Paula Begoun's five rules for skin care

Last update: March 26, 2008 - 6:21 PM

PAULA BEGOUN'S FIVE RULES FOR SKIN CARE

1. It has to be gentle. Tingling, burning and irritation don't work. Irritating ingredients such as menthol, camphor, eucalyptus and alcohol cause free radical and skin death.

2. Expensive doesn't mean better.

3. You don't need eye cream. There isn't one shred of evidence that the eye area needs something [different from] the rest of the face and vice versa. I can't think of a bigger marketing hoax. Often the face product is better formulated, and most eye products don't contain sunscreen.

4. Don't buy anything packaged in a jar. Never buy a moisturizer--gel, serum, antigravity, whatever they want to call it -- in a jar. The state-of-the-art ingredients break down in the presence of air, particularly natural products.

5. Use sunscreen. Neurotically. If there's anything you should be obsessive about, it's not those myriad moisturizers or wrinkle creams. I should have a dime for every woman who says what wrinkle cream works and not what sunscreen works.

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