Is It Possible Anti-Aging Products Can Actually Work?

The Holy Grail stories have two aspects to them: On the one hand, it is all about finding 'the cup' but on the other, if you drink from the grail you're supposed to have everlasting life and not age. Aging and getting old are both taboo subjects to some extent. We love our grandparents but we disparage the old and mock them for being exactly that. 

No wonder that the market for anti-aging products and processes is buoyant. If we're lucky we will get old, but who wants to look it? In case this isn't ringing true for you, the market for anti-aging products in 2019 was more than $190 billion. As a nation, we might be getting older but we are resisting its effects. Incidentally, this doesn't just apply to women. There is a healthy market in men's anti-aging products too. 

There are some interesting things you need to know about skin before we get into whether or not products work. Firstly, your skin is an organ - in the same way as the heart, liver and kidneys are organs. It also is continuously being replaced. That's why you look and feel so much better after exfoliation - because the old cells are gone and new, bright cells replace them.

Over time skin becomes thinner and loses fat which causes it to sag and to develop fine lines, which are also mean enough to become not so fine the longer we last. Anti-aging products work to help reduce these effects and so help hold back time. But can they work?

Sadly the jury is still out - and ultimately the answer has to be no. But there is little doubt that there are products out there which can delay the effects and they do reduce the look of aging. This isn't to say there is a Dorian Grey effect where suddenly everything catches up with you. You can definitely keep skin looking younger and healthier over the long term by looking after it.

Which leads to the question of which products should you use? There are literally thousands of products out there vying for your attention, costing anything from a few dollars to hundreds. To an extent, it comes down to budget - but also looking for products that contain natural ingredients makes sense. Using products based on honey and bee-pollen sounds better than paraffin wax any day.