Angie asks…Why does H20 Plus Face Oasis look so different from other moisturizers?

The Right Brain replies:

Face Oasis looks different because it is different from regular moisturizers.

H2O Plus Face Oasis Ingredients

If you look at the ingredients for traditional moisturizing lotions you’ll see chemicals like cetyl alcohol or stearic acid that give the product its creamy consistency. But Face Oasis doesn’t have any of those, no sir! Instead it contains the following:

Propylene Glycol, Glycerin, Glycereth 7, Glycosaminoglycans, Dimethicone, PEG 12 Dimethicone, Carbomer, and Triethanolamine

Face Oasis is based on water soluble moisturizing agents (called humectants) rather than fatty, waxy materials and oils. That means it has more of a gel-like appearance instead of looking white and creamy.

Is H2O Plus better?

If you don’t like the greasy feel of oil and wax based emulsions this product may be just right for you. However, since it is lacking in key ingredients that lock moisture in skin, like petrolatum and other oils, it may not provide enough moisture for certain skin types.

What do YOU think? Do you need heavier moisturizers or would you try something different like H20 Plus Face Oasis? Leave a comment and share your thoughts with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

Mid Brain reports:

Tired of spending top dollar for that Anti-aging skin lotion only to see barely noticeable effects? Take heart because scientists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have recently discovered some new bio-markers that should help in the development anti-aging lotions that really work.

The sad truth is that creams and lotions that claim to be anti-aging are not much more effective than standard moisturizing lotions. Under the right testing circumstances, you can make anyone’s skin look less wrinkled with a decent moisturizer. When you hear really impressive claims, the comparisons are probably done against untreated skin. And most people’s untreated skin will look nasty when compared to lotion treated skin. Of course, the good news is that most skin lotion do provide a benefit. You should be using them often.

What Dr. James Sligh Jr. and his group report is a new method for determining whether these products actually work or not. So instead of comparing a lotion against no treatment, cosmetic chemists will be able to use these bio-markers to see if the products are actually working. That will allow them to screen thousands of ingredients and formulas quickly. Who knows, maybe someday these products will become competition for the only really effective anti-aging treatment, cosmetic surgery.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Incidentally, you really won’t see much performance difference in skin lotions that cost more than $20 a bottle. They just don’t work better.

Brenda is bemused….Do products that claim to reduce shiny skin oiliness really work? I was thinking of buying Murad Oil Control but I don’t want to get scammed. Can the Beauty Brains please enlighten me?

The Right Brain replies:

We always encourage the Beauty Brains community to be on skeptical alert for products that sound too good to be true, so we’d be glad to try to shine some light on the shine control claims of Murad.

Oil Control Claims

This product is a lotion that claims to provide sun protection and oil control. The sun protection part is easy: it contains 3 different FDA approved sunscreens so there’s no issue there. Understanding oil control is a bit more slippery.

According to Murad’s website, Oil-Control Mattifier SPF 15 “reduces shine on contact and keeps skin free of excess oil by up to 78% for 8 hours. Oil-Control Complex helps regulate oil production while preserving moisture to provide a long-lasting matte finish.”  That’s a pretty impressive claim, but is there any science behind this so called oil control complex?

Active ingredients

Three of the ingredients in Murad Oil Control (Argania Spinosa Kernel Extract, Serenoa Serrulata Fruit Extract, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Extract), comprise a complex sold by the Centerchem company called “Regu-Seb.”  According to their website Regu-seb is made of  “polyphenolrich fractions from the fruits of the North American saw palmetto and South American sesame seeds in a Moroccan argan oil base. Its perfectly balanced polyphenol formula, consisting mostly of lignans and phytosterols, helps to control and reduce sebum production, especially in the T-zone area of the face.”  Centerchem cites  two research studies. The first is an in vitro study done on reconstructed epidermis that shows a dose-response-dependent inhibition of dihydrotestosteron (DHT) synthesis by Regu-Seb. Results showed that at 1% the complex could inhibit DHT synthesis 35% vs. control.  (DHT is a chemical that’s involved in oil production in skin.) The second study was done in vivo and showed that at 5% concentration, a cream with 5% of the complex reduced  the severity of seborrheic skin condition by 46% (after 30 and 90 days.) If this data is valid, there does appear to be some basis for this complex reducing oil production.  It does make me wonder about the Moroccan oil too.

Does Murad Oil Control really work?

