Choosing AntiAging Skin Care Products - Part Two

What to Look for in the Best AntiAging Skin Care Products

For more tip sheets and skin care product ingredients, read part one of Choosing the Most Effective AntiAging Skin Care Products.

The Proof is in the Active, Effective Ingredients

When searching for the best antiaging skin care products for your particular skin and age, it's easy to get lost in the blizzard of ads and promises. And when you decide to add a new product to your beauty routine, it's tricky to know how to combine it with the products you already use.

Many people end up taking advice from friends; but just because a product is beneficial to them, doesn't mean it will work for you.

The key to choosing a skin care routine that works is to understand your own skin and then identify the active ingredients that address your particular concerns.

The Tip Sheets that follow are designed to help you put together a beauty routine based on your skin's type, condition, and what you would like to achieve. They are by no means exhaustive; but rather focus on the best and latest active antiaging skin care ingredients - the ones that actually deliver results.

So you won't find fragrances, colors, fillers and such here. Each Tip Sheet ends with a few products that contain adequate amounts of the active ingredient.

When checking other brands, look for the active ingredients to be fairly high in the list, unless the ingredient has been shown to be so potent that it is effective even in small amounts.

In some categories, there are preferred ingredients that are significantly more effective than the others. These are indicated by an *.

Finally, there is a Tip Sheet of products that do double or triple duty, addressing more than one of your skin care concerns with the best ingredients currently available. If any of these suit your needs, you may be able to simplify your skin care routine and save money as well.

Skin Care Tip Sheet 6
Goal: Tighten Sagging Muscles to Hold Skin in Place

Action: Apply "skin lifting" cream once a day.

Result: Muscles which have slackened with age regain lost tone due to increased production of acetylcholine which keeps muscles taut. Effective on facial as well as upper arm and abdominal muscles. Long term use permanently lifts skin (see New York Times Bestseller The Wrinkle Cure by Dr. Nicholas Perricone).

Active Ingredients:

• DMAE (dimethylaminoethanol)*
• Ascorbyl palmitate, a.k.a. Vitamin C ester*

AntiAging Skin Care Products Containing These Ingredients:

• Reviva Alpha Lipoic Acid Vitamin C Ester & DMAE Cream*
• Great Skin All In One, Scalpel-less Face Lift Cream*
• Derma E DMAE-Alpha Lipoic-C-Ester Retexturizing Crème*
• Source Naturals Skin Eternal DMAE Serum

Skin Care Tip Sheet 7
Goal: Shrink Enlarged Pores in Mature Skin

Action: Cleanse gently twice daily with a cleansing cream or gel, according to your skin type. [Do not use soap because it strips skin of its NMFs.] Apply alpha-lipoic acid cream.

Result: More refined skin tone. Fewer whiteheads and blackheads.

Active Ingredient: alpha-lipoic acid*

AntiAging Skin Care Products Containing This Ingredient:

• Derma E DMAE-Alpha Lipoic-C-Ester Retexturizing Crème*
• Reviva Alpha Lipoic Acid Vitamin C Ester & DMAE Cream*

Skin Care Tip Sheet 8
Goal: Stop Deep Lines of Expression

Action: Use Botox-mimicking creams.

Result: While Botox destroys the protein which signals a muscle to tense, Botox-mimicking ingredients merely prevent the protein from delivering its signal, resulting in a temporary relaxation of the muscles that cause deep lies of expression. Maximum benefit is achieved in one month and is maintained so long as the product is used.

Active Ingredients:

• Argireline (a.k.a. acetyl hexapeptide-8)*
• GABA (gamma-amino butyric acid)*

AntiAging Skin Care Products Containing These Ingredients:

• DDF Wrinkle Relax*
• Great Skin BTX Double Action Gel*

Tip Sheet 9
Goal: Lighten Age or Other Dark Spots

Action: Use bleaching or lightening cream. Follow package or doctor's instructions carefully. Bleaching of the skin's melanin removes some of your body's natural sunscreen.

Result: More even skin tone; destruction of abnormal melanin that might lead to skin cancer.

Ingredients:

• Hydroquinone (use only under doctor's supervision)
• Hydroquinone derivatives such as hauronoside (mitracarpus scaber leaf extract) and arbutin* (arctostaphylos uva ursi leaf extract)
• Beta carotene
• Glabridine (licorice extract)
• Paper mulberry plant extract
• Kojic acid*
• Azeleic acid
• Dithiaoctanediol
• Vitamin C derivatives in combined form, e.g. L-ascorbic acid, magnesium phosphate and sodium ascorbyl phosphate

AntiAging Skin Care Products Containing These Ingredients:

• DermaDoctor Immaculate Correction Potent Hydroquinone-Free Skin Brightener*
• Reviva Labs Skin Lightener for Day Fade Cream*

Skin Care Tip Sheet 10
The All Stars - Double or Triple Duty AntiAging Skin Care Products

You may have noticed that many of the products in the earlier Tip Sheets appear in more than one category. This means they contain effective active ingredients that have more than one antiaging skin care benefit.

Not only can these products simplify your daily skin care routine, but they can actually save you money.

Is it better to pay $100 for a jar of cream that addresses three concerns or $50 each for three separate products? Only you can decide what's right for you.

Remember that an * indicates the product has the best ingredient(s) in its class. Tip Sheets 1 and 4 have no preferred ingredients, meaning all are thought to be equally effective. Your choice in these categories depends on personal sensitivities and preferences.

For reference, here is a list of the Tip Sheet Goals:

• 1. Sun Protection
• 2. Moisturize and Prevent Wrinkles
• 3. Assist the Skin in Fighting Free Radical Damage
• 4. Get Back that Healthy Glow and Make Skin Act Younger Again
• 5. Erase Wrinkles and Reduce Sagging Skin
• 6. Tighten Sagging Muscles to Hold Skin in Place
• 7. Shrink Enlarged Pores in Mature Skin
• 8. Stop Deep Lines of Expression
• 9. Lighten Age or Other Dark Spots