the researchers found that the majority of women had used various anti-aging creams, vitamins and other beauty treatments within the last year. Three percent had medical treatments like Botox; a third had tried special diets; and about half had used salon treatments.
Only 27 percent of the women stopped using anti-aging skincare products even when they felt the products weren’t working. Ironically, among the women
who felt their treatments were successful, 55 percent stopped using them, the New York Times reported. The researchers theorized that fear was a powerful motivator – in other words, women felt more desperate when treatments weren’t “working” and less anxious if they perceived improvement.
Another study – this one conducted by Vaseline – found that women own an average of eight skin care products but only use two of them regularly, which amounts to $1,500 worth of waste. (In fact, one in seven admitted to keeping expired products.) Twenty percent of women ages 18 to 24 owned as many as 20 different skin care products, according to Yahoo’s Shine web site. That’s a lot of money literally being washed down the drain every day!
It can take time to see results from a skin care product – but if you’ve tried the same approach for several months, it may be time to add or subtract an element from the routine. Instead of your same daily moisturizing cream, for example, give our natural pore minimizer a try. It’s like getting three products in one: an exfoliator, a moisturizer and a pore minimizer – for under $20.
Opinions vary, but many skin care experts say we over-cleanse and exfoliate too much, which can strip skin of its natural oils and cause redness. They do agree that everyone should apply sunscreen every morning; be sure to remove makeup; and apply anti-aging skin cream before bed to work with the skin’s natural processes of renewal.
We believe that it matters how you care for your skin as much as what you use. All natural skincare products, when part of a consistent routine, along with plenty of rest, water and healthy foods, will work for virtually anyone.
Image: Robynlou Kavanagh / Flickr
