Beautie15 asks…What is your go-to anti-aging/wrinkle product? I do some work with StriVectin and I love to hear feedback from anyone who has tried it or are thinking about trying it to help reduce the appearance of lines on your face. I’ve been trying the new StriVectin-SD for about 5 weeks now and my face feels softer and looks healthier. They say it takes about 8 weeks to see full results, so I’ll let you know how it goes!
The Right Brain responds:
To be honest, Beautie, we haven’t heard great things about StiVectin (see this discussion thread in our Forum for details.) But, we are big fans of testing products for yourself rather than just accepting the marketing hype.
Case in point: Autumn Whitefield-Madrano (who runs a terrific blog called “The Beheld”) has done a “split-face” experiment using Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair. While this kind of study doesn’t take the place of a controlled clinical study, it does demonstrate the kind of critical thinking that the Beauty Brains champion. So, Autumn has graciously agreed to share her experimental results with our readers. Enjoy!
Wrinkle Cream Assessment (by Autumn Whitefield-Madrano)
At age 34, I’m only just now tiptoeing into the world of anti-aging creams. My inborn skepticism has always led me to believe that most creams are snake oil—but when I started seeing fine lines creep up on my face, even snake oil viscerally seemed like it just might be worth a shot. The best way to test its efficacy–not in some company’s lab, but on me? Applying anti-aging cream to half my face for a month.
The results
Well, the cream (Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair, for the curious) lived up to its eponymous claim: It did rapidly “repair” my wrinkles, to a degree. I could tell a difference in the length and depth of the fine lines that crinkle up beneath my eyes when I smile, and so could 59% of people who examined close-up photos of my face. (Only 15% of people guessed flat-out wrong; the rest couldn’t tell a difference.)
Visualizing with Visia
I went in for a Visia skin analysis, which confirmed what I’d detected: There were fewer wrinkles on the treated side of my face. But when the spa director at Sensitive Touch in New York looked more carefully at the other results of my Visia scan, she advised me to stop using the cream altogether. Visia showed that I had more spots and irritation on the treated side of my face. The difference between the halves of my face wasn’t dramatic—about as dramatic as the “wrinkle repair”—but it begged the question: At what point is the tradeoff of mild skin damage for mild wrinkle improvement no longer worth it?
The cream’s packaging clearly instructs users to discontinue use if signs of irritation or rash appear. But as anyone who’s used even a mild retinol knows, skin irritation isn’t some kooky, infrequent side effect, like, say, the weird dreams that accompany anti-smoking drug Chantix. We expect that irritation—when half my face started seriously flaking a week into the experiment, I took it as par for the course. But that was just the visible side effect: Had I not had a high-tech skin analysis done, I might not have realized that my skin was continually being irritated, even after it had adjusted as seen by the naked eye. (I’ll admit that the peculiarities of my experiment prevent me from getting too up in arms about it: A half-face of flaky, peeling skin is even weirder-looking than a full face of the same.) Plus, the cornucopia of sunscreen agents in this particular ensures better broad-spectrum protection…but one of those agents, homosalate, is known for drying and tightening the skin.
Pros and cons
The series of tradeoffs—broad spectrum protection for heightened chance of irritation; mild retinol benefits for mild retinol damage—might be worth it for some. Frankly, I’m not sure it’s worth it for me—but I’m not sure it’s not worth it, either. I think my reluctance indicates that scientific proof of a treatment’s efficacy isn’t really what I’m after when I spend that meditative moment applying cream every night. I’m more after the idea that I’m doing something brief but concrete to help myself age gracefully. The cream I used has a nice feel (love that dimethicone!), making me feel like every night I was indulging myself (well, half of myself) in a feminine ritual. I know that sunscreen, yoga, and getting my five-a-day are the true routes to aging gracefully—but despite its underwhelming visible effects, I just may keep this cream as a companion along the way.
Autumn Whitefield-Madrano writes about beauty from a sociological, personal, and philosophical perspective at The Beheld.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Autumn, a very good article …more, many more, please, BB’s.
Thanks very much for your post.It will help me buy cosmetics is very helpful.
I don’t think anyone should stop using a product because of comments made by a spa director. Only a dermatologist is qualified to make a determination that something other than temporary irritation and sloughing is happening and the product is inappropriate for you.
When I first started using tretinoin it irritated my skin and made it peel. HOWEVER, over time the irritation and peeling stopped AND there is evidence that it actually causes an increase in collagen, which thickens skin, despite causing faster renewal of the surface cells.
However, I’m not a believer in non-prescription “wrinkle treatments.” Though I buy all my cosmetics at the drug store, for wrinkle treatment I see a dermatologist and use prescription products whose effectiveness has been proven via scientific testing, as reflected in medical journal articles. Spas make money selling the products they stock. My dermatologist doesn’t make more money when she writes me a prescription for one product versus another, so I trust her judgment.
Kudos to Autumn for not just buying into the hype! It seems like Autumn conducted her informal study with as little bias as one could be considering she herself was the subject.
I will say that I do notice the lines on the treated side of Autumn’s face seem less severe; even the Nasolabial fold (smile line) on her treated side seems shorter and less pronounced. Which makes me wonder…I have a really tough time believing that an over the counter wrinkle treatment could make that big a difference- in just 30 days, nonetheless. I’m wondering if Autumn has compared her full face “after” picture with one taken before the experiment. No one is totally symmetrical, and it’s totally possible that the lines on the treated side of Autumn’s face were actually less severe to begin with. It really seems like Autumn took care to cover all of her bases, and like I said, I respect that a ton- this is just one more consideration to evaluate.
Last, I have to say I agree with Texas Reader- I’d definitely take the spa director’s opinion with a grain of salt. I’m not familiar with the technology Visia uses and how it determines what constitutes “irritation”, but I can say with 100% certainty that Spa employees definitely aren’t agenda-free when it comes to treating the skin- it’s their financial livelihood. I’d be surprised if you could find an esthetician that would recommend an inexpensive, drug-store cream over whatever pricier options they hawk at their salon.
Personnally, I have been using the StriVectin under eye creme for about 2 years now. I started using it when I was working in the Desert and noticed that some of the women out there had dry, leathery, looking skin. When I asked them, they said that they just used “xxxx” Brand (All 6 of them used light over the counter big brand moisturizers 1 time in the morning and some 1 time in the evening.) I decided that I didn’t want that kind of skin, so I started using Dermalogica in the mornings and the StriVectin at bed time. I have to say that I’m very happy with it, and the beauty of it was that my Dermatologist said that I was doing the right thing… Start moisturizing early and often with a good quality moisturizer. He said that both are fine products, but he did advise me to switch to “Cetaphil” for cleansing and to “Clinique” moisturizers when I have eczema breakouts, because the Clinique wouldn’t irritate my skin as badly as some of the other moisturizers would. Take the 2 cents for what they are worth. I like the StriVectin and the Dermalogica, I know they are expensive, but it doesn’t take much.
Reliance on moisturizers cause your skin to stop producing the oils necessary to lubricate and naturally moisturize your skin. Natural oils are better, they work in conjunction with the oils in your skin to naturally lubricate. Try sea buckthorn oil from Swell Skin.
Kelli
DiHom