Anti Wrinkle Cream: The Basics

If youre looking for an anti-wrinkle cream, then you are part of a $10 BILLION industry, and you need to know that people will stop at nothing to sell products to you. Ive personally looked through thousands of sites about anti wrinkle creams, and at least 80% of them do nothing more than provide rehashed reviews of products that theyre selling. So why am I telling you any of this?

Like those other sites, Im going to give you a few recommendations for products below. First, however, Im going to tell you what you really need to about whats in any cream you buy. Im also going to recommend a few creams that you can buy at your local drug store or off of Amazon, since you may not actually need the newest product that youve never heard of.

This is a somewhat lengthy post, but there is a fair amount of useful information on this topic, despite the superficial reviews that you find on most sites. I urge you to read our posts on Causes of Wrinkles and on how to Reduce Wrinkles if you havent already, as those posts really lay out the causes and effective treatment of wrinkles. Anti wrinkle creams are just a part of any prevention and treatment.

Anti Wrinkle Cream Ingredients

Any cream is only as good as the ingredients that are put into it, so you first need to know what your cream should and should not have.

• Ingredients to Avoid. The easiest way to start is by ruling out any anti wrinkle creams that contain the following ingredients:

  1. Parrafin Wax or Petrolatum. You might as well apply crude oil to your skin, as it would have the same effect in terms of how readily your skin can breathe (very important to general skin functioning). These ingredients are cheap and therefore prevalent, and do lock in moisture effectively, but at the cost of letting your skin breathe and/or perspire (which you may think would be great to prevent but is quite necessary).

  2. Fragrances. Often combined with alcohols, fragrances can have a dehydrating effect and tend to cause allergic reactions for many people. Wed avoid them if possible, but if you find a cream that you otherwise love, fragrances are not the end of the world.

  3. Alpha Hydroxy Acids. Were going to discuss this more in the section below, but heres the rub (no pun intended). If you continually remove layers of skin, which is what alpha hydroxy acids tend to do, eventually your skin will not repair itself properly. For a while, youll have softer and nicer looking skin, but the downside is that your skin will then being to age faster than it would have otherwise.

• Active Ingredients. The following is NOT a list of everything you should look for. Rather, these are the ingredients that many creams claim as active ingredients and our view on each.

  1. Collagen. Any anti wrinkle cream that claims to help reduce wrinkles because it CONTAINS collagen is ripping you off. Although you need to help stimulate the repair and growth of Collagen in your skin, the actual molecule is too large to be absorbed by your skin, so putting it in a cream does absolutely nothing for you.

  2. Alpha Hydroxy Acids. Alpha Hydroxy Acids are effective, so they rightfully get a lot of attention and love among consumers and retailers. In several studies, routine use of Alpha Hydroxy Acids has been found to increase elasticity and density of Collagen in the skin. Now, we noted above that long-term use of Alpha Hydroxy Acids may have detrimental effects on the skin. This is because such acids will continually exfoliate the top layer of skin. Exfoliating will cause your skin to look smoother and younger initially, but continual exfoliation may eventually cause your skin to not be able to repair itself.

     In any case, if you do use an anti wrinkle cream with Alpha Hydroxy Acids, we strongly recommend that it have no more than 6-8% acids, and please be extra careful with exposure to sunlight, as your skin will be more sensitive than usual.

  3. Coenzyme Q10. Coenzyme Q10 is found in every cell in the human body and is used to treat various medical conditions. In general, people produce less than optimal levels of CQ10 as they age, so supplementation through an anti wrinkle cream may be useful. The 2 primary effects of CQ10 with respect to wrinkles are as follows: (a) CQ10 works as an anti-oxidant to protect the skin from the free radicals that routinely damage the skin; and (b) CQ10 is necessary for cells to maintain the energy required to produce and repair collagen and elastin. Additionally, CQ10 is small enough to be absorbed through your skin, so creams are effective. Relatively few long term studies have been done on CQ10, but so far there are very few side effects for reasonable use. CQ10 is not the MOST effective active ingredient, but it is one that a good anti wrinkle cream will have.

  4. Kinetin / Kinerase. The technical name for this growth factor is Furfuryladenine, but you will see it listed as either Kinetin or Kinerase on the ingredient list of your anti wrinkle cream. Unfortunately, very few studies have been performed on this ingredient. The few studies that have been performed tend to show that Kinetin may be the single most effective ingredient yet at reducing wrinkles, and no major side effects have been found. Still, because so few studies have been done, its hard to know exactly how effective Kinetin is. We and many we know have found creams with this ingredient to be quite effective. Kinetin is an anti-oxidant, which will help in preventing further wrinkles, but the jury is still out on how it reduces wrinkles, with the current research focused on its ability to cause the skin to retain moisture and increase Collagen production.

  5. Copper Peptides. For some time now, copper peptides (a copper atom bound to a piece of a protein) have been used to treat scars, wounds, and certain other medical conditions. Its only more recently that their potential use in anti aging creams has been explored and marketed. Without going into too much detail, copper peptides play a key role in breaking down large and abnormal Collagen molecules (the kind that cause wrinkles) and also in promoting growth and repair of normal Collagen molecules. (This is an oversimplification, as copper peptides actually do much more than this). In addition, copper peptides generally promote healing of the skin and protection from free radicals, so use in connection with any type of exfoliation can often be beneficial. At least one study has shown copper peptides to be more effective at reducing wrinkles than Treinoin (below), and copper peptides have very few side effects if not overused.

  6. Vitamin A / Retinol. Retinol is a form of Vitamin A that, if administered to the skin in adequate amounts, can cause the skin to produce Retinoic Acid (aka Treinoin). Retinoic Acid increases production of Collagen and generally smooths out the skin (see below, as this is the most tested and proven active ingredient). Many users have very good results with anti wrinkle creams that are high in Retinol. However, many users also experience skin irritation from products that are sufficiently high in Retinol. Such sensitivity is not permanent, however, so its generally safe to try anti wrinkle creams containing Retinol until you find out that you are sensitive.

  7. Tretinoin. Tretinoin is a Vitamin-A derivative (Retinoic Acid) closely related to Retinol, but it deserves its own category, as it is the only topical treatment approved by the FDA to treat wrinkles. Tretinoin is not available over the counter, so youll have to go with Retinol if you dont want to get a prescription. However, if you are able to get a cream with Treinoin, rest assured that its probably the best product you can find. Retin A is a very well known product containing Tretinoin.

For our money, we recommend active ingredients in the following order: (1) Copper Peptides, (2) Kinetin, (3) Tretinoin (mostly due to price and necessity of obtaining prescription), (4) Retinol, (5) Coenzyme Q10, (6) Alpha Hydroxy Acid. Below are a few product recommendations along these lines (coming soon):

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