If you have ever been confused about the hundreds of products available at the cosmetic counter, you are not alone.
In fact, there are so many product options for us today from various different manufacturers with different descriptions it is hard to distinguish what is really necessary on a daily basis. With that point in mind, we had to ask the question, is night cream really necessary?

Everyone has experienced that moment when considering purchasing a night cream and then had second thoughts either due to the cost or perhaps we thought we could get away with only using a regular moisturizer at night. To put things in black and white, we couldn't be more wrong. There are many reasons why it is important to have both your regular day creams and your night cream in your daily regimen. To get the complete low down we asked several different specialists in the skin care industry to explain why. When asked, Dr. Sven Gohla, Vice President of Research & Development of the La Prairie Group, said, "Absolutely! During the night, specifi c formulas supply the skin with the ingredients that support the skins natural regeneration process, the latter being primarily active during night time".
Putting it simply, you won't fi nd the same ingredients in a daily moisturizer that will be able to help in this healing process.

Dr. H. Maes, Ph.D, Vice President of Global Research & Development at Estée Lauder further explains, "Studies show that night time is the optimal time to maximise existing natural processes that occur in your skin. It is more receptive to ingredients that will help restore and revitalize its appearance". Maes adds, "During the day, your skin goes on the defensive. Think about what's probably going on around you – UV rays, free radicals, stress from the daily challenges of work and home. All these elements can impact your skin and not in a good way!"
Okay, so we all know that we are exposing ourselves along with our skin to a bombardment of negative impacts on a daily basis, so what happens to our skin at night that makes it so important to use a night cream? "During the night, your skin goes on the offensive. Environmental aggressors are no longer present, so your skin redirects its energy into repairing damage from the day and rebuilding its collagen and elastin support structures which are vital to maintaining a youthful "spring" and fi rmness", says Maes, "In order to accomplish all that repairing, skin has to increase its metabolism – just as you have to eat more when you are active. As metabolism increases, so does blood fl ow through the skin. This causes the skin's temperature to rise, which in turn causes faster water loss.

The end result of this chain reaction? Overnight, skin can become seriously dehydrated. This dehydration has two main consequences. One being if the water loss is severe enough, cells enter a state called Osmotic Shock and they may die. Obviously, this is no good for your skin's appearance. The second effect is that even a little dehydration can interfere with the rebuilding and repairing process, so skin is sabotaged by dryness right when we need it to be performing at its peak!" To emphasize the importance of night cream application Ana Guerrero, skin specialist for La Prairie says, "If we did not apply night creams before we sleep, the repairing process would slow down or even not occur in some cases (short sleep time, damaging way of life as smoking, not drinking enough water, lack of vitamins... Etc.).

Because most day creams are formulated specifi cally with free radical fi ghters (antioxidants) to help protect the skin, during the night our skin should repair itself from those damages, but it is not always possible. Sometimes the damage is so severe from the daily onslaught of free radicals skin does not have enough time to oxygenate, rest and repair. Eventually this makes the skin stress and age prematurely, so we end up with fatigued, fl aky and saggy skins. That's why we fi nd repairing, calming & emollient ingredients in night creams. Guerrero adds, "The trend is to now include antioxidants which will fi ght premature skin aging, but will then defend the skin during night time, letting the organ do the repair work itself. This results in creams originally designed for night time that can also be used during the day. That's the case of La Prairie's Anti-Aging Complex a Cellular Intervention Cream.
A product that repairs maintains and protects the skin, something that all types of skin need. On that point it makes sense that the latest breakthroughs in skin care are now offering to provide both protective qualities along with healing ingredients. Even though we obviously need the daily protective factors to shield our skin, we still need the active nurturing formulations to repair damage already caused. This being the case it will almost be the reverse of what we may have thought about using a day cream for night purposes! With the understanding that our skin has two completely different functions from day and night it is clear that as we get older it is important to provide it with all the nurturing ingredients to help maintain a youthful appearance.
This is not to say that we only need to start thinking about it when we are over a certain age, the sooner we start nourishing and protecting our skin, preferably from our twenties, the longer it will take to show the signs of age. So, next time you stop by the cosmetic counter and ponder whether to buy a night cream remember that day creams keep the moisture balance and help prevent damage of the skin from free radicals, whereas night creams work to nourish and heal the skin while we rest to rejuvenate and prepare our skin for the following day.