The ingredient of the week – Alpha Tocopherol (Vitamin E)

I’m not going to go into great depth about what alpha tocopherol is (I’ll be calling it vitamin E), I just want to mention the skincare benefits, especially now when we are having a mini heat-wave and are prone to overdoing it in the sun.

Alpha tocopherol is the most biologically active form of vitamin E, a natural fat soluble antioxidant that stimulates the immune system. It’s present in many foods, mostly vegetables and oils. So it’s really good for you and you should eat more of it, ok? Now we can move on to the all important skin stuff.

So what can the alpha tocopherol do for our skin? Quite a lot actually. It’s one of the anti-ageing free radical fighters (antioxidant), but it’s very commonly used for treating sunburn, general skin dryness, skin irritation and scars. Instead of buying shedloads of creams that contain questionable amounts of vitamin E in it, go and buy the supplement from the health food store or pharmacy and use it neat. And it’s cheap.

Vitamin E supplements normally come in little oil capsules, you pierce the capsule and apply it on the affected area. It’s very greasy, so it’s not for showing off, but it will soothe the skin quickly. You can also add it to a cream if you wish. It’s also great on cuticles so no need to splash out on a specialist cuticle potion.

The added advantage of buying a supplement is that it won’t go to waste. The capsules are easily portable, won’t spill and you can eat them. Can’t eat the cream, can you?

A quick note though: some people can develop an allergic reaction to a synthetic form of vitamin E, so please check the source.

The Big Eye Cream Swindle

 

Ok maybe I’m being a bit harsh with the above statement, but in the nutshell, that’s kind of it.

Let me start from the beginning.

We are bombarded with statements how skin around eyes is delicate, thin and needs special treatment and they are selling us a myriad of creams to cure wrinkles, de-puff the area, fix dark circles and the rest.

Has anyone actually bought a cream that fixed any of those problems? I certainly haven’t. And I've also done the research on what actives would be suitable to treat the area. Apart from maybe (banned in UK) vitamin K, nothing else.

The skin around eyes IS special, it’s thinner than on the rest of our face and it IS delicate. But do you need a special cream for around eyes? NO.

So, why so many creams on the market to target around eye area? Well, why not? We are insecure enough to buy anything, so might as well have a problem eyes that can be fixed with that £100 cream.

The way I see it, women fall into one of two categories – puffy eyes with a potential to develop under eye bags as they age and dark circles women who will develop a hollow bit under eyes.

Both are prone for wrinkles of course, puffy eyes group probably a tiny bit more, but it all depends on lifestyle.

And please, I’m not after offending anyone, this kind of things will happen with ageing and that’s a fact. You can delay the effect but it will happen.

So let’s say you’re a puffy eyes woman (these eyes are also called “come to bed” eyes, sexy eyes, hooded eyes etc - when the woman is young), the last thing you want to do is smear a greasy cream under your eyes. Puffy eyes women are prone to water retention which will develop into fatty pockets, so you need to learn how to combat water retention. This group makes a good candidate for surgical eye lift when older.

Dark circles women will with ageing develop deep hollows under eyes as the amount of fat available on their faces diminishes in time. Dark circles can be the result of melanin or they can be due to skin being too thin and the underlying blood vessels are visible through skin. How big are the hollows, it all depends of woman’s bone structure. Dark circles women can also develop fatty bags under eyes, all it takes is mistreatment.

So how to look after the skin around the eyes?

The chances are, the moisturiser that you use on your face is pretty much enough to be applied thinly around eyes. Make sure the cream is not too greasy. Actually, I’m against greasy creams in general, I can’t think who can benefit from them, apart from people with skin disorders or with second degree burns.

Wear sunglasses. Don’t squint. Fix your eyesight. Take make up off GENTLY from your eyes, don’t stretch and rub your eyes. But take make up off before you go to bed.

Work out what makes you retain water, salty food is sometimes the biggest culprit. As are tears. And lots of liquid before bed. Sleep with your head slightly elevated. Keep two teaspoons in the fridge so you can use them on your eyes as soon as you wake up. Don’t smile, be a robot...

I’m kidding about not smiling. But be sensible. If you can bear to use vitamin C tonic around your eyes, try it, otherwise protect your eyes and don't buy into the illusion that the eye cream you're buying will actually fix your problems. It won't, but make sure you don't create a new one with it. As long as you know that you're buying a normal moisturiser in a smaller packaging as that's exactly what you're getting.