Can Your Skincare Be Ageing You? We Asked a Scientist
And the answer is—yes. More often than you think.
It’s a confronting idea. Because most of us believe that if we’re investing in skincare, especially high-end skincare, we’re doing something good for our skin.
But after sitting down with Eduardo Perez, PhD—Chief Scientific Officer at Signum Biosciences and Epicutis - it became clear that the reality is far more nuanced.
And in many cases, the wrong skincare isn’t just ineffective, it can actively accelerate the ageing process.
A Scientist's Perspective On Skincare
Eduardo and his team develop active molecules, the ingredients we all recognise, from hyaluronic acid to peptides and anti-inflammatory compounds. These are then licensed to beauty brands across the world, from luxury to mainstream beauty brands.
But here’s what most people don’t see.
Once these ingredients leave the lab, they don’t stay in their pure, effective form. They’re reformulated—often heavily.
By the time they reach the shelf, they’ve usually been:
- + Diluted
- + Mixed with preservatives designed to extend shelf life for years
- + Stabilised with fillers and synthetic agents
- + Enhanced with fragrance and texture additives
Individually, these additions might seem harmless. But together, they can create formulas that no longer support the skin the way they were originally intended to.
“Fragrance can act like a Trojan horse,” Eduardo explained, enhancing the experience, while quietly disrupting the skin over time.
The Real Drivers of Skin Ageing (That No One Explains)
One of the biggest takeaways from our conversation with Eduardo was around the importantance of our skin barrier and microbiome. Something the industry including scientists are now only just beginning to understand properly.
Your skin isn’t just skin. It’s a living ecosystem.
And according to Eduardo based on decades or research in the laboratory, many conventional formulations don’t protect that ecosystem, they disrupt it.
Over time, this can:
- + Compromise the skin barrier
- + Trigger ongoing, low-grade inflammation
- + Increase sensitivity and reactivity
- + Accelerate visible ageing
Not overnight, but gradually and often without you realising the cause.
The problem isn’t always your skin. It’s what you’re putting on it.
Why Some Skincare Ingredients Can Actually Accelerate Skin Ageing
In the industry, there’s something known as the “kitchen sink” approach as Eduardo explains. This means beauty brands including the billion dollar beauty companies are adding more and more ingredients to make a formula sound impressive.
But more isn’t better.
In fact, combining too many ingredients, especially without considering how they interact, as backed by research can:
- + Strip the skin barrier
- + Disrupt the microbiome
- + Trigger chronic, low-grade inflammation
Which, over time, leads directly to inflammageing—one of the biggest drivers of premature skin ageing.
In Eduardo’s words, in many cases:
“Skincare can be doing the opposite of what you think it is.”
Not All Ingredients Are Created Equal
We’ve all been taught to look for certain ingredients like hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, retinol.
But here’s what most people don’t realise:
Not all versions of an ingredient behave the same way.
Take hyaluronic acid.
Eduardo explains, lower-quality, lower molecular weight versions—commonly used because they’re cheaper—can actually be pro-inflammatory.
But on the label?
It just says hyaluronic acid.
No distinction. No transparency.
A good ingredient in the wrong formula won’t give you good skin.
Old Formulas, New Marketing
Much of the skincare industry is still built on decades-old technology.
As Eduardo explained:
“It’s like using a pager in the age of smartphones. It still works—but we know there’s something far more advanced available.”
Rather than creating entirely new formulations, many brands update existing ones by adding trending ingredients, without rethinking the formula as a whole.
So while the marketing evolves, the science often doesn’t.
Why Skincare Ingredient Lists Don’t Always Tell the Full Story
Even when a product contains the “right” ingredients, there’s another issue:
Stability.
Some active ingredients degrade quickly.
In testing, Eduardo has seen formulations where a significant portion of the active ingredient is no longer present just weeks later.
Which means:
What’s on the label isn’t always what your skin is receiving.
Why Safe Skincare Really Matters
Skincare isn’t occasional.
It’s something you use:
- + Every day
- + Sometimes twice a day
- + Over years
That cumulative exposure matters.
Because repeated barrier disruption, irritation, or inflammation, even at low levels, can accelerate how your skin ages over time.
In some cases, your skin would be better off with nothing than the wrong skincare.
Why Is No One Talking About How Skincare Products Can Accelerate Skin Ageing?
This is because the beauty industry isn’t just about science— it’s about scale.
Global companies like Estée Lauder and L'Oréal dominate the market. These billion-dollar businesses built on mass production, long shelf lives, and global distribution.
That reality shapes formulation decisions.
It’s often more commercially viable to:
- + Use lower concentrations of expensive actives
- + Build formulas around stability rather than skin biology
- + Add trending “hero ingredients” into existing bases rather than reformulating from scratch for more effective skincare
While this is widely understood by scientists and formulators, it’s not spoken about or communicated to consumers, rather kept hidden.
EWG Clean Beauty Ratings from EWG-Verified (1) to 10 (being the worst)
Shop EWG-Verified Clean Skincare
A Shift Towards Bio-Tech Skincare
The good news is, the industry is evolving.
Companies like Signum Biosciences are approaching skincare from a biotechnology-first perspective. Developing formulations that are intentionally minimal, where each ingredient has a clear function.
Brands like Epicutis are built on this philosophy:
- + No unnecessary fillers
- + No excessive stabilisers
- + No ingredients that compromise the skin barrier or microbiome
Instead, the focus is on supporting the skin’s natural biology, rather than overriding it.
Their formulations have also been recognised by the Environmental Working Group with EWG-Verified status, reflecting a commitment to both safety and transparency.
In Summary
After more than two decades in the beauty industry, this is something I’ve only truly understood in the last few years.
And once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
It shifts how you read ingredient lists.
How you choose products.
And what you expect from skincare.
It was also one of the driving forces behind BAMBII to create a space where products are curated through strict, science-backed standards.
Because people deserve to know what they’re putting on their skin.
So, Can Your Skincare Be Ageing You?
Yes.
But it doesn’t have to.
Because better skin isn’t about doing more— it’s about doing what actually works.
And that starts with choosing skincare that supports your skin’s biology, protects its barrier, respects its microbiome, and reduces, not triggers inflammation.
That’s where real skin longevity begins.
At BAMBII, every product is selected through a strict set of standards developed in consultation with cosmetic chemists and scientists—ensuring each formula is not only clean, but genuinely effective.
References
- Environmental Working Group – EWG Verified®: Criteria and ingredient safety standards
- Signum Biosciences – Research on inflammation pathways and skin biology
- Epicutis – Clinical formulation philosophy and barrier-first skincare
- Proksch, E. et al. (2008). The skin: an indispensable barrier. Experimental Dermatology
- Draelos, Z. (2018). Cosmetic Dermatology: Products and Procedures
- Papakonstantinou, E. et al. (2012). Hyaluronic acid: A key molecule in skin ageing
- Lee, Y. I., Choi, S., Roh, W. S., Lee, J. H., & Kim, T.-G. (2021). Cellular Senescence and Inflammaging in the Skin Microenvironment. International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
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