The Truth About Five Common Beauty Claims
Yads Cauchi is a Dermal Clinician, Nutritionist (BHSc, MSc) and Beauty Journalist. She's also a mum of four. Evidence based skin health and nutrition are her thing and she works from her own skin clinic based in Canberra - you can find her there, or on Instagram and TikTok @yadscauchiskin.
The beauty industry is a super fun place, however having now worked in this industry for over 10 years, I know there’s a lot of well-meaning beauty claims out there, that either just don’t make sense, are physiologically impossible, or are not based on any scientific fact.
Which honestly just makes trawling through beauty information hard for the average consumer.
So when a product is jumping out at us claiming to “erase dark circles instantly!”, it's easy to fall for the hype.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom, with a little research we can make it easier to understand.
So let’s run through some of the most common beauty claims that exist in the beauty industry and what they actually mean - so we all remain informed consumers, not easily influenced ones.
1. Claims to “Erase Dark Circles".
Dark circles are often genetic and/or hereditary.
Some dark circles also have vascularity components - so a product cannot erase your genetic blueprint or vascularity that can often be exacerbated by simple life things like lack of sleep, allergies or simply rubbing your eyes a lot.
Of course a lot of products can contain light reflecting pigments that can make your under eye area appear lighter and help with the overall appearance, but no product can erase your dark circles instantly.
Especially if you are forever not getting adequate sleep.
2. Claims to “Eliminate Cellulite".
Sadly no cream can get rid of cellulite.
Cellulite is a harmless skin condition that might look like dimples or lumpy bits of skin most commonly found on the bum, backs of thighs, hips and abdomen.
However, it is very common and normal. Even kids have cellulite.
There are clinical treatments available that may minimise its appearance, however cellulite is a fat deposit underneath the skin and topical skincare can’t erase it.
It is important to moisturise your body for your overall skin condition though!
3. Claims to “Make Pores Smaller/Invisible”.
Sadly, nothing will make your pores invisible.
If it did you would probably die. (Not ideal.)
Our pores are needed to regulate our body temperature and to make sure we have the right levels of lubrication by secreting oils which keeps our skin balanced.
You can reduce their appearance, by exfoliating regularly, cleansing properly, clinically extracting when you need, needling treatments etc...but a product can't make them invisible.
Although there are ways to minimise or fill in the look of pores temporarily.
4. Claims to Be “Chemical Free”.
Everything is a chemical and honestly the chemical free narrative needs to stop.
We are made up of chemicals and they are what we live and breathe.
Without them, we would not be alive. So this is a super annoying beauty claim that needs to end.
It is a little fear-mongering too, as most people want to be doing the right thing but it is incorrect and we shouldn’t be worried about chemicals in our products because they make up our world and are very important.
5. Claim as “Collagen Cream”.
Brands that market their products with the words 'collagen' are confusing people.
The thing is, whether a product contains 'collagen' doesn’t necessarily mean it is going to be doing anything.
Collagen is too big to be absorbed by the skin.
There’s no way that it can happen.
However because we a) all want more collagen and b) recognise the word it is easy to see why wanting to purchase a product that is a collagen cream might seem like the right thing to be doing to help preserve your skin or fight signs of ageing.
Save your money on collagen creams and spend it on an SPF and a good retinoid instead.
Finally, the beauty world can feel overwhelming and confusing at the best of times, although it honestly doesn’t have to be like that at all.
Beauty marketing exists to sell products, but with a little know-how, research and arming yourself with a few simple facts I promise we can wade through it all a little easier together.
Make sense?
You can check out some of Yadira's other educational Beauty IQ articles below:
