Skin care brands market patented molecules as feature ingredients in skincare lines.  This means big money for them with an ingredient no one can copy. They may have been inspired by nature (thus the picture of grapes or melons), but they are synthetic chemical ingredients. What do these synthetic cosmeceutical ingredients do to your skin when you use them every day?  Like pharmaceuticals – these patented ingredients target symptoms with some effect.  But over time they can seriously weaken the immune system, and cause allergic reactions.  By stressing the skin they can accelerate the effects of aging (oxidation). Cosmeceutical ingredients can include words like alpha hydroxy, peptides, acrylates, polymers, hydroquinone, paraben, retinol, matrixyl, phenoxyethanol, triclosan, salicylate, hyaluronic, allantoin, squalene, benzones, palmitates, benzoates, sulfates, PEG.  Some cosmeceuticals are epigenetic ingredients; this means they alter DNA with unknown long-term effects.

Karen Van Dyck
www.naturesfirstbeautybar.com