The One Anti-Aging Ingredient Every Woman Needs

The one thing a woman needs in anti-aging cream
The one thing a woman needs in anti-aging cream

In our September issue, we announced the winners of our 2013 Anti-Aging Awards for skincare! The entire project took over a year to complete: We screened a whopping 349 products and tested 84.

Looking back at the items we evaluated in 2010 for our very first awards we were able to see new trends in the skincare industry. One of the things that surprised us the most was that more and more day creams included retinol or other vitamin A derivatives - the star anti-aging ingredient that in the past was reserved for nighttime, as sunlight can render it inactive and it may even increase the skin's susceptibility to the sun.

Related: 5 Things You Didn't Know About Retinol

This time around, several of the products we tested in the SPF day cream category included these ingredients. Our advisory board of dermatologists vetted all of the creams before we tested them and assured us that they were okay to give out to our panelists as the Vitamin A derivatives used in our choices are not prescription strength (such as Retin-A, aka, retinoic acid), and included appropriate SPF protection; all of the day creams contained at least SPF 30, which meets the American Academy of Dermatology recommendation for daily use.

Related: Get a Glowing Skin in 3 Simple Steps!

In the end our winner was one of those retinol products: Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair SPF 30 which features the company's proprietary Retinol SA. After two months of use, our study found that it improved skin tone and reduced fine lines - and at a very wallet- friendly price of just $21.

Be sure to check out the rest of our 2013 Anti Aging Award winners for skincare!

-Mary Clarke

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