Whether you managed to see this programme on Channel 4 (12th May 2008) or not, here is a summary for you. 

All of the information presented here is taken directly from the programme (not our own spin on its content) with individual's comments in italics and quotation marks.  We have purposefully not named names and kept this summary factual rather than sensational. 

We have also kept our comments to the footnotes rather than clutter the information.

Half a Billion Pounds...

is the amount the British public spends on beauty creams each year. Most of this is fuelled by extensive TV, magazine and shop advertising promising incredible effects within short timescales. This programme set out to take a look at some of the claims of leading brands and put them to the test. They also went undercover to talk to sales counter staff and dispelled some of the technical jargon.

They enlisted the help of a dermatologist from Hammersmith Hospital, Dr Tony Chu, and a plastic surgeon, Dalvi Humzah, to draw up the rules for their "simple consumer test" and provide information for the programme. They also talked to beauty editors about how these products are reviewed and advertised in the magazines.

So, one of the first questions they asked was...

Why does our skin age?

Dalvi Humzah says that there are two main reasons for the "changing triangle of the face".

Firstly, the bone structure in our faces changes, we lose volume in our bones, the cheekbones disappear and the jaw bone thins; causing the face to drop.

Secondly, sunlight triggers damaging chemical reactions in the skin and causes 90% of skin ageing. This sun damage may not be visible until later in life and Mr Hamzah called it "underlying age waiting to happen". This damage was made visible by the scanning machine he uses in his work.

Armed with that information, what about the trial Mr Hamzah and Dr Chu had devised...