The Biggest Lies That The Cosmetic Industry is Trying To Convince You of?

Here are some lies the cosmetic industry is trying to convince you of.

1: Luxury skincare is infinitely better than “normal skincare”. It costs so much, but it's worth every penny.

This is absolutely, completely untrue. I always advise against buying luxury skincare, because you’re spending loads of money for something that most of the time is only as good as another product you could buy for 90% less, from a much less famous brand.

High end companies charge you hefty prices because of their brand positioning, NOT because of the ingredients in their products. Luxury brands often use cheap ingredients such as petrolatum, glycerin and dimethicone, and put them in their products in large %. This is a fact.

Yes, high end cosmetics offer a nice experience: they have elegant packaging, lovely fragrances, etc. But is this worth paying a price that does not reflect the real quality of the product?

2: You should only use natural products. Chemical products are harmful to your skin.

This is more relevant to the “natural” side of the cosmetic world, but it's such a huge part of the industry nowadays that it's worth mentioning.

Take it from a cosmetic chemist: natural cosmetic products do not exist. A skincare product can have naturally derived ingredients, but all ingredient need to be chemically processed to exist.

“Natural” is just a marketing claim to take more money from you and appeal to a certain target. It works very well, as we can see. Also, an ingredient being chemical isn't a bad thing! A lot of chemical ingredients are way more potent than natural ones.

3: If a product contains X active ingredient in the formulation it means it will work. It also means the price is justified, because X ingredient is expensive.

I understand that this is confusing. People hear that hyaluronic acid is very powerful and scientifically proven to work, then they buy a product with hyaluronic acid and they don't see any improvement.

The reason why this happens is that many companies use marketing ingredients. It means that they promote the product in a way to make sure you know it contains that certain ingredient, often making it the primary focus on the packaging etc, but the product actually contains such a low % of it that it will never be effective.

Imagine you're thirsty and they give you one single drop of water. Would you actually feel better? That's the same thing with adding a ridiculously small % of an active ingredient in a skincare product. It's only there so you will be willing to spend a higher price.

Even if the % wasn't risible, skincare products need to be well formulated to work. It's not enough to say that there are active ingredients in it. An amateur might formulate a product with the proper amount of retinol and still make a mess! Always buy products made by professionals; not only you will get better results, but your skin will be safe, too.

Hope this helped.