Water

Water-Whether purified, or triple filtered, water can make up 50 - 75% of an OTC skin care product.

Look at the ingredient label of the skin care products you're using now. What's the first ingredient? I'm going to take a chance and bet that the first ingredient is water.

How do I know? Because water is the most commonly used base for skin care products. More than 90% of all skin care products use more water in their formulations than anything else.

Why? Here are four very good reasons why product manufactures do this:

1. Water is Cheap - You can buy a bottle of water from a vending machine for $1, can you say the same for your skin care products? Manufacturer's use water to fill up the bottle, cutting the costs of producing each product down to mere pennies.

2. Water is Abundant - Water isn't something you have to special order and have shipped in. All you have to do is turn on the tap, right? This is important for product manufacturer's because it cuts their costs down even further.

3. Customers Can't Tell the Difference - Why bother making a product that is not concentrated or effective if the customer can't tell the difference? In truth, you can tell a difference, but since so many skin care companies are watering down their formulations, most people are never exposed to anything different!

4. Customers Pay the Price - By making a water based product, the limted and diluted active ingredients need to be concentrated to be effective, and therefore expensive.

Water seriously limits the effectiveness of a skin care product when it's added to the formulation. Why? Adding water is an open invitation for bacteria to breed! It's inclusion also guarantees that some harsh chemicals are going to be needed in the product as well.

What is Natural Skin Care? Why is this? Well, your skin is naturally waterproof. It's covered by a thin, waxy coating of oil called sebum. Water, and water based products, cannot penetrate this layer.

By not penetrating the skin, water based products are not flushing your pores properly. By not washing away the dirt and grime that accumulates on your skin, these products are not doing the job you bought them for.

There are some water based products that do penetrate your skin, but they do so by nefarious means. By using harsh detergents and abrasives, these products strip away your natural, waterproof protection. This not only damages your skin, but it can also aggravate your oil glands or dry your skin out completely.

No matter which way you look at it, water is just not a good ingredient in skin care products. If you're going to invest your hard earned money on skin care products, be sure you're not wasting most of those dollars on a heavily perfumed, colorful bottle of water.