Consumers and industry agree. Cosmeceuticals are the future of anti-aging skin care. World-class companies in the industry are flooding the marketplace with cosmetics that claim pharmaceutical benefits along with temporary visible effects.

Botanicals are the rage. By adding cosmetics grade extracts of herbs in appropriate strength, and by using proven a delivery mechanism surely you too will receive the multiple benefits claimed. Unfortunately, this is not the story for many consumers. Often women experience less benefit than advertised, or mild to severe side effects along with the benefits.

Because of the western notion of a single-cause-single effect it seems that simply by adding multiple ingredients to a base one receives multiple benefits from a cream or lotion or gel. We see this science as flawed, and have a very different vision of the future of anti-aging skin care.

Essentially, no science of combination, no technology of delivery, has yet been found which will provide a really effective holistic side-effect free botanical product with multiple cosmeceutical benefits. Manufacturers of AHA, BHA and retinol based products are left to juggle the amount of extract to be added versus the benefit received versus the side effects produced.

Where will the "new new" in cosmeceuticals come from? What science exists for effective side-effect free formulation? And when can we expect to see these transformational products and regimens? Who will emerge as the leader in providing holistic side-effect free skin care?

Real face and body care is going "back to the future." The deepest knowledge of botanicals belongs to ayurveda, the world's original system of health care. Maharishi Ayurveda possesses an unrivaled set of technologies for processing and extraction of raw herbs. And Vaidya R.K. Mishra, world-renowned ayurvedic dermatologist, embodies the knowledge of the use (sanskar) and the science of combination (sanyoga) for developing authentic ayurvedic formulations and treatment protocols that maximize pharmaceutical-like benefits for internal and external benefits.

New ingredients, new knowledge of the structure and function of the skin, and new approaches to treatment are redefining what is possible in anti-aging skin care. New ingredients like Gotu Kola, Sensitive Plant and Flame of Forest are creating excitement, and the possibility that whole plant extracts will usher in a new future for skin care.

Of course, if you talk to an ayurvedic dermatologist there is nothing new here. Authentic individualized use of herbs and mineral formulations have kept the women of India looking younger than their biological age in the world's harshest environment for at least five millennia.

Vaidyas, traditional herbal doctors, claim ayurveda has a more complete understanding of botanicals and their holistic interactions with the structure and function of all aspects of the skin. For example, Gotu Kola has been scientifically shown to stimulate collagen synthesis by up to 30%.

Vaidya R.K. Mishra includes Gotu Kola in formulations that increase collagen synthesis. However, major cosmetics firms consider it virtually unusable because it causes contact dermatitis (rashes and irritation).

In a recent interview, a research chemist from a prominent firm in the industry asked Dr. Mishra the secret to safely including Gotu Kola in anti-aging formulas. Dr. Mishra explained that the knowledge of ayurvedic herbal combination and the psychophysiology of the skin require more than the specific knowledge of balancing the unwanted effects of just a single herb.

Unlike other modern cosmeceutical products an authentic ayurvedic formula will contain multiple ingredients all of which must be balanced one to another and to the condition of the skin. For example, the purpose of Sensitive Plant is to re-awaken the full functioning of the 1,300 nerves contained in one square inch of skin.

But this must not interfere with collagen synthesis, or overheat the temperature receptors. Ordinary multiple ingredient cosmeceuticals such as those using AHAs, retinols, and vitamins also create multiple side effects.

In reality no science of combination exists for botanical formulations in the West. The worldview that one cause targets one effect is too simplistic for real world skin care. The skin is a very complex and delicate living organ that metabolizes virtually anything applied to it. Thus, a face cream should be alive in all its ingredients. The botanical intelligence of each extract must be able to awaken the intelligence with which it is associated. Even the base must support skin structure and function through perfect metabolism.

Ideally, a perfectly balanced ayurvedic anti-aging formula should work in the long term as a transformational agent to actually make the skin younger. It should re-enliven full functioning as if each skin cell remembered its youth. This, according to R.K. Mishra, is the intelligence level of the skin, which forms the basis of the ayurvedic theory of skin care.