Creams of the Crop : Expensive Products Promise to Firm, Unwrinkle and Smooth Dry Skin

SOME PEOPLE are so worried about facial wrinkles that they’re willing to spend $100 on a jar of moisturizer. Taking note, the cosmetics industry has expanded its skin-care focus to the rest of the body and offers such products as $50 jars of green mud that promise younger-looking, radiant skin from the neck down. That product’s manufacturer says it sells “hundreds of thousands” of jars every year.

Last year, cosmetics products that promised to moisturize and revitalize the body accounted for about $50 million in U.S. sales. Now, according to recent industry surveys, that number is increasing by 15% each year. But it’s not only hopes of alleviating parched skin that motivates people to buy these creams, lotions and oils, nor is it merely the ads that promise a younger, sexier look. Many consumers look upon these products as a way to help them relax while they try to improve their skin.

“It’s more than a dry-skin issue,” says Mary Tumolo, training director at Princess Marcella Borghese, makers of Fango, the green mud. “It’s a given that a product will moisturize; that’s the norm. Now women want a product that does more.” Tumolo contends that consumers who plunk down big dollars for body creams and lotions are trying to re-create the feeling of a spa in the home.

“I can’t afford the time to go to a spa,” says Linda Freedman, director of marketing for a Los Angeles computer-software firm, “and even if I could, I wouldn’t spend $2,000 for a few days at the Golden Door.” Instead, she gets massages twice a month and spends several hundred dollars each year on body creams and bath products.

Manufacturers insist that relaxation and pampering are only partial explanations for the body-care boom. “Throughout the ‘80s, the trend was toward sophisticated face treatments,” says Carol Schuler, a vice president at Clarins, a firm that specializes in treatment products. “Everyone became body conscious,” she adds. “The awareness that creams could make a difference on the face led women to look for solutions to body-skin problems.”

The Food and Drug Administration, which monitors cosmetics claims, constantly reminds consumers that no cosmetic product will lift a breast, flatten a stomach or smooth a cellulite-plagued bottom. But the popularity of such products as Biotherm’s Actif Ventre Ferme Stomach-Firming Treatment or Clarins’ Cellulite Control Gel indicate that consumers think they’re getting results. Most of these cosmetic creams work in one of two ways. Some, such as bust creams, plump the skin cells by adding and trapping water on the surface, causing the skin to feel temporarily firmer. Others, especially anti-cellulite products, draw water out of the surface cells so the skin looks thinner and firmer. Results are sometimes noticeable but are always temporary.

These products are no alternative to cosmetic surgery. On the other hand, many products promise to help soothe, relax and moisturize the body in the bath, and those often deliver on their promise. The therapeutic benefits of a leisurely soak, which relaxes the muscles, have long been acknowledged by the medical community. In addition, psychologists such as Dr. Ellen Siroka Robinson, a New York-based therapist, recognize the bath’s psychological benefits. Robinson, who leads corporate stress-reducing programs, advocates the bath as a safe and beneficial alternative to tranquilizers or alcohol for overstressed individuals who have trouble relaxing.

“A tepid bath helps relax muscles, and the addition of oils and things appealing to the senses, such as smell, helps soothe and calm,” Robinson adds. That line of thinking has led manufacturers to concentrate on many new products for the bath. Quite a few, such as Avon’s Aroma Spa collection, emphasize the benefits of aromatherapy, which uses naturally scented essential oils to affect the mood. Scientists who study scent have found that when certain oils such as chamomile, basil and rose are added to a bath or massaged into the skin, the body apparently relaxes more completely. Couple a mood-altering scent and some moisturizers in a warm bath, and there seems to be a case for manufacturers’ claims that a product “nurtures” or “relaxes the mind and body.”

But it’s important for consumers to keep in mind that no matter what these products are called, all of them are still cosmetics, items that are designed not to substitute for medical treatments but to make good grooming easier and more pleasurable.