Your Guide to Layering Skincare Ingredients Correctly – Minimalist

Many ingredients combined can make a heavenly skin recipe – others just don’t belong together. When certain active ingredients are mixed together, the skin’s barrier can be compromised, resulting in uncomfortable inflammation, irritation, and dehydration. But how can you tell which skincare products work best together? Here we give you the lowdown on the art of skincare match-making…

Retinol and AHAs & BHAs

Retinol is a hero ingredient that prevents cellular damage by boosting collagen production, supporting the shedding of dead skin cells, and fighting free radical activity. To get nerdie, retinol is a derivative of vitamin A and natural precursor to retinoic acid. Once it’s absorbed into the skin, retinol is converted into retinoic acid, which is the active form of vitamin A, so the skin can reap the benefits of it.

Truth be told, retinol can cause sensitisation when paired with some ingredients including exfoliating acids such as AHAs and BHAs which, like retinol, promote the sloughing of dead skin cells. Using these ingredients in the same evening (you shouldn’t use either in the morning), you risk weakening the skin barrier which can manifest as redness, tight sensations and dehydration.

I recommend using these active ingredients on alternate evenings – or even alternate weeks if your skin is more sensitive. Notably, I would say that PHAs (polyhydroxy acids) are the exception to the rule as they’re a gentler AHA that both exfoliates the skin and acts as a humectant.

Retinol and Vitamin C

Retinol and vitamin C are two powerhouse active ingredients that have amazing skin-boosting properties but can lead to irritation when layered together. Retinol should not be taken with vitamin C because it requires acclimatization and can be irritating to some people. However, this does not preclude you from incorporating both into your routine! Our Chemist Gabriela recommends using vitamin C underneath your broad-spectrum SPF in the morning as SPF shields the skin from UV rays, while vitamin C combats free radical damage caused by UV exposure. Then, use retinol at night to support the skin’s natural processes of cellular repair and proliferation which occur while you are sleeping.

The ester of retinol and palmitic acid, a complex fatty acid, known as retinyl palmitate is another option. This is gentler and known for being more tolerated by all skin types. This type of vitamin A can be layered with vitamin C but only use together if they have already been placed into a formulation together such as Skingredients Skin Protein, as all of the ingredients and levels would be compatibility tested to ensure they work together.

*Pregnant women should avoid retinyl palmitate and retinol. Vitamin C and AHAs & BHAs
Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, but to be effective on the skin, it needs a specific pH balance because it is an unstable ingredient. Layering an AHA or BHA skincare product with vitamin C could disrupt and destabilise the pH balance which makes applying your vitamin C pointless.
Gabriela Duffy Morales, our in-house chemist, says that AHAs and BHAs should be used in the evening because exfoliating acids can make our skin more vulnerable to UV damage, even if you use broad-spectrum SPF correctly. Instead, stick to vitamin C in the mornings and use a BHA or AHA on the nights you’re not using retinol.