Michelle has two questions…It is true that natural facial mask ingredients like avocado, honey, and yogurt really don’t work because the molecules are so big that they don’t penetrate into your skin? And if I add a few drops of baby vitamins to my facial serum or mask, will it work as well or better than the vitamin facial products that the drugstores sell?

The Right Brain Responds:

Thanks for the questions, Michelle. Here are your answers:

Skin penetration

You’re right when you say that the natural ingredients you mentioned (avocado, honey, and yogurt) don’t really do much to improve your skin. But the reason they don’t work isn’t really related to the size of the molecule. It’s because they don’t treat the surface of the skin in the right way.

Facial masks and moisturizers work on the surface of skin to hydrate it. Ingredients that are good at sealing in moisture, like oils, are the most useful in this type of formulation. Of the ones you mentioned, avocado would be the best because of it’s high oil content. But avocado oil by itself doesn’t lock in moisture as well as most of the ingredients used in facial products. Honey and yogurt don’t work this way at all.

Vitamin boost

Adding extra vitamins won’t improve your facial products because most vitamins don’t really do much for the skin when applied topically. There are some exceptions. Vitamins C and E can have some beneficial effect but they must properly stabilized. Adding the kind of vitamins that are meant to be taken orally really won’t help your lotion or mask work better.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

This may sound a bit conceited but if it was possible to dramatically increase the efficacy of a given cosmetic product by simply adding a touch of an additional ingredient, then the cosmetic chemists who formulate these products would probably already have done that!

Do you have any DIY tricks you do on YOUR cosmetics? Leave a comment and share your secrets with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.