Margaret and Betty are inquisitive about Definity: Margaret says Definity works great for her but she wants to know if all the products in the line are basically the same; Betty is worried that Definity’s not safe because she heard it contains hydroquinone.
The Right Brain provides this definitive response:
P&G must be doing a good job of marketing their Olay line because we get a lot of questions about Definity. So, we present a double dose of Definity: In Part 1 we explain how the products work; in Part 2, we’ll talk about how the products in the line are different from one another.
What Does Definity Do?
According to P&G, Definity “fights what ages you most: discoloration, dullness, brown spots, and fights wrinkles.” The fighting wrinkles stuff is pretty standard in beauty creams. If you’re hydrating the skin (especially if you’re using a film forming agent that helps hide fine lines) you can support anti-wrinkle claims. The interesting aspect of Definity is that it claims to make the skin more luminous because it gets rid of darkness and dullness.
How Does Definity Make Skin Luminous?
Skin lightening claims like these normally involve hydroquinone, a skin bleaching agent that’s come under fire for safety reasons. Fortunately, Definity doesn’t contain hydroquinone. Instead, it uses N-acetyl glucosamine, chemical that inhibits glycosylation of pro-tyrosinase. (Relax, that just means it prevents the kind of chemical reactions that make liver spots and freckles.) N-acetyl glucosamine (or NAG as it’s known) is not as effective as hydroquinone, but it’s safer to use.
Sound too good to be true? Check out the multiple clinical test results that show glucosamine effectively prevents dark age spots. And if dark spots are reduced, skin will look lighter and more luminous.
Of course, the question is, how MUCH improvement will you really see. The only way to tell for sure is to try the product. But at least Olay has done their homework and formulated a product line that’s based on science, not snake oil.
The Beauty Brains bottom line:
Definity does contain an ingredient proven to lighten skin. Of course, that doesn’t guarantee that you’ll notice a difference yourself. It’s a bit expensive at $22 for 1.7 ounces, but at least their claims are based on real science.
In Part 2 we’ll talk about the other products in the line and how they differ.