All too often, skincare products are marketed in terms of their intended results, with too little emphasis on the science behind any healing process that they might be able to effect on your skin. While most cosmetic companies are honest enough about what they expect a particular product to be able to achieve, the unfortunate reality is that we live in a cynical world. It is therefore worth having a basic understanding of the function of some of the most common active ingredients (chemically significant components of a treatment) found within skincare products, so as to be better informed about what product might suit your needs or aims best, and why—without having to blindly trust marketing. The following article aims to provide a bare-bones outline of the basic functions of five such common ingredients.
Vitamin C: for Brightening the Skin
The general health benefits of a diet containing sufficient vitamin C have been fairly common knowledge for a long time—and the same vitamin that is so crucial to the maintenance of a strong immune system can be applied in a more direct manner to your skin, with unsurprisingly positive effects. In concentrations of 5-15%, vitamin C (often in the form of ascorbic acid) is hugely effective at absorbing free radicals—damaging particles caused often by exposure to UV rays and pollution—on your skin’s surface before they cause too much damage to your skin cells. Given that premature ageing of your skin is nothing more than a prevalence of damaged cells, vitamin C rightly has a reputation as having an“anti-ageing effect”.
Niacinamide: for Reducing the Appearance of Pores
Niacinamide is in fact a form of vitamin B3, which supports your skin health in anumber of ways: it boosts hydration, can calm redness and inflammation, and may even help to protect against skin cancer (although this is far from fully proven). Aesthetically, though, it is best known as one of the most effective ingredients inproducts to reduce pores. It does this by regulating the amount of oil produced by your glands and follicles, thereby keeping your skin smooth and clear—as a result your pores will appear smaller, creating the effect of much smoother, healthier skin.
Hyaluronic Acid: for Hydration
Hyaluronic acid is a common ingredient in a variety of moisturising creams, ointments, lotions, and so on. Themechanism behind this enormously useful (from a dermatological standpoint, anyway) molecule is a simple one, relying on the acid’s ability (due to its high concentration of anions) to create a water potential gradient between the epidermis, where it is applied, and the dermis (the lower layer of skin). Water is thus drawn along this gradient, hydrating the epidermis and restoring facial volume, ironing out wrinkles and encouraging healing of burns and even scar tissue.
Retinol: for Plumping and Smoothing
Retinol, perhaps unsurprisingly, is a reasonably genre-defining example of a Retinoid (one can only imagine this is the result of a particularly slow Monday in the scientific naming unit of a Chemistry department). In layman’s terms, this means that it is made from vitamin A, and like many vitamins, its crucial benefit to your body lies in its ability toneutralise free radicals, which in this case are in your lower dermis. As a result, as well as avoiding long-term carcinogenic damage, your body is able to produce more elastin and collagen molecules, which overall leads to a fuller, plumper looking epidermis. Think of it a bit like a bouncy castle: increased collagen and elastin production (as a result of Retinol application) is the equivalent of attaching said bouncy castle to a more powerful fan—it will be tauter and smoother as a result. Retinol is thus often used to counter the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and uneven skin texture.
Salicylic Acid: for Targeting Acne
This ingredient will be familiar to many who suffered from acne as a teenager (or at any point, really)—this is because it is one of the more effective over-the-counter treatments, used as a sort of first response against developing acne. Available often in 2% cream form, the mechanism that means salicylic acid is often effective is beautiful in its simplicity, really—it acts as achemical exfoliator, using its acidity to clear obstructions and oil from your pores, in much the same way that a good scrub might. Its no-nonsense, nuclear approach to achieving clean skin makes you much less likely to develop spots or blackheads as a result of obstructed pores, leaving you with cleaner, healthier, less angry skin.
Of course, the mechanisms by which any sort of medication work are much more complex than they have been made to sound here—naturally, any serious dermatological treatment should be done in consultation with a trained medical professional, who understands the nuances and risks of particular ingredients in certain contexts—but hopefully this brief outline provides a good starting point for getting to grips with the nitty-gritty of skincare, as a consumer.
