Skin Care Myth Demystified: Your Skin Gets Used to Your Skin Products After a While

Image source: Flickr SazeOd

Is it true that the benefit you gain from skin care products reaches a plateau when your skin gets "used to" the skin care products you use?

The answer to this is: it depends.

When it comes to prescription drugs that contain Vitamin A derivatives such as Differin, Retin A, and Tazorac, your body can get somewhat acclimated to them and develop diminishing results with the same doses. It is for this reason that many dermatologists recommend starting with the most gentle retinoid (Differin) and escalating up to the strongest (Tazorac).

However, your body does not get acclimated to your other skin care products such as moisturizers and other creams and lotions containing anti-oxidants and peptides. If you feel that you are not getting the same results from your old "tried and true" skin care products, you may have reached the plateau of efficacy of this product. However, this is not the same as growing resistant to the effects of your product. Also, your skin health itself may be changing due to age or due to sun damage. As a person gets older, the skin naturally loses some elasticity and tone. This process is accelerated by excessive radiation from the sun. So before blaming that skin cream, make sure you follow all the golden rules of sun protection! In addition, you can always experiment with a skin care cream with different ingredients.

For more on anti-aging skin care ingredients, read our two part feature:

What anti-aging ingredients in skin creams actually work?  Anti-aging Article Part 1, Anti-aging Article Part 2.

For discovery of new skin care products, check out the wonderfully curated selections in our Skin Care Store!

Find out another skin care myth that we debunk here: "You can easily get rid of cellulite"