Judging by the huge selection available in the cosmetics aisle, it seems there is a product promising a solution for almost any beauty problem. But chemist Perry Romanowski wants consumers to know that most of what’s in those bottles and jars amounts to little more than fairy tales.
Romanowski spent 17 years in the cosmetics industry formulating beauty products. But he says it always occurred to him that many consumers were getting duped into believing things about their beauty products that simply weren’t true.
“Cosmetic products do work, but they don’t work in the way that is advertised,” Romanowski told CTV’s Canada AM from Chicago.
Most expensive skin creams are really just simple moisturizers, Romanowski says.
That’s fine, he says, since moisturized skin does feel good and look good. But when these creams promise that they can make wrinkles disappear or “reverse time” to bring back youthful skin, “that’s really just an exaggeration of what these products can actually do,” he says.
Many drug stores and department store products use fancy terminology, promising clinically proven "cell renewal," or cream that will “rewind the visible signs of aging.” But Romanowski says it’s all just creative marketing.
“These are words they use to get you to think there is extra technology in the creams, but the reality is these are just moisturizers,” he said.
Since most creams are essentially the same, Romanowski says they try to distinguish themselves by creating stories describing how the creams are the result of years of research or “ground-breaking discoveries” about “nature’s secrets.”
In the end, consumers are really just paying for these marketing stories, and the price on the label is more reflective of the brand than the quality.
Romanowski has even seen products that claim to contain stem cells. He says there is no way that stem cells that are topically-applied -- meaning rubbed onto the skin -- could have any measurable effect.
“It’s just a word,” he says of stem cells. “People have heard of that technology and they’ve heard there’s some good promise to it, but when it’s in a cream of a lotion, it’s really not having any effect.”
One technology that does work is retinoic acid, which can actually reduce wrinkles. But it can only be obtained by prescription and is many more times as potent as retinol-containing products sold over the counter.
The one thing consumers should remember, Romanowski says, is that cosmetics, by definition, are not supposed to interact with the biochemistry of your skin. If they did, they would be re-classified as drugs.
Cosmetics can only address surface beauty issues. They aren’t allowed to promise medical results.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is forced to regularly issue letters to cosmetics companies warning them to stop making claims that cosmetics are “biologically active” or can perform like a drug.
Whiile Romanowski says he loved working in the cosmetics industry, he also wants to debunk some of the mythology cosmetic companies create around their products.
“As a scientist, you always want to get the truth out there about things,” he said.
“…I think it’s important that consumers know what they’re buying and what they can and cannot do.”
