Niacinamide has gained popularity in the world of skincare. It has been quite famous in skincare products because of its functional properties. It has various great properties like protecting and strengthening the skin barrier, reducing excess oil.
It also helps in fading post-acne marks, and bringing out even skin tone. It is generally suitable for every skin type. When paired together after a thoughtful decision with active exfoliants like salicylic acid, glycolic acid, or lactic acid, a niacinamide gel can deliver even more accomplished results..
Before pairing up any two or more ingredients together it is important to understand how these ingredients work together without affecting your skin and if they should be paired together or not.
When used correctly, this combination can help in dealing with concerns like acne, clogged pores, dullness, rough texture, and uneven skin tone and also helps in maintaining a strong skin barrier function. Also it helps a lot in dealing with redness due to pimples. So a gel to reduce pimple redness if it contains niacinamide becomes more efficient.
Niacinamide and its benefits
Niacinamide is also known as vitamin B3 commonly. It is a multipurpose ingredient that has been used for several purposes. This water-soluble vitamin is an alpha hydroxy acid(AHA) which works wonderfully. Unlike several other active ingredients niacinamide is well tolerated on the skin. So this makes it more ideal for regular skincare purposes.
It has various benefits:
- Sebum control: It clears out excess sebum from the skin surface and reduces oily shine on the face.
- Support skin barrier: It has great skin barrier protection properties and it strengthens the barrier production.
- Minimizes pore size: It reduces the sebum levels and tightening pore lines helps in reducing enlarged pores.
- Anti-inflammatory: It has anti-inflammatory properties which helps in calming down the irritated skin and also reduces the redness due to acne.
- Fades away spots and pigmentation: It performs its role in fading dark spots by controlling excess melanin production. Further it reduces the skin pigmentation as well.
- Anti-Aging: It helps to improve skin elasticity. It smoothens out the fine lines and by supporting cellular health and collagen production.
Active exfoliants
Active exfoliants are those ingredients purposed for chemical exfoliation. They work by removing dead skin cells and other debris chemically instead of harsh physical scrubbing. There are some common active exfoliants that are used in skincare products.
- Salicylic acid: Salicylic acid is the golden ingredient when it comes to deal with acne and congested skin. This little chemical molecule is a beta hydroxy acid which is an oil-soluble molecule that has the ability to penetrate deep into the pores of the skin and clear out the debris. It works like a cleaning service for congested skin. Salicylic acid is a great anti-inflammatory ingredient that helps in calming down the irritated skin which happens because of clogged pores.
- Glycolic acid: Glycolic acid is a known alpha hydroxy acid. It is generally derived from sugarcane. This AHA is unique from the rest because of its smaller molecule size which makes it easily penetrate and perform exfoliating action. It is a water-soluble exfoliant and performs well for surface cleansing. It does so by loosening the bonds between dead skin cells on the surface which helps in declogging the pores on the surface. Glycolic acid helps in reducing the appearance of enlarged pores with time.
- Lactic acid: Lactic acid is also an alpha hydroxy acid like glycolic acid. It has a gentle exfoliating action which makes it suitable for surface cleansing and also it is safe. Lactic acid enhances the skin brightness by increasing the skin cells turnover. It helps in achieving a smooth skin.
Why to pair niacinamide with other exfoliants?
Majorly people might be worried that pairing up different active ingredients will affect their skin. In reality, niacinamide complements exfoliants exceptionally well because it helps reduce many of the side effects associated with exfoliation.
- Using chemical exfoliants for a longer time can sometimes weaken the barrier function temporarily due to skin cells shedding fastly. Niacinamide protects the skin barrier by reducing moisture loss.
- Exfoliating acids sometimes can cause skin irritation and redness niacinamide can help soothe the skin irritation.
- Exfoliating acids help in removing the dead skin cells and niacinamide helps in reducing the excess melanin which all together brightens the skin.
- Salicylic acid does its action by clearing oil from the pores and niacinamide regulates the sebum production which helps in oil control.
- The combination of exfoliating acids and niacinamide together helps in supporting the barrier function and dead skin cell turnover which helps in achieving a smoother skin texture.
How to use a niacinamide gel paired with active exfoliants?
- Firstly wash your face with the help of a gentle cleanser.
- Then pat dry.
- Apply gel on targeted areas using your fingers. Take small amounts only.
- Let the gel get absorbed into your skin.
- If required apply a lightweight moisturizer and while going out apply sunscreen always.
Last thoughts
Combining niacinamide gel with active exfoliants like salicylic acid, lactic acid and glycolic acid can be quite helpful in taking care of multiple concerns at the same time. All these exfoliants may help in achieving a smoother and healthy skin. This combination helps in dealing with acne, oil control, dead skin cells and dark spots on the skin.
It also reduces pimple redness and inflammation. Although this combination provides great benefits, using exfoliants in higher quantities than its safer limit together might be concerning. It is safe to always check the safe percentage and use these together when recommended.