Skincare ingredients you should NEVER mix
Skincare is something that truly fascinated many of us in recent years. With the skyrocketing beauty industry bringing very promising skincare products to the table, it’s almost quite tempting to just “try them all”. In addition, we always hear from influencers, celebrities, and beauty experts that layering your skincare can do wonders for the skin! While mixing and layering can be quite efficient, it’s not always very ideal.
Some ingredients, when mixed together, can either diminish each other’s potency or cause skin irritation. You’re probably wondering if your skincare products can actually be mixed together. But wait, don’t panic just yet! In this article, we’ll guide you on what skincare products cannot be used together for you to make sure that your skin is getting all the care it deserves.
Retinol and Vitamin C
There’s a reason why you’ll never see these two in one skincare product and that’s because they are not meant to be layered or mixed together all at once.
Both retinol and vitamin C are active ingredients that involve making the skin more sensitive as part of the rejuvenating process. Retinol is a Vitamin A derivative that causes skin cell turnover, meaning it plays a role in exfoliating the skin for it to regenerate healthy cells. On the other hand, Vitamin C is a type of antioxidant that features some acidity in it. As such, using them both at the same time can cause irritation, peeling, and redness.
Retinol and Vitamin C Skincare Tip
While you can’t use them together at the same time, they make a great AM and PM combo. The key is to use Vitamin C in the morning and layer it with sunscreen to effectively protect the skin from harsh environmental elements that we are exposed to on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, retinol skincare products are great for nighttime. It’s a powerful ingredient that helps repair the skin and regenerate collagen. Letting retinol work its wonders overnight can give you smoother, softer, and radiant-looking skin.
Vitamin C and AHA’s and BHA’s
AHA (Alpha Hydroxy Acids) and BHA (Beta Hydroxy Acids) are strong ingredients that play a significant role in thorough skin exfoliation. These two chemically peel the dead skin off to encourage the skin to produce a new, healthy layer.
AHA’s and BHA’s are very beneficial in terms of brightening and smoothing dull skin but you should never use them together with Vitamin C. As mentioned earlier, Vitamin C is also an acidic ingredient so it may cause over-peeling, and irritation. In addition, Vitamin C is unstable, and mixing it with other acidic ingredients such as AHA & BHA will destabilise the pH balance and will therefore be useless.
Can I use Niacinamide with Vitamin C?
As you may have already noticed, Vitamin C is a little bit tricky to mix with other ingredients. However, if your goal is to fully detox and fortify your skin, products with Vitamin C and Niacinamide like CERM Advanced Brightening Concentrate is an excellent choice! You may come across information that you can’t mix the two, but if the product uses a shelf-stable Vitamin C like the one from CERM, it can work well. These two ingredients are optimised to give the skin an intensive radiance-boosting treatment. Niacinamide is an ideal anti-inflammatory ingredient that effectively relieves irritation so it balances out Vitamin C very well.
Niacinamide and AHA’s and BHA’s
Niacinamide is a form of Vitamin B3, which is an exceptional skincare ingredient. This antioxidant has a number of benefits such as anti-ageing, anti-inflammatory, and pore-minimising. However, the thing with niacinamide is that it has a pH level of around 5 to 7, which can raise the pH level of acidic ingredients such as AHA and BHA. When this happens, it will make the active ingredients ineffective. It can also cause redness and irritation to the skin.
Skincare Tips on using AHA’s and BHA’s
AHA’s and BHA’s have the ability to exfoliate dead skin without the harshness we usually get from gritty exfoliating scrubs. Even though these two are deemed more gentle, they are still acidic ingredients that can make the skin more sensitive as they do their resurfacing work.
To help the skin recover faster, using nourishing and hydrating products can synergistically work with your AHA’s and BHA’s. We recommend using CERM’s The Essence along with your AHA/BHA products since it features a premium blend of natural ingredients such as fermented Korean rice water and ginseng to protect the skin while it’s sensitive.
Oil-based products and Water-based products
Well, the reason is quite obvious. It’s because of the simple and scientific fact that oil and water don’t mix. Oil repels water so it will be useless to apply your water-based products since it won’t be absorbed. Oil-based products leave a film over the skin which definitely hinders water-based products to seep in.
Is there a way for me to layer them both?
Actually, yes there is! What you need to do is to make sure you use all your water-based skincare products first. This way, the skin will be able to absorb all the goodness from your water-based products.
Do note that you still need to be careful with choosing your oil-based products because some types of oils can clog pores. Oil-based serums like CERM The Serum have a lightweight phytosqualane formula that offers superior hydration without clogging the pores.
CONCLUSION
So is it good to mix skincare products?
The simple answer is YES. However, the key to mixing or layering your skincare is to learn about what ingredients work in complete synergy. It won’t hurt to do some research so that you’ll have a better understanding on which ingredients are compatible with each other. Doing so will totally change your skincare game and make sure that both the money and effort you’ve put in for your skin pays off!
Want to know more about what ingredients you can mix? Find out here!
Sources:
https://www.everydayhealth.com/skin-beauty/skin-care-ingredient-combinations-that-dont-mix/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/beauty/skin/skincare-ingredients-never-mix-retinol-benzoyl-peroxide-products-2022/
https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/skincare-ingredients-to-never-mix-routine
https://www.healthline.com/health/beauty-skincare/niacinamide-and-vitamin-c#the-myth-explained
https://www.paulaschoice.com/expert-advice/skincare-advice/skin-care-myths/can-niacinamide-and-vitamin-c-be-used-together.html
https://www.vogue.in/beauty/content/can-you-layer-niacinamide-with-retinol-or-vitamin-c-heres-an-expert-guide-to-the-dos-and-donts-of-layering-skincare-actives
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/beauty/skincare/a16570239/how-to-use-skincare-acids/