Six anti ageing ingredients worth paying for, and four that are not
Ingredient lists are written under rules and headlines are not, which makes the back of the box the more honest side. Here is what is worth looking for on it, and what is usually there to be printed on the front.
Worth it: sunscreen, which is not sold as anti ageing at all
It does more for how old skin looks in ten years than everything else here combined, and it is the cheapest thing on the list. That it is never marketed in this category tells you the category is organised around margin rather than results.
Worth it: glycerin
Boring, ancient, in almost everything, and one of the most reliable humectants there is. Skin holding water looks fuller and feels softer. It appears high on a lot of ingredient lists because it works, not because it is filler.
Worth it: hyaluronic acid
Holds many times its own weight in water and keeps it at the surface. It is the ingredient behind most of what people mean by plumper looking skin, and it needs something over the top of it or the water leaves anyway.
Worth it: niacinamide
A form of vitamin B3, used for the look of an even tone and a smoother surface, and well tolerated by most people. It appears everywhere for the same reason glycerin does.
Worth it: a retinoid, if your skin will take one
The one active with a long track record in this category. It is also the one most likely to irritate, so it is a slow introduction rather than a purchase, and it does not belong in the same routine as regular exfoliation. Worth asking a pharmacist about rather than guessing.
Worth it: a plain moisturiser
Unglamorous and doing half the work of everything above it. A humectant without something over it loses most of its effect by the middle of the day.
Not worth it: collagen in a cream
Too large a molecule to go anywhere. It sits on the surface holding water, which is a real thing to do and exactly what glycerin does for a fraction of the price. It is on the front of the box because the word means something to shoppers.
Not worth it: gold, caviar, diamond dust
Priced for the story. If an ingredient is famous for being expensive rather than for what it does, you are buying the adjective.
Not worth it: a long botanical blend near the bottom
Twenty plant extracts listed after the fragrance are there at trace amounts to fill out a label. Several of them are also common irritants, so the list is doing more for the packaging than for your face.
Not worth it: anything called a proprietary complex
A name rather than an ingredient. If a company will not say what is in it, you cannot evaluate it, and being unable to evaluate it is the point of the name.