Friday, July 10, 2009

Wrinkles and silicone oh my

I recently placed an order online for a soap I use on my kids. It's good for super-sensitive skin and although it doesn't improve my son's eczema it doesn't make it worse. The site I usually order the soap from was out of stock on the economy size so I did a search to find the best price available. That price was at a store that primarily stocked cosmetics and moisturizers but they did have the lowest price and, with a coupon code I found online, they had free shipping. Yippee!

I received the order very quickly and was pleased to find some samples in the box when I opened it. Who doesn't love free samples? This sample was obviously not for my kids but me as it was called an intensive wrinkle corrector. As a 37-year-old (and counting) woman who's really starting to notice these pesky things around my eyes I was excited by this notion of a corrector. In addition, it claimed to be fragrance-free and preservative-free. Yay!



However, having been indoctrinated in label reading due to a kid with food allergies, I quickly developed the creepy crawlies. Check this ingredient list out: (By the way, I googled info on every single ingredient so it may not be 100% scientifically accurate but Google would never lie to me.)

  • Propylene Glycol - solvent
  • Cyclopentasiloxane - silicone
  • Ascorbic Acid - sugar acid
  • Glycerin - chemical
  • Cetyl Peg/PPG-10/1 Dimethicone - silicone
  • Dimethicone crosspolymer - silicone
  • Lauroyl Lysine - amino acid derivative
  • Acrylates Copolymer - binder, emulsion stabilizer provides water resistance to personal care products without the undesirable waxy, greasy or heavy feel. Copolymer of acrylamide and one or more monomers of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid or one of their simple esters. I still don't know what this is!
  • Adenosine - A nucleoside - molecule of adenine attached to a ribose sugar molecule, has anti-inflammatory properties.

So, after my small amount of research I'm afraid that I'm going to keep my wrinkles. All that silicone makes me think of people like Michael Jackson and, frankly, I wouldn't want to look like him even if he didn't have any wrinkles. Shall I learn to embrace the aging process? Unlikely but at least I will futilely cling to my youth without resorting to chemicals, silicone and other wacky ingredients. It's just not worth it.

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