UK NEWS

SALES OF ANTI-WRINKLE CREAM ROCKET BY 500%

FOREVER YOUNG: Anti-ageing items are in high demand

Monday March 3,2008

By Sarah O’Grady Social Affairs Correspondent

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(4)

EVEN if we’re getting on a bit, none of us is too keen on looking older – which means money in the bank for chemists everywhere.

Their anti-ageing creams are flying off the shelves as we look desperately for the secret that will keep us forever young.

It is not just women attempting to turn back the years. Men are willing to pay for and experiment with the latest cult beauty products.

Sales are soaring and Britain’s biggest chain of chemists, Boots, has reported a year-on-year increase of 516 per cent. Other retailers are also expected to announce record sales.

Figures today from Boots show that anti-ageing items were in huge demand in February. More than 700,000 of their No7 anti-ageing products were sold – an average of more than 3,500 every hour.

We are spending £554million a year on skin care in the hope that, in our increasingly youth-obsessed culture, we can hold the years at bay. In the past year, three million Britons aged between 35 and 60 used an anti-ageing product at least once a week.

Fiona Lakin, beauty expert at Boots, says: “The increase in sales in our branches is being driven by the success of No7 Protect & Perfect and the ‘halo effect’ this has had on the anti-ageing market.

“The number of anti-ageing skin care products has grown massively to reflect the increasingly sophisticated needs of consumers. The market for serums, for example, has rocketed in the last few years.

“It’s not just women’s needs that are changing. Men are also becoming powerful consumers in the cosmetics market and are now buying large volumes of anti-ageing creams.”

In the midst of the euphoria about the creams, however, there is a doom-monger. Killjoy Dr Kerri McPherson, a psychologist at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, believes that women could have false expectations about these wonder treatments. But, he said, even if the products do not live up to the promises on the packaging, it seems people still carry on using them.

He said: “It may be that the cream is not doing as much as they expected it to do.

“It may be that they are not getting evidence of an improvement but they don’t want to reverse what might be maintained by these treatments.

“They fear that they could look worse if they stopped using them.”

CREAMS

03.03.08, 11:59pm

It still means you are a grandma waking up with a grandad.
Beauty is within.

• Posted by: melbel • Report Comment

WE HAVEN'T SEEN ANYTHING YET!

03.03.08, 8:34pm

Using these kind of creams are a true blessing but as with anything else before applying make sure that the ingredients comply with safety as a major part before even making a purchase. Since we are not allowed to mention any names in this forum I will encourage everyone to look at the label before making a purchase.

As we say, it's all about feeling and looking good which are the reason I say FeelGood365 it's all in the name you know.

Be SAFE and look FANTASTIC.

• Posted by: FeelGood365 • Report Comment

YOU CANT TELL,

03.03.08, 1:08pm

The mutton may be dressed as lamb, but it still tastes as tough!!!

• Posted by: Russell42 • Report Comment

ANTI-WRINKLE CREAMS ????

03.03.08, 8:54am

what happened to the saying growing old gracefully.,
and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and you cant make a silk purse of a sows ear etc, beauty is in the eye
of the beholder, and there is nothing more beautiful than to see some one with a genuine happy contented smile
no matter how old or not so attractive you are. so forget the creams everybody and just SMILE

• Posted by: ANNR • Report Comment