The fact that the supplier has data showing the complex has some effect between 1% and 5% is very encouraging but it isn’t conclusive proof of efficacy. We have no way of knowing the concentration of Regu-seb in the Murad product and we don’t know how the Murad base might effect the efficacy of the complex. But there does appear to be some science behind this proposition so we’d give Murad Oil Control a rating of:

3 Brains

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Unlike products that make “magic” claims like erasing deep wrinkles, Murad Oil Control Mattifier claims seem to have some basis in science considering the data we’ve been able to find. If you have an oily skin problem it may be worth a try.

The Beauty Brains Product Rating Scale

No Brainer
A dumb-ass ridiculous product making crazy claims without any scientific basis. Don’t waste your money.

1 Brain
We can’t find enough information from the company or in the scientific literature to indicate this product might be any better/different or not. Try at your own risk, and if you do happen to come across any legitimate technical data, let us know and we’ll blog about it.

2 Brains
A nice, basic product but with nothing to indicate it does anything special. If you can afford it, try it and you might like it. But don’t expect any extraordinary results.

3 Brains
A product making extraordinary claims which at least appear to be grounded in real science.  May be worth trying but make sure you don’t spend too much.

Mid Brain muses:

Something smells fishy here…oh wait, it’s just my new lotion.
According to Cosmeticsdesign.com, researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have discovered that a specific fish enzyme, known as zonase, can be good for your skin because of the way they can break down dead skin cells without harming live ones. This is a clever discovery although not entirely surprising since other natural extracts (papaya comes to mind) have similar properties.

The heartbreak of psoriasis

The researchers say zonase could be a breakthrough for treating eczema and psoriasis, the latter being a skin condition that many people have heard of but few understand. What’s surprising, and a little bit scary, is that while psoriasis can turn very nasty it has a relatively common set of symptoms including:

• Red patches of skin covered with silvery scales
• Small scaling spots (commonly seen in children)
• Dry, cracked skin that may bleed
• Itching, burning or soreness
• Thickened, pitted or ridged nails
• Swollen and stiff joints

If you think you have any of these symptoms you might want to check with a dermatologist to make sure you don’t need treatment.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Several years ago a product called Tegrin was featured in an ad campaign that coined the phrase “the heartbreak of psoriasis.” This phrase was turned into a bit of a joke in popular culture, but psoriasis itself is no joking matter. It’s a real condition that you should pay attention to. And you can take some comfort in the fact that scientists at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology are squeezing fish in search of a cure!

Gracie asks about Anew…I am trying to decipher an ingredient list for Avon’s new product ” Anew Clinical Derma-Full X3 Facial Filling Serum.” It is described as ” injectable-grade hyaluronic acid — the same proven facial-filing ingredient injected by dermatologists–is now available in an at-home topical serum & cream.” The sodium hylauronate (hyaluronic acid ?) is 8th.  After reading your “How to read an ingredient list” article, it doesn’t look like the hyaluronic acid is a main player in the ingredient list…unless it is disguised as another name?

The Right Brain is high on hyaluronic acid:

Hyaluronic Acid (and it’s neutralized form, sodium hyaluronate) is a highly effective moisturizer. It binds water to the skin when delivered from leave on products. Because this compound is so effective it doesn’t take a lot to be beneficial so the fact that it’s the 8th ingredient on the list doesn’t bother us all that much. There’s something else that bothers us a lot more! 

Arguing about Avon’s Anew 

Our gripe with this product is the statement you quoted above:

” injectable-grade hyaluronic acid — the same proven facial-filing ingredient injected by dermatologists–is now available in an at-home topical serum & cream”

This claim implies that the hyaluronic acid in Anew delivers a similar benefit to an injection treatment. This is obviously not true.  Injectable fillers plump up wrinkles from the inside out by filling them in with hyaluronic acid or other polymers.  Topical creams and lotions have a superficial moisturizing but they do not penetrate the skin and do not have any long lasting effect on wrinkles. So Anew  may be a very good moisturizer (which is important) but Avon should not be comparing their topical cream with hyaluronic acid to the injectable version as a ploy to get you to buy it. (As a side note, you may want to read this previous about injectable wrinkle fillers like Restylane causing arthritis.)

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Anew may be great for your skin but in our opinion Avon is presenting their product in a very misleading light. We think they could have much more honest (and just as compelling) if they  had said something like the “Anew contains  hyaluronic acid one of the most powerful, and most natural, moisturizing agents on the entire planet.”  Shame on you Avon! 

Have you ever had injections to fill in wrinkles? Leave a comment and let the rest of the Beauty Brains community know if it worked better than wrinkle creams.