How do you say “lazy” in German? “Faul.”

Lazy is not bad unless you are repeating old formulas that everybody knows don’t work.

To those who think that foreign companies make better skin care products, here comes a warning: Babor, is a German company that uses very American run-of-the-mill ingredients to sell products with huge mark-ups. Here, again, the brand value is in the ridiculously high price; it is certainly not in the quality of the ingredients.

Another irritating fact: they baptize old, inexpensive ingredients with novelty names and then they leave you to try to guess which ingredient is which. Maybe it doesn’t matter?

Here are some examples:

“Telovitin, extends the life cycle of skin cells.

Agicyl, extracted from an alpine plant, prevents the breakdown of collagen fibers.

Lumicol, which comes from micro algae, lightens hyper-pigmentation

Epocyl, obtained from plankton, hydrates and retains moisture.”

These fancy names translate into ingredients mentioned in the list below by INCI names. Here are my guesses.

1) Globularia cordifolia callus culture extract. This is a plant that has some pretty leaves, shaped a bit like a heart, although a callus culture will mot make pretty leaves and gives no chemical advantage. Conversely, a callus is indifferentiated tissue that does not make interesting chemicals unless properly manipulated. I will write a post about this subject soon but, believe me, there will be no surprise actives appearing from nowhere, you would do better purifying the actives you want from leaves or any other part of the plant.  This ingredient may be the mysterious “Agicyl” that supposedly prevents the breakdown of collagen fibers. Actually, there are good actives that do this, you will find them in Skin Actives collagen serum.

2) Telovitin may be teprenone. What do we know about teprenone? It is a not very effective drug used in Japan for peptic ulcers.  That’s it.

3) Lumicol may be the hydrolyzed algae extract.  Any good antioxidant would help with hyperpigmentation, and algae have antioxidants, but I would not use a hydrolyzed crude extract of algae for that.   The antioxiidants may have been all oxidized and destroyed by the time they finish processing them.

4) Epocyl seems to be plankton extract. Plankton extract could be ANYTHING! They are organisms that live in large bodies of water and are unable to swim against a current.  This term includes fungi, amoeba, crustaceans, viruses, jellyfish, almost anything you can think of.  If this is not being lazy, what is it?

Below is the ingredient list for Babor ReVersive SUPREME GLOW anti-aging cream ($205 for 50mL)

Aqua, Glycerin, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Oil, Zea Mays Germ Oil, Maris Aqua, Mica, Cetearyl Alcohol, Hydrogenated Vegetable Glycerides, Sodium Polyacrylate Starch, Potassium Cetyl Phosphate, Phenoxyethanol, Panthenol, Hydrogenated Palm Glycerides, Globularia Cordifolia Callus Culture Extract, Carbomer, Xanthan Gum, Fragrance, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sodium Hydroxide, Teprenone, Hydrolyzed Algae Extract, Alcohol, Silica, Plankton Extract, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Tin Oxide, Pantolactone, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid.

On the other hand, those “active” ingredients are present at very low concentration so it is unlikely that they will do much damage. Note the position in the list of phenoxyethanol, one of the preservatives, well before any of the actives. Same for the fragrances. Position in the list gives a hint of the concentration of the ingredient, larger concentrations go high in the list and vice versa.

If the secret of skin care if not in a German, a Swiss, a Korean or a French skin care product, where will you find it? In real science.

If you want to “extend the life of skin cells” you may wish to try a Skin Actives product.   And pay careful attention to apocynin, an active that we will be bringing to you shortly.