Often, the industry that sprang up around skin care might seem somewhat over the top. Because of the fierce competition, frequently people feel as if the big producers are trying to outmaneuver one another by bringing new ingredients and products to the market. It isn’t rare that some of these products seem as if they were included only because they seem exciting and interesting, while at the same time, they don’t bring anything new to the actual science of skin care.

Sometimes, like in the case of Tibetan Elixir, the entire notion is completely false, and the promoted substance produces zero results from a purely dermatological viewpoint (here, the placebo effect in not taken into account, because in that case anything could be possibly beneficial as long as it’s not hurting the users directly).

Because of this trend, Yahoo recently wrote about the few actual skin care ingredients that we need. These basic substances were proven long ago (including clinical studies) and their effect on the skin is not a possibility, but a hard fact. Here is the short list of those substances that are a basic must-have for a healthy skin.

Anti-Oxidants

While it seems that everyone is always talking about them, anti-oxidants work as both preventive and protective factors, especially with aging. It is also important to realize that they work locally and internally, which means that they should have their place in a diet and in the skincare products. Things like green tea and berries are full of them, while vitamin C is possibly the most famous of them all. Using them in both manners regular can do wonders in the anti-aging struggle.

Retinoids

The harsh sounding name represents a class of compounds that are chemically related to the vitamin A. The same vitamin is needed for growth in general, so it’s no accident that retinoids are used to regulate cell growth in the skin layers. This makes the powerhouse element for any skincare products that focus on regeneration. Because of them, the products which use them have a better chance of smoothing out the skin, clearing spots and aiding the skin texture.

Hydration

The notion of moisturizing is often brought up here on Solutions for Skin Care, but still not enough. Like anti-oxidants, water needs to be present both externally and internally to give the skin all that it needs to look (and feel) smooth and healthy. Ceramides, a family of lipid molecules that keep the moisture in the cells, should also be looked for when you choose moisturizing products.