I got this email from a dear friend whom I’ve known for almost 30 years. We practically grew up together and she is completely familiar with my books, Beauty Bulletins, and she even uses my products. She wrote:

HI Paula: I saw this “Garnier” product that is a Ultra-Lift Pro Deep Wrinkle Roller that you can massage on your neck, etc. that tightens the skin. What do you know about this product as I do like Garnier products. You are the expert.
Love, Tonya

Well at least she was kind enough to say I was the expert, but really, how could she of all people ask a question about whether or not a Garnier product could lift her 55-year-old neck tighter then it is? I was flabbergasted. Could cosmetic advertising even seduce my extended family? I guess so.

I emailed her back the following:

Before I answer, tell me what you’re curious about. Why are you asking me? This will be really helpful for me.

She then emailed me this:

I wanted to use it to tighten under my jaw line and neck if it were to help at all. I am also looking into doing Thermage on my neck and face for $2,400 as I talked with my dermatologist about it 2 weeks ago. I thought before I did that I could try this Garnier product for tightening. It has beech tree extract, vitamin A, and omega 3 and 6 fatty acids if that helps.

I was dejected and despondent, all that work and one ad can take a wise woman concerned about her appearance and make her as vulnerable as a child. I responded and said there isn’t a tree of any kind, any vitamin or fatty acid that can tighten a millimeter of skin. There isn’t a cosmetic product on earth from any cosmetic company that can replace cosmetic corrective procedures. The claims are not real, they are illusions. And by the way, I would not do Thermage I would do Fraxel, the results are far more impressive.

I’ll get over this. It happens all the time. I should have a dime from every woman who wonders if such-and-such a product can live up to its claims, by now I could have bought Hawaii! I just thought my family and friends were different. I’m more sympathetic then I sound. Once in a while, depending on the ad, I experience a nano-second of doubt, wondering, can it be true, I wonder what the research is about. We’re all vulnerable to some extent. Watching the changes on your face is a bummer. The promises even though they can’t lift up your skin they can momentarily lift up your hopes. The results for me is that it gives me that much more motivation to keep doing what I do! And after all, my friend did check with me first, though sometimes she strays, it’s never for too long when the reality shows up in the mirror.