I have always wondered about that. I like Khiel's for my shaving cream and after shave - definitely better than Barbasol, but beyond that I have always wondered if all these expensive products are worth the money, or if they are simply a sham. I came to think that it's somewhere in-between. And this stuff can get very expensive if you think of the whole battery of products one needs - shaving cream, after shave, pre-shave lotion, gel, bla, bla, bla. For women the scenario is much worse, there is like ten thousand things out there - add them up, and you got a big hole in your pocket. On my recent visit to Barneys while buying my Acqua di Parma cologne the salesman tried to talk me into some new brand that does this and that (one of their products had cashmere in it - woopty fucking doo). I found the NYTimes article below very interesting. What do you people think?
The Cosmetics Restriction Diet
The Cosmetics Restriction Diet
DR. FRAN E. COOK-BOLDEN, a
dermatologist in Manhattan, is an advocate of skin-care minimalism.
When a patient recently arrived for an appointment toting 20 different
products she was using regularly ? including an eye cream, a vitamin C
cream, a wrinkle serum, a pigmentation cream, a mask, a peel, a scrub
and ?some sort of special oxygen detoxifying cream? ? Dr. Cook-Bolden
said she confiscated all but three.
?It gave me a headache just to look at all of those products,? Dr.
Cook-Bolden said. ?Just two products, a gentle cleanser and a good
sunscreen, are enough daily skin care for most people, and you can buy
those at a drugstore or a grocery store.?
Dr. Cook-Bolden is part of a back-to-basics movement among
dermatologists. At a time when beauty companies are introducing an
increasing number of products marketed for specific body parts
?including necks, creases around the mouth and eyelids ? or for
apocryphal maladies like visible pores or cellulite, these doctors are
putting their patients on cosmetics restriction diets.
They are prescribing simplified skin-care routines requiring at most
three steps: soap; sunscreen every day, no matter the weather or the
season; and, if necessary, a product tailored to specific skin needs,
whether a cream for pimples or pigmented spots, or a vitamin-enriched
moisturizer for aging skin. Each product, they say, can be bought at
drugstores for $30 or less.
Among those doctors who have become experts at uncluttering their
patients? vanity tables and medicine cabinets is Dr. Sarah Boyce
Sawyer, an assistant professor of dermatology at the School of Medicine
at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
?My New Year?s beauty resolution for patients is: cut down on
skin-care products and cut your skin-care budget,? Dr. Sawyer said.
?Cut down on those $100 potions.?
For some doctors, simplifying skin-care routines is a way to make
patients follow a regimen or a means to soothe irritated skin. But some
dermatologists are also suggesting patients use fewer, less expensive
products because they believe there is little scientific research to
justify buying an armload of pricey cosmetics, Dr. Sawyer said.
?We have good medical evidence on prescription products,? she said. ?But the science is fuzzy with a lot of cosmetics.?
Unlike drugs, cosmetics are not required to prove their efficacy.
Prescription medications like Accutane for acne and over-the-counter
drugs such as sunscreen ingredients must undergo rigorous clinical
testing before they gain approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
But cosmetics are not subject to the agency?s scrutiny before they go
on sale. The F.D.A. defines cosmetics as topical products that do not
alter the structure or function of the skin.
Dr. William P. Coleman III, the vice president of the American
Academy of Dermatology, said consumers should view moisturizers and
wrinkle creams as no more than superficial treatments.
?You have to think of cosmetics as decorative and hygienic, not as
things that are going to change your skin,? said Dr. Coleman, who is a
clinical professor of dermatology at Tulane University
Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. ?A $200 cream may have better
perfume or packaging, but as far as it moisturizing your skin better
than a $10 cream, it probably won?t.?
According to F.D.A. regulations, beauty manufacturers are
responsible for the safety of their cosmetics and for their own
marketing claims. Although many beauty companies perform studies on
their products, they are not required to conduct clinical trials on the
level of medical research or to make their proprietary research
available to the public.
Dr. Mary Ellen Brademas, a clinical assistant professor of dermatology at New York University Medical Center,
said the paucity of rigorous published science on cosmetics makes it
difficult to determine how well creams work, whether they cost $10,
$100 or $1,000.
?People are spending $450 on a jar of cream just because it is made
out of something exotic like salmon eggs or cocoons,? Dr. Brademas
said. ?But the cheapest products work just as well as the more
expensive ones.?
