Lotion Is Not Magic, Say Scientists

Scientists are perturbed by pseudoscientific claims made by expensive anti-aging lotions, as they won’t really make you look younger. Guess the only way to age well is to go back in time and get a hotter mom.

Specifically, the scientists’ beef is with cosmetics companies claims that a topically applied substance like face lotion can strengthen the skin’s natural collagen, as collagen molecules are much too big to get through the top layer of skin and actually reach the skin’s layer of collagen-

Richard Guy, professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Bath, said: ‘The idea created by many of these products is that collagen can get through the upper layers of skin and reinforce our own natural collagen, but this is preposterous.

‘The simple fact is that collagen is a huge molecule and the skin is designed to keep such substances out.

Fancy collagen-containing lotion, therefore, just sits on the surface of your skin until it’s washed away and doesn’t actually improve its structure or firmness in a lasting way, and, if it did actually penetrate the outer layer of your skin, collagen containing creams would have to be reclassified as medicines.

I feel so betrayed. If I can’t trust those ultra-sciencey computer animated graphics that appear on L’Oreal commercials that air during Desperate Housewives, then who can I trust?