Shopping for skin care can be a nightmare experience.

Hundreds of thousands of products - many with extremely high price tags - over hyped claims from manufacturers and a list of ingredients as long as your arm. How are you supposed to find what works and spend wisely?

Here's ten practical tips to help:

More expensive isn't always better.  Some manufacturers position pricing to reflect the prestige nature of the brand and sometimes this has very little to do with whether the product really works. After all - what would you think if you were asked to pay $5 for a pot of Dior anti aging cream?

Check the ingredients. There are actually only a relatively few ingredients that have been subjected to rigorous clinical testing and shown to be effective against skin aging. Examples include: Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHA), Tretinoin (trans-retinoic acid) which is commonly known as Retin A or Retinol, Vitamin C, Copper Peptides, and Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-3.

Go for a high concentration of ingredients. Some ingredients don't have any effect below a certain concentration. For example - vitamin C has been shown to be ineffective below the 10% level and most creams and serums with Vitamin C as an active ingredient contain much less than this. Similarly AHA has to be present at levels above 8% to be effective as an anti aging ingredient. Now the problem you have here is that most anti aging products don't declare the level of each ingredient in the formulation. What manufacturers do though is order the list of ingredients from highest to lowest concentration so you can draw some conclusions from that.

Don't be swayed by long ingredient lists.  Most of the ingredients in a formulation are part of the base cream or serum and have nothing to do with its effectiveness against wrinkles, sags or bags.  Too many active ingredients can dilute the effectiveness of any single one. A good base cream or serum plus one or two excellent high strength active ingredients at high levels of concentration is better than a lot of active ingredients at low concentrations.

Give it time to work.  The anti aging ingredients that really work take effect slowly over time. You cannot possible judge the effect of an anti aging cream or serum in a matter of days or even in a week or two. The full effects will probably take closer to 4-8 weeks or more to emerge. Ignore any customer review if the user hasn't used the product long enough to properly comment.  

Don't believe all you read.  Ads are there to sell products and testamonials or before/after photos are not always all they seem. Look for hard clinical studies and see what customers who have actually used the products say about products in review forums. That's what I try and do here on this site before I make a recommendation.

Natural isn't always best.  Many natural chemicals can be harmful or even deadly - many man-made chemicals are life saving drugs. What really matters is whether the product is clinically proven to be safe and effective.

Check sell by dates and product seals.  Never accept products close to expiry date or with ineffective seals. Ingredients can slowly react with one another and degrade even if not exposed to the air.

Remember you're unique.  Even if you buy carefully - what works for others may be totally wrong for you. There is always going to be a certain element of trial and error.

Only buy if you can return it easily. Online suppliers are much better at this than retail in my experience.  If you get a bad reaction or you feel the product just doesn't do what it says the last thing you want is a hassle about returning it. Check the return period and make sure you stick to the terms.

So - do your research and think about what you want from an anti aging product.  Set a budget and buy carefully. 

Nothing is guaranteed - but by following these simple rules you are much more likely to get the results you want!

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