A study of wrinkle creams published last month by Consumer Reports
concluded that there was no correlation between price and
effectiveness. The study, which tested nine brands of wrinkle creams
over 12 weeks, also concluded that none of the products reduced the
depth of wrinkles by more than 10 percent, an amount ?barely visible to
the naked eye.?
The Consumer Reports study found, for example, that a three-step
regimen of Olay Regenerist products costing $57 was slightly more
effective at reducing the appearance of wrinkles than a $135 tube of
StriVectin-SD or a $335 combination of two La Prairie Cellular lotions.
?I am seduced by fancy packaging as much as the next person,? Dr.
Brademas said. ?But I have a theory that all these skin-care things
come out of the same vat in New Jersey.?
John Bailey, the executive vice president for science of the
Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association, an industry trade group
in Washington, said that skin care varies widely in price because of
amounts spent on research and development of ingredients and product
formulas, and the cost of manufacturing and packaging.
But, he said, it is difficult to measure performance differences among products.
?Cosmetics don?t have the same quantitative analysis as drugs, so
you don?t have a set gauge you can use to determine perceived and
actual benefits,? said Dr. Bailey, who has a Ph.D. in chemistry.
?Ultimately, consumers will have to try products out and find what
works best for them.?
THE back-to-basics skin-care regimen is based on practicality
rather than marketing claims. It does not rely on exotic ingredients
grown on far-flung islands hand-picked by natives only under a full
moon.
Dr. Diane C. Madfes, a clinical instructor at Mount Sinai School of
Medicine, said that basic skin care requires washing one?s face to
remove dirt, sweat and bacteria, and using sunscreen to impede sun
damage. People who worry about wrinkles, pimples, dry spots or pores
may want to add one or two treatment products, she said.
Dr. Cook-Bolden, who has been a paid consultant for several
mass-market cosmetics brands, suggested a mild liquid cleanser for the
face. Instead of using toners, which may strip skin, or gritty
exfoliation beads and microdermabrasion systems, which may irritate
skin, she recommended using a washcloth to slough off dead skin cells.
?If you have dry, sensitive skin, you just pat the washcloth on your
face gently in a circular motion,? she said. ?If you don?t have
irritated skin, you can put more speed and pressure on the washcloth.?
Dermatologists disagree whether a moisturizer is then needed. Dr. Brademas said it is superfluous.
?Moisturizer is optional unless you are in the Arctic,? said Dr.
Brademas, who favors Vaseline petroleum jelly for dry hands, feet,
knees and elbows. ?I?m not sure moisturizers do very much except for
creating a smooth surface so that makeup can go on without drag.?
Dr. Cook-Bolden took a more agnostic position.
?If you need a moisturizer, moisturize,? she said. ?If you want less
moisture, use a lotion. If you want more, use a cream. And if you have
acne-prone skin, use a gel or a spray.?
Although the dermatologists interviewed for this article disagreed
about moisturizer, they agreed on one point: the importance of sun
protection, including hats, avoidance of midday sun and the use of an
effective sunscreen. They recommended that consumers look for formulas
that include ingredients ? like zinc oxide, titanium dioxide or Mexoryl
SX ? that impede damage from the sun?s longer wavelength UVA rays, a
protective effect that is not indicated by a product?s SPF rating.
Beyond soap and sunscreen, Dr. Madfes said that one or two
additional products might be added to personalize a skin-care routine.
?People who see wrinkles around their eyes are going to reach for an
eye cream,? Dr. Madfes said. ?Someone who looks in the mirror and sees
large pores may want to use a cleanser with salicylic acid, which can
reduce clogged pores.?
She is also a proponent of night creams that combine retinol, a form
of vitamin A that may help speed up the turnover of skin cells, and
antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E or lycopene that may help
thwart environmental damage to the skin. People with skin conditions
like severe acne or people interested in topical anti-wrinkle drugs
should consult their doctors about prescription medications, she said.
On an expedition last week to a CVS Pharmacy at Columbus Circle with
a reporter, Dr. Madfes examined the product labels on skin-care items
from a variety of mass-market brands and recommended a few basic
products, including Cetaphil cleanser and La Roche-Posay Anthelios SX
sunscreen.
?Higher end, more expensive products may look better in the box and
feel better on your face, but they don?t necessarily work better than
less expensive products as long as you look for ingredients that are
known for efficacy,? Dr. Madfes said.
But she did see one benefit to splurging.
?The thing is, when someone buys a $200 cream, they are going to use
that cream,? Dr. Madfes said. ?So, in the end, their skin may benefit.?
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