Reading Time: 7 minutes

Aging is a very complex process and sometimes the way your body evolves can affect the way you feel. While a good night of sleep and a healthy life help preventing the bad signs of aging, sometimes you need extra help to keep up with a beautiful body and face. “The New Wow” is a new sensation of beauty and a new way of life. From cosmetics fake promises to bad examples of aesthetic Surgery, people might feel lost with their unsolved beauty challenges. With the New Wow by Allergan, new beauty rituals are available that will revolutionize the way you would see the future of beauty.

Sculpt Cosmetics: There are no miracles.

Skin compartments traditionally targeted by cosmetic actives – epidermis and dermis – are anchored and nourished by the underlying hypodermis, which therefore should be a key target for skin-rejuvenating formulations. However, given the difficulty to reach even the superficial layers of the skin, and to its ‘unglamorous’ fatty composition, the regenerative potential of hypodermis remains largely untapped.

Skin-Layers

As for many years, Cosmetics were not able to solve all aging problems, people have dedicated themselves to plastic surgery, hoping to find their problems disappear under the bistoury. Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction, or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes craniofacial surgery, hand surgery, microsurgery, and the treatment of burns. While reconstructive surgery aims to reconstruct a part of the body or improve it’s functioning, cosmetic (or aesthetic) surgery aims at improving the appearance of it. Both of these techniques are used throughout the world.

Unfortunately, plastic surgery got a very bad reputation thanks to bad results shared throughout the web and social networks. People got afraid from it and prefer to suffer from their aesthetically challenges. Cosmetics decided to take advantage of this and developed new series of products that are supposed to mimic the effects of cosmetic surgery (from a visual effect and ephemeral point of view).

lifting-cosmetics
Le Lift-Chanel
bust-lift-cream
L-Oreal-Revitalift
Lancome-Energy-Multilift

Most of these products tend to re-use the language of Cosmetic surgery as well as some of its key ingredients like Hyaluronic acid or collagen.

  • “Inspired by dermatological procedures”
  • “Recontouring”
  • “Lift”
  • “Sculpting face”
  • “Morpholift”
  • “Repositioning Collagen for lifted and firmed skin”

The Cosmetic industry surfed in a wave that brought millions of dollars to top brands. While people would be afraid of cosmetic surgery, beauty brands would offer a “soft alternative” with visible effects and less intrusiveness. Most of these products would contain a skin tensor that firms the contours of the face and visibly reduce wrinkles.

eucerin-hyaluron-filler

Let’s take the example of the Eucerin Hyaluron-Filler Cream. This day care combines 3 active ingredients to target specifically the different layers of the epidermis:

  • Magnolol, stimulates effectively the multiplication of the cells at the origin of the skin volume, by increasing their number and their size. 
  • Oligo-Peptids, stimulate the network fibers of collagen for a cutaneous structure more firmer.
  • Hyaluronic Acid, intensely moisturizes the skin, reduces the wrinkles, even deep and redefines the face contours.

At the end of this story, these cosmetic products are not successful because they are efficient, it is because people are afraid of surgery and the possible irreversible results. Cosmetics will always treat the superficial layers of the human skin which means that results are ephemeral and more a surface look. Nevertheless, there are other options that can be a life savior in case you tackle certain challenges from the start and that you are not keen of heavy procedures.

The New Wow, Two Interesting Techniques For The Face And Body

Last month, I was invited to discover a new information campaign by Allergan in Geneva. Thanks to a pop-up stand in the main hall of Cornavin station in Geneva, I was able to discover new canons of face and body aesthetics. By talking to experts, I realized that people do not consult doctors about a procedure or a specific action on their body. They consult about a problem they have like:

  • “People say I always look tired”
  • “Why do I look so Sad?”
  • “People who don’t know me would say I am always angry”

The way you look is not only aesthetically challenging, but it also influences your mood. People will feel bad and this will affect your mood gradually which can open the first chapters of depression. Thanks to the experts I talked to, I could refresh myself with my cosmetic lessons about the skin, the role that hyaluronic acid and a new cryo-technique that can solve naturally certain challenges about localized fat.

Hyaluronic Acid, The Myth explained

Hyaluronic-acid-fillers

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is an important component of articular cartilage and is also a major component of skin, where it is involved in tissue repair. While it is abundant in extracellular matrices, Hyaluronic acid also contributes to tissue hydrodynamics, movement, proliferation of cells, and participates in a number of cell surface receptor interactions. HA plays an important role in the normal epidermis.

HA also has crucial functions in the reepithelization process due to several of its properties. These include being an integral part of the extracellular matrix of basal keratinocytes, which are major constituents of the epidermis; its free-radical scavenging function and its role in keratinocyte proliferation and migration. The average 70 kg (154 lb) person has roughly 15 grams of HA in the body, one-third of which is turned over (degraded and synthesized) every day.

Another key point is that HA is not Botox®. They are two different substances with two completely different actions. The only common point is that they can be both used with a dermal-filler or dermal-needles. But that is probably the only common point. Everything else is different. HA will restore the volume to your face that has been lost due to the ageing process. Botox®, or Botulinum toxin is used to reduce muscle activity that causes lines and wrinkles. HA seems a more deep treatment helping to increase the skin moisturizing level and truly recover your natural face contour that you lost over the years .

Cryolipolysis: Fighting Fat With Cold

cryolipolysis-process

Cryolipolysis, also known as “fat freezing” or by the product name CoolSculpting, is a new procedure that involves the non-invasive cooling of body fat to break down fat cells, resulting in a reduction of body fat without damage to other tissues. It allows to target areas of the body where it is more difficult to remove fat by diet and exercise. Cryolipolysis fat-freezing technology gives long-term results that make trouble spots a lot less troubling.

Fat cells don’t like the cold and at a certain temperature, they will freeze. Once that happens, your body will naturally eliminate the dead cells in 1-3 months or more, resulting in up to 20%-25% reduction of fat in a treated area.

Let’s be very clear. This technique is not for everyone. If you are looking for a significative bodyweight-loss this is not for you. Cryolipolysis is for individuals with healthy eating habits and an active lifestyle. It is for people at or near their ideal body weight who want to reduce fat in one or more specific areas.

In Conclusion…

While we all dream of eternal youth, we were not very lucky to find the fountain that would provide it to us by magic. The best approach is for sure to have a healthy life, exercise and balance your diet. You might also need some acceptance. We all get old and it is a natural process. Nevertheless, this does not mean we should not treat ourselves good. We will be aging for a long time as life expectancy increases. Treating yourself well is important and you should be aware of any beauty mirage that will only take your money away. In case you wish to remodel your face in a non-intrusive way, cosmetics will not help. Today there are areas of expertise that can help you fulfill it. Derma-fillers are an option as used with care, can prevent from aging too fast.
Last but not least, if you lost some weight thanks to a better healthy life, you can be frustrated by those areas that have still some “fat-impossible-to-get-rid-of”. New non-intrusive techniques like Cryolipolysis will help you using a natural process. So do not follow beauty mirages or you might end in the middle of a beauty-desert.

José Amorim
Information sourced by the author for luxuryactivist.com. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. Images are for illustration purposes only.