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The Skin Care Power Couple: Niacinamide and Retinol
Knowing which skincare ingredient works best with another one is confusing. You may worry about many things, from the impact of their pH level to the level of skin irritation. Thus, when combining your skincare ingredients, it is crucial to consider they ensure the best skin results.
Moreover, your skin health can never go wrong when you find the perfect skincare power couple – just like Ranveer and Deepika ;) One such power couple in the skincare world is niacinamide and retinol. From blemishes and acne to aging, this power couple takes care of all.
So, let’s learn more about the benefits and application of niacinamide and retinol together.
Definition of Niacinamide and Retinol
Niacinamide is an all-rounder skincare ingredient that takes care of almost all skincare needs. It can offer many skin benefits, from skin hydration and facial redness reduction to acne and anti-aging solutions. Meanwhile, retinol is also a comprehensive skincare ingredient that boosts your skin cell turnover rate.
Many researchers concluded that retinol could effectively boost skin hydration. Despite that, retinol is often found to be a reason behind skin irritation. That’s because it adversely impacts your skin’s barrier and boosts the water level that your skin loses at some point.
This is where niacinamide plays a key role. It normalizes the functioning of your skin barrier, reduces water loss, and enhances skin hydration. Niacinamide provides a hydrating effect by boosting the production of natural lipids within your skin’s outermost layer (stratum corneum).
Also read: Retinol And Niacinamide: A Powerful Combination
Benefits Of Using Niacinamide And Retinol Together
There are several benefits of using niacinamide and retinol together. Retinol is well-recognized for its anti-aging properties against uneven skin texture and wrinkles.
On the other hand, niacinamide is a popular ingredient for its skin brightening and smoothening abilities. This power couple can bring intense, effective, and visible results to your skin when put together. Skin dryness and irritation due to retinol reduces with the effect of niacinamide.
You’ll feel less skin irritation than you would experience by only using retinol. Not only that but using a retinol and niacinamide serum can help you tackle signs of aging and acne and enhance skin tone.
Can I Use Niacinamide With Retinol?
If you’re searching the internet for the perfect answer to ‘can you use niacinamide with retinol?’ your search ends here. According to studies, using niacinamide right before the retinol application can effectively boost your skin tolerance against retinol and lower your likelihood of skin irritation.
It’s the type of product you use that mainly determines whether you should use niacinamide after or before retinol. Typically, retinol is an oil-based ingredient, whereas niacinamide is a water-based one. As a result, it will be best to apply niacinamide before the use of retinol.
The reason is the absorption rate of water-based ingredients in your skin is faster than the oil-based counterparts. However, if the niacinamide comes within a moisturizer, applying it after retinol would show results.
Comprehensively, it doesn’t matter which order you use retinol and niacinamide, provided both ensure seamless skin penetration.
How To Use Niacinamide and Retinol Together?
You must understand that it’s not mandatory to apply niacinamide and retinol together to get the most out of their combined benefits.
If you use niacinamide for a few weeks before your retinol application, your chances of having skin irritation and skin barrier damage will lessen significantly. But what can be the outcomes of applying both niacinamide and retinol together?
The ideal pH for niacinamide activation ranges between 5.0 and 7.0, whereas the optimal range for retinol is 5.5 and 6. It’s clear that both overlap, meaning that one must not alter the pH of the other.
That’s because if the retinol’s pH level alters significantly via niacinamide, the effectiveness of retinol will reduce drastically. Thus, the combination won’t make any sense after that.
Conclusion
If you’re stressing about the outcomes of applying these power couple ingredients, don’t be. With the best combo product that comes with retinol and niacinamide as primary ingredients, you can effectively boost your skin health and eliminate problems like acne, premature aging, wrinkles, and more.
The Pink Foundry introduces a range of the best skincare products, where many popular combo products include these power couple ingredients. For starters, you can try the C-T-M Hydrating Regime Combo from the house of TPF. So, kickstart a new skincare regime today!
