What Dermatologists Really Think About Those Anti-Aging Products

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What Dermatologists Really Think About Those Anti-Aging Products

By Jeannette Neumann | Bloomberg Businessweek | December 21, 2023

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When Heather Rogers’ 13-year-old daughter recently said that all she wanted for Christmas was a skin-care product with hyaluronic acid, Rogers said she’d had enough.  “I said, ‘No, you just need sunscreen, and you need to close your mouth,’ ” says Rogers, who’s a board-certified dermatologist in Seattle. She says her daughter’s request is emblematic of Americans’ growing obsession with buying products that have a main ingredient that sounds straight out of a laboratory. Better still if it pledges to hydrate, strengthen the “skin barrier” or, above all, slow the signs of aging.

Beauty companies big and small are increasingly using science—or at least words and phrases that sound like they’re pulled from a peer-reviewed journal—to market their products. The dollar value of products sold in the US that say they include clinical ingredients, such as niacinamide and hyaluronic acid (both can help hydrate skin), has been growing at an average annual rate of 71.5% during the past five years versus 5.3% for overall skin-care items. The surge in demand for ingredient-led products has surpassed consumer interest in beauty items marketed as “natural” or “organic,” which were particularly popular before the pandemic.

Welcome to the scientification of skin care. An increased trend that prodded many to try to address their perceived skin imperfections. With guidance from skin-care influencers on TikTok and elsewhere, shoppers snapped up clinical-sounding beauty products to expand their facial routines to half a dozen steps or more.  The skin-care-cum-science trend is generating billions of dollars in sales for big cosmetics makers such as Estée Lauder and L’Oréal SA, as well as for smaller companies.

“As a doctor, I think it’s terrible,” says Rogers, the dermatologist. Consumer enthusiasm for applying multiple products that each focus on a single ingredient has increased the number of patients who come to her with irritated skin. Many of the skin-care items contain preservatives to prevent unwanted organisms from growing in the products, but they can also kill good ones that help the skin.

Rogers tells her patients to avoid the many-step routines that are popular on social media and just use face wash, a morning and evening treatment to prevent or correct any damage, moisturizer and, most important, sunscreen.

For now, though, cosmetics companies are doubling down on scientification. And the latest beauty buzzword is longevity. While the term “anti-aging” targets a specific older demographic and can have a negative connotation—presenting aging as something to be fought against—promoting longevity in beauty flirts with the promise of extended vitality. And that’s desired at any age.

Some of the most boring-but-effective treatments to keep skin looking young have been around for ages, including maintaining a good diet, staying hydrated and ditching cigarettes.

3 key takeaways from the article

1. Welcome to the scientification of skin care. An increased trend that prodded many to try to address their perceived skin imperfections. With guidance from skin-care influencers on TikTok and elsewhere, shoppers snapped up clinical-sounding beauty products to expand their facial routines to half a dozen steps or more.
2. Beauty companies big and small are increasingly using science—or at least words and phrases that sound like they’re pulled from a peer-reviewed journal—to market their products. The dollar value of products sold in the US that say they include clinical ingredients, such as niacinamide and hyaluronic acid (both can help hydrate skin), has been growing at an average annual rate of 71.5% during the past five years versus 5.3% for overall skin-care items.
3. Some of the most boring-but-effective treatments to keep skin looking young have been around for ages, including maintaining a good diet, staying hydrated and ditching cigarettes.

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Topics:  Aging, Medical, Longevity