African Botanics Svelte Sculpting and Firming Cream

This product can help improve hydration of the skin with the two types of ingredients.

The first type is called “humectants”:
these ingredients help attract water. When humectants are on the surface of the skin, they “pull in” the moisture from the outside environment, or from within deeper layers of the skin. The following ingredients in this product do the job: glycerin, hyaluronic acid.

This product also contains ingredients called “occlusives”. They help reduce the speed with which our skin loses moisture to the outside environment. These ingredients also help soften the upper layer of the skin, so it feels less tight and nicer to the touch. The following ingredients in this product do the job: butyrospermum parkii butter, chondrus crispus extract.

This product contains antioxidants (silybum marianum extract, sodium ascorbyl phosphate) that might be able to help neutralize free radicals in skin to lessen the damage it gets from the UV light (sun). There is not enough evidence to confirm their effectiveness in skin though.

This product does not contain ingredients that are able to reduce fine lines and wrinkles or help with skin elasticity, but it can improve the look of the skin temporarily through moisturization. Well-moisturized skin might also be able to repair the sun damage better.These ingredients - butyrospermum parkii butter, hyaluronic acid, sodium ascorbyl phosphate - could be helpful for preventing or repairing signs of aging in theory, but there is no evidence that it actually works.

This ingredient silybum marianum extract might be able to help neutralize free radicals in skin and help it fight off some of the sun damage.

This product does not contain effective exfoliating ingredients. It might be able to deliver physical exfoliation, that is scrub off some of the dead cells on the surface of the skin. We do not recommend physical exfoliation, because it is not uniform (some bits of skin can get exfoliated too much while others not at all). It can also traumatize the skin and aggrevate acne and other skin conditions.