Combining Retinol with Vitamin C, AHA or BHA?
Hi everyone, this is Nathan with the Paula's Choice Research Team, here with this week's edition of beauty talk.
So we all know that skin care can get a little tricky at times,
especially when you're trying to you know find that right product for your concerns,
especially when concerns or things like anti-aging or discolouration.
And it can be made even trickier when it comes to misinformation that you can find on the Internet.
So that is what today's segment is all about, the misinformation that retinol cannot be combined with acidic ingredients like vitamin C or AHA or BHA.
So we're going to explain why this is a myth,
why you can use retinol with these types of ingredients, and then how to get the most out of your retinol routine.
So, the first thing is we'll look at the myth.
The myth is that you can't combine retinol with vitamin C products or with AHA or BHA exfoliants.
And the claim over the reason is that these acidic ingredients has an impact on the pH of skin and
retinol is less able to do its work.
So there's only one study that is used or cited about with this claim or this rumor, and it's from
1990 and it doesn't even have anything to do with topically applied retinol products. The long story made short,
is that the study used a combination of human cells and animal cells, animal proteins,
to look at how retinol that's naturally present in human and animal skin and how it actually goes about doing its antioxidant
function in skin. So with that, they describe the best pH level is your the pH level
that's already naturally present in your body which is about 5 or so right or wrong there, and they said well, okay,
you know retinol works the best at this pH because that's your healthy body's pH
It in no way was meant to be taken out of context like this to say that you shouldn't apply retinol topically
you know with products that have a lower pH.
So that's absolutely not the case.
So don't worry about that. Now the reason why we do know that that is not the case
is that there is quite a lot of research that shows retinol does work very well with acidic ingredients like vitamin C.
It can also be combined with AHA or BHA exfoliants
without any concern, and a lot of that research is very very recent and
It is repeated again and again and again. You can read more about that in detail
in the article in the comment section below. So now that we know why the myth is not true,
I'm going to tell you about how to get the best from your particular retinol product.
You know it really kind of depends on what retinol you're using if you're using a really
potent retinol your skin may not be able to tolerate it using it every day,
so you're just going to kind of have to find that frequency that works best for you. For some people using retinol once,
twice or three times a week,
depending on the formula,
is the right frequency for them. For milder retinol formulas, you might be able to use it every day.
The bottom line is you want to use it consistently and that you're patient with the results.
It didn't take a week or two weeks or a month for your signs of aging or damage to show up,
so it's going to take a little bit longer than that for those results to show up as well.
So it's a long-term relationship,
you want to keep using your retinol formula on a regular basis,
and just make sure that you're not combining it with irritating formulas. Things that have a lot of
fragrances in them, things that are alcohol based
can all have a negative impact on the skin and you can also reduce the effectiveness that you see from your particular retinol.
Don't forget to wear a sunscreen every day because the sun's damage is really going to undo all the work
you're trying to trying to correct with your retinol. So I hope that was helpful, again for more information
you can check out the more info section below this is Nathan with the Paula's Choice Research Team. Thanks for watching
Can retinol be combined with other products like vitamin C or AHA and BHA exfoliants in your skin care routine? Short Answer: Absolutely Yes! Your Personalized Skincare Routine in 3 Easy Steps: https://paulaschoice.sg/pages/discover Skin care can get a little tricky at times because of the amount of information that is available online. Differentiating misinformation and true facts may be an even trickier task. Myth: The confusion around using retinol with AHA and BHA exfoliants is because the exfoliant's acidity would affect the retinol's ability to work its wonders on our skin. The reason why we know that retinol works well with acidic ingredients like AHA and BHA exfoliators and also vitamin C is that there is a lot of research to show that they work very well with each other. In addition, these researchs are very very recent and have been repeated numerous times. Myth busted! How to get the best from your retinol product: Depending on the formulation and potency of your retinol product, this will determine the frequency that you use to apply it to your skin. Using retinol is more of a long-term process and you need to apply it diligently in order to see its anti-ageing benefits. Explore More on Paula's Choice Singapore: https://www.paulaschoice.sg/shop-by-category/retinol-treatments More tips and advice: http://advice.paulaschoice.sg Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/paulaschoicesingapore/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/paulaschoicesg/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/paulaschoicesg