Hyaluronic Acid: a Double-edged Sword

I’m sure you’ve heard of hyaluronic acid: the amazing skincare ingredient that can hold up to 1000x its weight in water. It’s been used in Korean skincare for years, and it’s made headlines in the Western market in the last two years or so, and rightfully so. 1000x its weight in water sounds like hydration heaven, right? Well, while it can do wonders for your skin, using it the wrong way can actually dry your skin out, causing it to be worse than before. It’s essential to understand the correct way to incorporate hyaluronic acid into your skincare regimen to reap the full benefits of this incredible ingredient and avoid harming your skin.

Hyaluronic acid is a molecule that is naturally produced by the body to help retain water. It is highly beneficial in skincare because it keeps your skin hydrated, which helps against the appearance of wrinkles among other things. Since it is a molecule that aids in water retention, it can help your skin hold on to your hydrating and moisturizing products, essentially boosting your skin’s ability to get the most out of your products. By the way, there is a difference between hydrating and moisturizing! If you’d like to learn more, here is a post explaining the difference.

Hyaluronic acid works by pulling the moisture out of the air and into your skin, making it ideal for use in humidity. Unfortunately, this means using hyaluronic acid in a dry climate will cause it to pull moisture from your skin since there isn’t enough moisture in the air. What this means is that by not supplementing enough moisture for the hyaluronic acid to draw in, it will instead take it out from your skin and dehydrate it. Shocking, right? The ingredient famously known for its ability to hold up to 1000x its weight in water can dehydrate your skin. Of course, there are ways to take full advantage of the amazing benefits hyaluronic acid can offer even if you live in a dry climate.

As I mentioned previously, hyaluronic acid needs to be supplemented with additional hydration. If you don’t live in a place with high humidity, you can provide that additional water with skincare products. Hyaluronic acid will help your skin absorb and hold on to the products better, allowing you to reap the benefits of your products to the max. I’ve been using the Scinic hyaluronic acid first essence, which is a thin, watery substance, to prep the skin for layering the rest of my skincare so the hyaluronic acid has water to draw in. After patting in the hyaluronic acid first essence, I continue with the rest of my products from thinnest to thickest. Growing up in a Korean household, I’ve been taught from a young age to follow a multi-step skincare routine, which I think works quite well with hyaluronic acid. If you’d also like me to explain Korean skincare and how to determine which products to use in which order, just leave a reply below and I’d be happy to share an intensive guide to K-beauty.

Hyaluronic acid is beneficial for both dry and oily skin. It seems obvious that it would be beneficial for dry skin since it helps skin absorb and hold on to more water, but it is also great for oily skin because proper hydration and moisture levels can control the production of excess oil and sebum. Those with oily skin may experience excess oil and sebum because your skin is trying to counteract low hydration levels by producing more oil. By increasing those hydration levels with hyaluronic acid, your skin may find that it doesn’t need to produce that extra oil, keeping your sebum at bay.

I have oily skin and live in California where the air is pretty dry. I love using hyaluronic acid because it helps the rest of my skincare products sink into the skin and work better, making my skin produce less excess oil and sebum.

Tl;dr: hyaluronic acid is great, but make sure you live in a humid environment or supplement it with extra hydrating and moisturizing products or it will suck the water out from your skin instead.

I wish you all good luck with your skincare journey!

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, dermatologist, esthetician, or any sort of licensed medical/skincare professional.

Link: hydrating vs. moisturizing