Speaking of skincare

Science or snake oil? Kate Newton enlists a dermatologist and a marketing expert to decipher the language of cosmetics.

Feeling bamboozled by the ingredients list on your moisturiser? So is Amanda Oakley. The Hamilton dermatologist was baffled by some of the buzzwords used in a sampling of cosmetics sent to her by The Dominion Post to jargon-bust. "There is very little information about their claims or specific ingredients in my textbooks or scientific articles."

Pro-this-and-that, alpha and beta hydroxy acids, oxides and dioxides all feature in a growing range of "cosmeceuticals" - cosmetics that promise permanent, rather than fleeting, effects on the skin.

But don't be surprised if it's difficult to find proof they actually fulfil that promise, Dr Oakley says. "The 'science' is generally limited to unpublished anecdotes or a published poster describing a small number of individuals reporting benefit in an uncontrolled way. But that's because cosmetics are unregulated - if they are proven of benefit, they then need to be classified as pharmaceuticals or medicines."

By using science that is based in fact, but where the effects have not been proven in a lab, cosmetics companies carefully toe that line.

Brainy beauty is a marketing tactic consumers have embraced wholeheartedly, Otago University marketing lecturer Lisa McNeill says. "People tend to think that a product has to have some kind of result - that it has to have some basis in science to work. The more complex-sounding the product, the more store a consumer is likely to put into it."

Most of us don't have a clue what the jargon means, but companies are still "fairly careful" about the claims they make, Dr McNeill says. When they say 80 per cent of women found a product worked, the fine print will be there somewhere. Whether those disclaimers are noticed is a different matter. "They understand the psyche of consumers and know that most of us don't look too closely."

That's largely because we've become very good at deluding ourselves, Dr McNeill says. "Most of us aren't going to go out and research the science behind it."

We've become especially good at ignoring that annoying, niggling little voice that tells us it might all be hogwash. "[We're] not going to delve too deeply into the science because [we] don't want to be disillusioned."

Dr Oakley helped The Dominion Post decipher five products currently on the market.

L'Oreal Age Re-Perfect day cream

According to the Jane Fonda-fronted ads, this product contains pro- calcium, dermo-peptides and collagen. L'Oreal's website explains that a calcium deficit "can weaken the cohesion between cells. With age, skin can become drier and more fragile."

Dr Oakley says that ageing skin loses its water-holding capacity, so it gets drier - "but that's not due to calcium lack". She was stumped by pro- calcium. "Perhaps it's a L'Oreal neologism." The ingredients list includes calcium pantetheine sulfonate, which can decrease skin cell pigmentation, but only in-vitro, not just from rubbing it on your skin.

L'Oreal Derma-Genesis Cellular- Youth Creating Skincare Pore Minimising Smoother

There's a veritable cocktail of buzzwords on the packaging for this one, which promises to "stimulate cellular renewal to intensely smooth the skin and visibly reduce the size of pores". There's hyaluronic acid ("a powerful moisturiser found naturally in skin"), Pro-Xylane ("a naturally derived anti-ageing molecule") and Active Micro-Smoother ("a beta hydroxy acid that acts cell by cell to intensely smooth the skin").

A mixed verdict from Dr Oakley. The Active Micro-Smoother is salicylic acid by another name and gets her thumbs-up. "Salicylic acid is a peeling agent and is used in many skin preparations aiming to unplug comedones (acne treatment), reduce scale (dandruff, sun damage), moisturise. Helpful." Hyaluronic acid can be used as a moisturiser, but it's a large molecule that can't penetrate the surface of the skin. Pro-Xylane "appears to be a Lancome invention borrowed by L'Oreal", Dr Oakley says. "It probably only acts on the skin surface to retain water."

Maybelline Mineral Power powder foundation

Contains "micro-minerals that are triple-refined to optimise affinity with your skin and mica to help amplify natural luminosity". The active ingredient is titanium oxide (a type of titanium dioxide).

Dr Oakley: "Mineral is the new buzz word for powder makeup - either titanium dioxide or zinc oxide." Titanium dioxide is found in just about every sunscreen. "I think micro means the mineral has been chopped up into small particles." The mica lives up to its promise. "The mica causes reflection and shine."

Garnier Nutritioniste Caffeine Eye roll-on

This product will, apparently "gently stimulate micro- circulation around skin's delicate eye area to decongest excess fluid for diminished dark circles and puffiness".

Dr Oakley confirms this is essentially the more glamorous version of lounging around with wet teabags over your eyes - and therefore probably quite effective.

Sunsilk Co-creations Straight Perfection by Yoko Yamashita - conditioner

The packaging claims this will "reduce frizz and straightens curly or kinky hair . . . enriched with an aqua- lysine complex, which creates structure within the hair fibres, and tames stubborn, frizzy hair."

A bit of a stretch, Dr Oakley says. "Conditioners work by moisturising and by reducing the 'electricity' (anions), hence reducing fly-away, rather than truly straightening out curls." Lysine is an essential amino acid, meaning the body cannot create it itself. Dr Oakley is not sure it will do anything for your hair, though.

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