Facial Masks: Friend or Foe?

While thumbing through one of those catalogs that seem to make it to my mailbox every now and then I recently came across an ad entitled “Magnificent in Minutes”. Being intrigued I read on to discover that this product was actually a specially formulated peel off facial mask promising to tighten your pores and firm aging skin in minutes. All you had to do was apply a thin coat all over your face and neck weekly and after 20 minutes simply peel it off to reveal younger, firmer skin. Wow! Twenty minutes one a week and I would look younger and firmer! Since it did not mention any age I guess it worked for anyone, no matter how old they were. This miracle facial mask had the added benefit of removing impurities as well as smoothing wrinkles. All that in just 20 minutes? And to think this product cost less than $17! Then I started thinking….if I applied a coat of this miracle product to my backside would it reveal a younger, firmer butt? If so, I was ordering a case!! Then I read the list of ingredients and found out that this product contained 4 chemical preservative, 2 forms of sugar, an artificial fragrance, 2 artificial colors and something called Octoxynol-9, which I found listed at drugs.com as being a common spermicide. If spermicide kills sperm, which are living organisms, what exactly does this ingredient do to my living skin cells?