Skin Care Review: DDF Wrinkle Relax

Rating
Good

Benefits
softens the brow area

Drawbacks
irritates and cause the skin to dry

Details
This cream won't fix all your aging problems. However, it wins five stars from me because it actually delivers on its core promise: that it will partially inhibit contraction of facial muscles. It works as a milder, more temporary version of Botox -- by altering the amount of neurotransmitter released from the nerves that normally cause your facial muscles to contract.

What does this do to your face? This depends on what kind of face you start out with. I have facial muscles that are somewhat overactive -- I squint and frown most of the time, even without realizing it. I also have droopy eyelids. DDF Wrinkle Relax has helped both these problems. When applied across the forehead and over the area between your eyebrows, the muscles responsible for squinting and frowning expressions will noticeably relax. People kept commenting that I look less stressed. They also smiled at me more, and seemed happier to be around me -- probably because I wasn't involuntarily frowning all the time. This is basically the same effect that Botox creates, but the muscles are not quite as paralyzed -- and the effect wears off in a few days.

When DDF Wrinkle Relax is applied at the temples (about half an inch away from the outer corner of the eye), it inhibits the orbicularis oculi muscle -- the muscle that normally contracts the eye and creates crow's feet. One nice effect of inhibiting this muscle is that the opposing muscles, the ones that lift the eyelid and open the eye, don't have as much to fight against -- leaving you with a wide-eyed, fresh, alert, young look. This is especially noticeable if your eyelids have become progressively droopier with age, as mine have. Again, it's one of the strategies dermatologists use with Botox -- this is another common Botox injection site.

Whether this product actually erases wrinkles is another matter. Personally, I don't care -- I buy it because of its muscle relaxation properties.

The product will start working in a few hours -- I didn't get the full effect until after applying it twice a day for a couple of days. It is not as strong as Botox. You will still be able to move your muscles as before.

Something to watch out for -- the Jack Nicholson "scary eyebrow" expression. This happens with over-Botoxed actresses as well: if the muscle between the eyebrows is inhibited, sometimes the opposing muscles of the upper forehead will pull the eyebrows too far up and out. It can result in an angry, kind of crazy, pointy-eyebrow expression. Seriously, think Jack Nicholson. Whether this happens to you is mostly a factor of your underlying musculature.

Conclusions
I've been using this only a short while and have noticed an improvement.

Price (paid by reviewer)
$76.00

Where to find it
beauty.com