Can Organic Skin Care Products Stop You Ageing?

Growing old gracefully is no longer a maxim we are satisfied with. A year later and another wrinkle. Increasingly in a capitalist, commercial world, we want to live longer, but not in the traditional sense of growing old and living longer.

We are keen to cling on to our youth-redeeming features whether it's our faces or our bodies. Many people moan, groan and agonise over creeping wrinkles and crows feet. Lines around our eyes are an age giveaway to the opposite sex. So is it worth tapping into the organic skincare for more natural, longer lasting alternatives?

Anti-ageing creams, moisturisers and cleansers and the range of skin care products available are mainly aimed at women. It's a major play on the national consciousness to make us feel the need to look youthful. Glossy womens' mags scream headlines about the latest celebrity to slip under the knife or visiting the clinic for a botox top-up.

Anti-ageing skincare has become big business. Euromonitor, found that the UK facial skincare market was worth 751m in 2005, growing to a massive 71% since 1997. The fastest growing category is anti-ageing products, which together with regular moisturisers account for 61.7% of total market sales.

Skin care companies long criticised for focussing on younger women, now have older role models to be the face of their products. Dior recently signed 47 year old actress Sharon Stone for a new advertising campaign for its anti-ageing line Capture and Estee Lauder has re-engaged Karen Graham, erstwhile model and spokeswoman for Resilience Lift.

The new organic skin care user should know about a few anti-ageing secrets. Not all products claiming botanical extracts, or natural plant minerals are organic with more than one in five new products over the past year in the UK claiming to be natural this represents a big increase from 180 in 2004, compared to 928 in 2005.

For those worried about ageing, a trip to the a good beauty expert will set you back about 100 but at least you will get a proper consultation and most people would leave with a bag of samples to try at home. There are a few organic, natural anti-ageing products on the market. Ren's Glycolactic Skin Renewal Peel Mask is good for brightening dull or mature skin and decongesting blemish-prone skin but it's probably not suitable for very sensitive skin. Plante System Intensive Anti-Wrinkle Cream is from a French organic range new to the UK. IT features an antioxidant-rich plant complex and lily extract which plumps the skin and works against age spots. It's also paraben free and certified by Ecocert, the French organic body.

Neal Yard's Organic Beauty Oil is an excellent age-defying oil too. Drizzle over your porridge or your salad and take it internally or apply onto your skin. This beauty oil is packed with nourishing omega fatty acids, essential nutrients and anti-oxidants that encourage the skin to regenerate naturally itself. According to the women's magazine, Easy Living, Neal Yard's skin-nourishing oils is the only thing that worked for one of the team's persistent eczema.

For those not in the know, the rose or Argan oil is best for anti-ageing. For centuries Argan has been a well-kept secret known only to Berber women in Morocco who use it to nourish their skin, hair and nails. Argans' anti-ageing properties, due to high levels of Vitamin E and saponins (which soften the skin) are well documented. It helps to reduce wrinkles by restoring the skin's water lipid layer and it also cools and soothes inflammation. Its ant-oxidant properties contribute to the neutralization of free radicals, particularly useful in the polluted Western hemisphere. It helps cool skin that has been exposed to wind and the sun and also protects it in cold weather.