Are skincare products causing dependency in the long term??
As I stand there, looking at myself in the mirror putting my skincare products I wonder if the products that are currently sitting on my skin are making me more harm than good??, Everyone who uses skincare products uses them for the purpose of having a clear skin, the constant bombing of advertisements and social media influencers promoting the latest products leaves more than one overwhelmed and confused… Are all these products really helping my skin or are just a clever advertising campaigns to keep me hooked up just throwing away all my money on these??
The truth is that many skincare products are designed to create dependency to them, derivative products from retinol, vitamin c, salicylic and glycolic acid are made to show results in the long term, supposing a 75 ml serum bottle lasts 2 or 3 months in my personal experience, two or three bottles of these in the span of a year are needed to show any kind of difference.
And most of the time they often just mask and cover the issue instead of addressing it, as soon as you stop using them, all the skin irregularities will come back because the issue wasn’t addressed, this can lead to a vicious cycle of using more and more products to try and make up for a specific time you didn’t used them.
For example, take the retinol I said before, they claim and promise to reduce fine lines and wrinkles on adults and disintegrate blackheads in teenagers, while this may be true this is only temporary because as I said, the issue is just covered up instead of being addressed so as soon as you stop putting it, everything will come back, retinol secondary effects like irritation and dryness may lead to the need to buy moisturizing products to compensate for the dryness caused by the retinol.
Another issue with skincare products is the lack of regulation, just upon the starting of march the American FDA forced companies to list their active ingredients and side effects because they started to be considered as over-the-counter (etc) drugs, but just before that and in every other country the companies are free to put whatever ingredients they want without having to disclose what are you actually putting on your skin and if it may cause any kind of side effects to some people, this can lead to the situations where people unknowingly expose their skin to harsh chemicals and/ or allergens that can can cause long term permanent damage on their skin
(France, United States, Mexico) left to right difference in ingredient disclosing between skincare products from different brands and countries
Furthermore, the industry is built on the concept of skin type and skin concerns, this creates a sense of division among customers where they feel a need to find the adequate product for them, however, our skin is changing constantly and what works today may not work tomorrow.
Also, the need for having, perfect skin comes down from magazines and social media influencers showing a perfect clear skin making people insecure about their skin texture, porosity, etc. and most of them don’t understand that most of the pictures they see and compare themselves to are highly manipulated because skin irregularities are are a natural part of us and no one has a perfect skin, not for a long period
In conclusion, skin care products can solve some issues and provide benefits but they should be totally relied upon as the only solution for skin problems, things like what you eat, how much water you drink, how often you exercise, and how much time you sleep also has to do with your skin characteristics, we should also watch out for not falling into marketing campaigns and comparing ourselves to tampered images
