Xhekpon vs Dr. Althea

Xhekpon

Xhekpon is the sleeper hit of Spanish pharmacy beauty — a brand that's been on pharmacy shelves since 1993 with essentially one hero product (the Crema Facial collagen cream) that became a cult favourite through word-of-mouth rather than marketing spend. The brand's positioning is radically simple: hydrolyzed collagen as the star active, supported by Centella asiatica (healing and anti-inflammatory) and aloe vera (hydration and soothing), in clean formulations at under-€15 price points. The Crema Facial is the iconic product — originally developed for post-surgical wound healing and tissue repair, it became a mainstream anti-aging product when Spanish women discovered that the tissue-repair mechanism (stimulating fibroblast activity via collagen peptides) produced visible skin-tightening and wrinkle reduction. At ~$15 for 40ml, it's among the most affordable effective anti-aging products in any pharmacy. The brand expanded into eye contour cream, serum, and body care — all maintaining the collagen-first, minimal-formulation philosophy. Less clinical than Mesoestetic, less flashy than ISDIN, more focused than Sesderma — Xhekpon is what happens when a single-ingredient thesis proves right and the brand has the discipline to stay on it for 30 years.