On my Google News feed this morning was an article in sheknows entitled, “Jennifer Aniston’s Fave $22 Face Cream is Actually Just As Good As La Mer’s $200 Version.”

So I decided to see what Jennifer is using and recommending. The product is Mario Badescu Seaweed Night Cream. The featured ingredient in this product is Fucus vesiculosus, or bladderwrack. This is a brown seaweed that contains variable amounts of iodine, up to 600 mg/g. The ingredient has positive effects in the skin, unless you’re sensitive to iodine. However, there are number of harmful ingredients in this product of which people need to be aware. If you’re interested in this topic of toxic, inflammatory skin care ingredients, I encourage you to read my recent published article on the subject and an interview I did to explain my new means of therapeutic development that renormalizes physiology and reduces inflammation.

The Seaweed product is full of toxic ingredients and probably digested animal hide (hydrolyzed elastin and collagen). This is the same Mario Badescu who was apparently selling creams that contained steroids – steroids are drugs with possible adverse side effects, and Mario Badescu didn’t list these drugs on the labels of their cosmetics. They didn’t like this in Korea either. Seriously, trusting a company that intentionally adds drugs to their cosmetic products without listing the drug ingredients should be a huge, tall red flag for anyone thinking to slather these Badescu ingredients on their skin.

Here are some of the questionable ingredients (that we know are listed) in the Seaweed Night Cream:

diazolidinyl urea: EWG=5, high for Allergies & Immunotoxicity
methylparaben and propylparaben: these are endocrine disruptors
hydrolyzed collagen and elastin: this is likely removed from dead animal hide
parfum: EWG=8, high for Allergies & Immunotoxicity
ci 19140: EWG=6, moderate for Allergies & Immunotoxicity
ci 42090: EWG= 8, moderate for Cancer and high for use restrictions

EWG is the non-profit Environmental Work Group.

While the Le Mer product that is compared does not contain these toxic ingredients, I’ve formulated a better cream product that contains none of these toxic ingredients, and doesn’t use a petroleum-derived ingredient, petrolatum in Le Mer, to restore the skin’s barrier function. Rather the product I formulated uses skin-identical lipid ingredients, ceramide, cholesterol, and free fatty acids, that are used by the skin to naturally restore the skin’s barrier function. Scientists at UCSF found this combination to be optimal for barrier formation. Without proper barrier function the skin becomes dehydrated, inflamed, and susceptible to environmental toxins, allergens, and pathogens. An inflammatory immune response results in the skin, and importantly, that inflammatory response is translated systemically to the rest of the body. Systemic inflammation underlies most, if not all, diseases. So skin inflammation can be a contributor to systemic inflammation and many diseases. Critical to your health, especially as we age, is caring for our skin and not using toxic ingredients in our skin care products – especially if the toxic ingredients are in leave-on products that are used daily. Jennifer Aniston is a beautiful lady, seems like a nice person, and she is a good actress – so I hope she stops using the Seaweed Night Cream, and if she doesn’t want to use our superior NeoGenesis Barrier Renewal Cream for some reason, the Le Mer is better than the Badescu product.

Seaweed Night Cream Ingredients: aqua (water, eau), glycerin, isopropyl myristate, stearic acid, propylene glycol, cetyl alcohol, fucus vesiculosus (bladderwrack) extract, hydrolyzed elastin, collagen, sodium hyaluronate, glyceryl acrylate/acrylic acid copolymer, carbomer, parfum (fragrance), sodium chloride, phenoxyethanol, potassium sorbate, methylparaben, propylparaben, sodium benzoate, triethanolamine, diazolidinyl urea, mica, titanium dioxide, caprylyl glycol, hexylene glycol, benzyl alcohol, benzyl salicylate, linalool, citronellol, amyl cinnamal, hexyl cinnamal, geraniol, limonene, ci 19140 (yellow 5), ci 42090 (blue 1), ci 77288 (chromium oxide green)