Main ingredients of anti-aging skin care products

Currently, the core anti-aging ingredients that have been clinically verified worldwide and generally recognized by the skin care industry can be classified into three major directions: "scavenging free radicals and antioxidants", "stimulating collagen regeneration", and "repairing photoaging damage". The top representatives are vitamin C/ergothioneine, alcohol A/boloseine, and ectoine. In addition, there are also many controversial niche ingredients that are breaking through. People with different skin types and different skin care concepts have very different ingredients suitable for them.

A while ago, I helped my best friend organize her overflowing dressing table. There were 7 bottles of anti-aging essences alone. The slogans for each bottle were crazy, such as "Nobel Prize-winning technology" and "applicable Thermage". I almost laughed out loud after flipping through the ingredient list - half of the core is Bose, and the remaining half is A-alcohol in different concentrations. The remaining fancy plant extracts are basically just a few compound ingredients, and their effects are almost like the icing on the cake.

It is said that A-ol is an "old Internet celebrity" in the anti-aging circle. It has been firmly positioned as the "anti-aging gold standard" for so many years. It is not unreasonable: the retinoic acid converted into it after entering the skin can directly stimulate fibroblasts to produce collagen and elastin. Whether it is dry lines at the corners of the eyes or slight sagging of the jawline, as long as you establish a good tolerance and insist on using it for two or three months, you can see obvious improvements in most cases. The price/performance ratio is also high. There are products ranging from dozens to thousands of dollars, so it is up to you. However, the controversy has never ended: the strong drug school believes that as long as tolerance is established, high-concentration A-alcohol is the ceiling for anti-aging. ； Moderates think that most ordinary people simply don’t understand how to build tolerance. Blindly applying A will only ruin the face and destroy the skin barrier, but will accelerate sagging and dullness. A while ago, I met a post-00s fan. In order to prevent facial collapse, I directly used 0.5% high-concentration A-alcohol. After applying it for half a month, the whole face was dry and red. Originally, it was just a little fake dry lines. In the end, it took more than three months for the skin to return to its original state. It was really not worth the gain. If you really want to try alcohol A, it is better to start with a concentration of 0.1% or even lower and slowly build up tolerance by using it 1-2 times a week. For those with sensitive skin, simply choose milder retinaldehyde and bakuchiol instead. There is no need to resort to strong drugs.

After talking about powerful medicines, let’s talk about the antioxidant ingredients that everyone is exposed to every day. Many people apply vitamin C in the morning just for this reason. During the day, ultraviolet rays and electronic screen radiation will cause the skin to produce a large number of free radicals. These things are like "little bugs" that eat collagen. If they are not removed in time, your face will appear yellow and loose. In the past, everyone loved to use prototype vitamin C. The effect was indeed powerful, but the disadvantages were also obvious: it was sensitive to light and heat, easily deactivated, and the upper face was prone to stinging and yellowing. The most popular product in the past two years is ergothioneine, which is used in many high-end anti-aging essences costing thousands of dollars. It can penetrate directly into the mitochondria to remove free radicals. It is much more stable than vitamin C. It does not need to be protected from light and is not easily irritated. It can also help the skin improve its antioxidant capacity. It is a long-lasting type. However, this industry is also in deep water. The effects of ergothioneine of different purity and different sources are very poor. Some products worth dozens of dollars are also labeled as containing ergothioneine. In fact, the concentration is not even 0.01%, and the effect is not as good as if you eat an extra orange every day.

If you have sensitive skin and cannot handle A-alcohol, but you want to actually promote collagen, then Bose is most likely your cup of tea. It used to be the exclusive patent of L'Oréal Group. After the patent expired in the past two years, many domestic products began to make it, and the price dropped directly. In the past few years, European and American ingredients parties always said that Bose is a "marketing star" and feels that it is not as effective as Alcohol A. In the past two years, clinical data from many domestic dermatology departments have come out, which has truly proved that it can really promote the production of mucopolysaccharides in the dermis. It can not only fill fine lines, but also make the dermis and epidermis connect more closely, so that the face will not collapse easily. The key is that it is gentle enough that it can be used by dry skin, sensitive skin, and pregnant women. When I have sensitive skin during the change of seasons, I will stop using alcohol A and replace it with 30% Bosein cream. After applying it for half a month, the dry lines at the corners of my mouth and the slight collapse of the apples of my skin can be suppressed. There will be no redness or stinging problem at all. It is really friendly to sensitive skin.

In addition to these mainstream ingredients, many niche anti-aging ingredients have emerged in the past two years, and the most controversial one is blue copper peptide. People who praise it say it is "anti-aging soft gold", which can not only promote collagen but also repair the barrier. It is gentle and can be used even if the face is damaged. ； People who scold it say it is an "IQ tax". Not only is it poor in activity, it will become ineffective after half a month in an open-top bottle. It is also completely incompatible with common ingredients such as acids and A-alcohols, and your face will get muddy as soon as you use it. The price/performance ratio is ridiculously low. In fact, there is nothing wrong with both statements. The blue copper peptide itself is indeed very effective, but only if you buy a regular product with locked packaging and sufficient concentration, and cannot be layered with other functional ingredients when using it. It is suitable for people with simple skin care steps and particularly sensitive skin. If you like to stack several functional essences, then it will most likely not be suitable for you. There is also a relatively niche brand of Ectoin, which is an excellent anti-photoaging agent. It is especially suitable for office workers who commute in the sun and face computers every day. After applying sunscreen and adding a layer of Ectoin essence, the probability of sunburn, photoaging and fine lines will be much lower. It is a type that moisturizes things silently.

Many people ask me whether the more expensive the ingredients and the higher the concentration, the better for anti-aging? Not really. I once met a 40+ sister whose daily skin care consisted of dozens of yuan of prototype vitamin C and hundreds of yuan of low-concentration A alcohol lotion. She also paid attention to sun protection. Her skin was tighter and had fewer fine lines than those who spent hundreds of thousands a year on high-end suits. To put it bluntly, there are no absolute good or bad anti-aging ingredients, only whether they are suitable or not: oily and acne-prone skin can tolerate it well, and low-concentration alcohol A is the most cost-effective. ； People with dry and sensitive skin are afraid of irritation. Boseine and ergothioneine are more worry-free when used. ； Commuters bask in the sun every day, so it’s a good idea to add Ectoin. Don’t blindly chase new technologies that sound mysterious. Choose the right one that suits you, which is better than anything else.