Growing older – – for women in particular – – involves a lot of unpleasant things. There are the aches and pains normally associated with aging. There is the thinning hair problem. Weight becomes an ever present issue. It almost seems as though your body is in rebellion against you. Beauty seems to become a thing of the past.
One of the things I didn’t expect with aging, however, was how severely dry my aging skin would become. It is actually quite painful to have your hands and fingers, in particular, crack, blister, and bleed.
I’ve tried virtually every moisturizer and beauty skin care cream on the market. Nothing works 100%. Some moisturizers make you hands feel great – – for about five minutes. However, after that, unless you want to continue to apply it constantly, the skin goes right back to its original rough, dry, and painful state.
Other moisturizers don’t seem to do that much on the surface, but after you use them for awhile, you do actually begin to see a difference. We’re not talking a drastic difference, mind you, but one that is sufficient enough to be noticed.
That is the case with the two skin moisturizers I’m going to compare. Cocoa Butter Lotion from Personal Care and Surgeon’s Skin Secret.
Personal Care stands behind its Cocoa Butter Lotion saying that it promotes beautiful healthy skin with natural moisturizers. I’m not a chemist or a scientist so I don’t pretend to understand how the mixture of ingredients used work to accomplish this.
I do know that the product contains water, mineral oil, glycerin, lanolin, panthenol, keratin protein, and cocoa butter; all things that supposedly have viable healing or softening properties. However, it also contains a lot of other chemicals that make me wonder just how good all of this stuff can actually be for anyone’s skin.
Cocoa Butter Lotion feels wonderful when you first put it on the skin. With its natural essential oils and pleasant fragrance, it certainly seems to offer a short term fix for painful dry skin. However, over the long haul, I don’t see a significant cumulative effect from this product. It works better than many other similar products, but it just doesn’t perform at the level hoped for.
Surgeon’s Skin Secret is an unusual product in that it comes in a stick format. Originally used by surgeons to help relieve dry skin caused from having gloves on their hands for an extended period of time, it has some unusual properties. It doesn’t come off in the water or with normal everyday sweat.
Unlike its competitor, Skin Secret uses no chemical additives. Instead it uses beeswax, light mineral oil, and lanolin in a non-toxic, skin revitalization formula. The product claims to help reduce the appearance and feel of dry, chapped, irritated skin. And, oddly enough, it does just that.
While Skin Secret has a kind of waxy feel going on, as it works itself into the skin you can immediately feel its softening properties beginning to work. Using it regularly over a period of time also seems to have a real cumulative effect on the skin.
Distributed by Jamark Laboratories, Inc., Surgeon’s Skin Secret is sold exclusively on-line and through television’s QVC network. It generally comes in a two-pack of 2.5 oz sticks in a variety of scents including unscented, grapefruit, lemon, rose, mint, lavender, vanilla, and berry. The cost is $17.50 for a two pack which can last anywhere from one to three months per stick, depending upon how often you apply the moisturizer.
Distributed by Personal Care Products, Inc., Cocoa Butter Lotion is available through most major department stores, drug stores, and some grocers as well. It can be purchased in various sizes and fragrances from lemon to vanilla or peach. A 20 fl. Oz. Bottle costs between $3.99 and $5.29, depending upon where it is purchased.
Comparing them head to head, they fall out this way:
Packaging goes to Cocoa Butter Lotion. Skin Secret focuses more on the product than the packaging which more closely resembles deodorant than a moisturizing beauty product.
Fragrance goes to Skin Secret. There are a multitude of fragrances to choose from and they all smell delicious.
Initial Application result goes to Cocoa Butter Lotion. It feels great going on.
Long-term Effectiveness goes to Skin Secret. It actually works to improve the condition of the skin and also helps to protect the skin.
Overall Product Value goes to Skin Secret. Although it is more expensive up front, the product lasts forever and has a long-term cumulative effect.
All in all, Skin Secret is the better product for those who actually want to make a difference in the appearance and condition of their skin. Cocoa Butter Lotion is fine for a short-term fix, but it simply doesn’t have the long-term effect of Skin Secret.
