Do you know the difference between medical grade skin care vs over the counter products? Some would say the price difference, but have you been to the beauty counter at your favorite department store?? As you read on I will dive into the differences and help decipher where to invest your hard earned money. I will use my favorite line Cosmedix® as a reference point.
The famous saying “You get what you pay for” is very true in this situation, referring to QUALITY and QUANTITY of ingredients to meet and treat your skin’s challenges. How these ingredients are being delivered into your skin is key for results. Quantity is the percent or dosage of ingredients, which is allowed to be higher in medical grade skin care lines. A great example is Pure C, Vitamin C mixing crystals by Cosmedix, that is 100% pure L-absorbing acid. Your skin is absorbing one pure treatment based ingredient. Looking at the long list of ingredients on the back of the drugstore or department store Vitamin C product, there are probably names of ingredients no one can pronounce let alone know where they came from. At the very bottom, possibly even the last listed, is the source of Vitamin C because FDA regulations for food and cosmetics are as follows:
“On a product label, the ingredients are listed in order of predominance, with the ingredients used in the greatest amount first, followed in descending order by those in smaller amounts.”
Stacey is wondering why her sun damaged skin doesn’t look any different after an entire month of using a $17 bottle of Vitamin C moisturizer from Walgreens. Meanwhile her sister Stephanie’s skin looks healthy, glowing and less tired in the same amount of time. Stephanie asked her professional esthetician for a recommendation to help her complexion. She spent $54 on the Pure C crystals and the proof is right there on her face. Investing a little extra money will pay off in the end.
Quality of product is of the utmost importance when looking for a skincare line. For example, Cosmedix uses organic pure plant derived ingredients and chemists spend months, if not years, in state of the art labs perfecting the final products. They develop delivery methods of these benefit driven ingredients so skin cells not only recognize them but also absorb them without causing inflammation or other harsh side effects. Drugstores’ and department stores’ cosmetic counters are full of products that are mostly buffers (aka an inexpensive product used to help fill the bottle). The most used buffers are water, glycerin and petrolatum, the latter two of which merely sit on the surface doing nothing but clogging your pores and weighing your skin down thus causing premature aging.
Creating a healthy relationship with your skin is or should be your #1 goal. The skin is your largest organ and how we are taking care of ourselves reflects in our skin’s tone, texture and color. Your complexion is usually your first impression, so invest in yourself …. You are worth it!
