Beyond Beliefs

Every generation seems to live and die by its own set myths about beauty. In our grandmother's era, women believe that by striking their hair 100 times a day would keep their hair shiny and healthy. Considering how hungry women are for some hard-and-fast rules about holding onto their looks, who can blame them for buying into these myths? Indeed, the same could be said of women today. These old notions have been replaced by a whole new crop of beauty myths. In our time, we might hear something like “drinking lots of water keeps skin youthful-looking”. It’s true that water does help clean the kidneys and acts as an appetite suppressant. However, the fact is short of bloating and temporarily getting rid of some wrinkling, it doesn't do a whole lot for the complexion. The other popular one is pores shrinking. Actually, the size of your pores is genetically determined. Cosmetic companies and even beverly hills dermatology are making many millions by convincing women they can be shrunk. Once you reach puberty, the pores become their adult size. However, they can appear to be overly enlarged if they become impacted with keratin, sebaceous material or bacteria. Anti-agers such as Retin-A and alpha-hydroxy acids can break up these materials to return pores to their normal appearance. This is another multi-million dollar myth the cosmetic companies want you to believe. Everyone needs a moisturizer”. In reality, you only need a moisturizer if you experience the following clinical signs: redness, scaliness or itchiness. These are more frequently seen in cold weather. The drier your skin, the heavier a moisturizer you need. Another ridiculous myth said that ‘It’s too late to put on sunscreen, you’re already exposed anyway”. It's never too late to start protecting skin from the sun. The cumulative effect of the sun is what's damaging, so by avoiding it, you could halt some of its progress. Furthermore, there is clinical evidence that once you start protecting the skin, it has the ability to repair itself. This repair is not going to happen overnight; it's a gradual process that can take a couple years to yield significant results.