Can You Layer Lactic Acid and Hyaluronic Acid?
Combining the right skin care ingredients in the correct order is crucial for crafting the most optimal skin care routine.
Want to get more from your skin care ritual? Craving brighter, clearer and more youthful-looking skin? The key is evaluating your routine every step of the way. While some ingredients naturally pair and work well together, others may leave your skin worse than before you started.
Unfortunately, none of us are born with an innate knowledge of what ingredients to combine or how to combine them effectively. Learning the basics of skin care can take you a long way — we're here to teach you.
Together, we’ll find the answer to a very specific skin care routine question: can you layer lactic acid and hyaluronic acid? Let’s find out.
What to know about lactic acid
If lactic acid sounds familiar to you, it might be because of its inclusion in food products. Specifically, lactic acid is a component of lactose — one of the carbohydrates found in milk.
In skin care, lactic acid falls into the category of alpha-hydroxy acids (more commonly known as AHAs). AHAs are water-soluble exfoliants that work on a chemical level to help slough off dead, built-up skin cells and speed up the production and turnover of new ones.
As with other AHAs, the results you’ll see from lactic acid will vary depending on the strength of the formulation. However, as a whole, lactic acid tends to be slightly more gentle than some other AHAs (like glycolic acid). Higher-strength formulations are generally only able to be used or prescribed by professionals.
The primary skin care benefits of lactic acid include:
- Brighter, more radiant skin
- Soothed breakouts
- Increased skin hydration
- Less visible areas of uneven pigmentation (dark spots)
- Less visible signs of aging
What is hyaluronic acid?
As far as skin care products go, hyaluronic acid is one of the most natural ingredients you can find. Hyaluronic acid is naturally produced by the body and can be found in the skin, eyes and joints. It’s a natural hydrator and lubricant, and our bodies wouldn’t be able to function properly without it.
What makes hyaluronic acid so impressive in skin care is its ability to attract moisture to the skin and then retain it.
In fact, hyaluronic acid is so effective at this that research shows it can hold up to 10 times its weight in water molecules. These qualities earn it the title of humectant — and it's an incredibly efficient one at that.
The benefits of using hyaluronic acid for your skin include:
- Brighter, more radiant skin
- Increased moisture
- Support for skin healing
- Less visible age-related concerns
Can you layer lactic acid and hyaluronic acid?
Lactic acid and hyaluronic acid can be paired together safely, and they’re actually something of a power couple when used correctly.
The truth behind why these ingredients work so well comes down to synergy. Lactic acid and hyaluronic acid support each other in different but complementary ways. However, this comes down to layering correctly — if you do it in the opposite order, you may not experience as many benefits.
Remember the golden rule of layering skin care products — thin products almost always go on before thick ones (except in the case of targeted serums). In this situation, that means that you’ll want to start with lactic acid, which is the thinner of the two. Make sure to start with clean, dry skin so your complexion absorbs the products effectively.
Once you’ve applied your lactic acid and given it a chance to dry (wait at least a minute or two), it’s time to apply the hyaluronic acid. Doing it in this order not only allows the hyaluronic acid to soothe your skin after exfoliation, but it also helps your skin lock in moisture.
What else can you do for an effective skin care routine?
While you can layer lactic acid and hyaluronic acid, doing so isn’t the only way that you can improve your skin and make it appear more youthful and radiant.
For example, while hylauronic acid is amazing at bringing in moisture and retaining it, no component of your skin care routine is more important for hydration than your moisturizer. If you don’t moisturize, you don’t have a complete and effective routine.
Hyaluronic acid can definitely help with this, but completing the process with a thicker moisturizer, especially at bedtime, is even more efficient. Don’t be tricked into thinking that you don’t need moisturizer if you have an oilier skin type — even the oiliest skin still needs hydration. (In fact, overly oily skin types are often the most in need of moisture.)
You’ll also want to make sure you always wear sunscreen when you go outside, even if you don’t think you’ll be outside for long. Chronic sun exposure and damage is one of the main factors behind premature aging of the skin, so keeping it safe and protected can also help keep you looking youthful.
How else can you make your skin brighter?
If the main reason you want to use lactic acid and hyaluronic acid is to achieve youthful, effortless radiance, the good news is that these active ingredients aren’t the only way you can do it. Glowing, healthy skin requires work from both the inside and the out.
For instance, it’s important to focus on eating well and drinking enough water — for both your skin and your overall health and wellness.
You can also incorporate cosmetic treatments into your skin care routine. With the right treatments, you can boost and jumpstart your daily products and find the cheat code to radiance.
Take our Gold Infusion facial, for example. This treatment, available at all of our Skin Pharm locations, gently delivers antioxidants and other hydrating ingredients just beneath the skin. The result is glowing, plump, more youthful-looking skin that you’ll notice immediately post-treatment.
Microneedling at Skin Pharm can also provide a major boost to your complexion. With this treatment, small, controlled puncture wounds are safely made to your skin in order to encourage an increase in collagen production in the treated areas, leading to plumper and more radiant skin.
In summary...
From start to finish, crafting the best, most supportive skin care routine can take your skin from dull to radiant. Every component of your skin care routine serves a different but equally essential purpose, and you want them to truly work together instead of working against each other.
If you have questions about how to create the most impactful skin care routine, reach out to our board-certified providers at Skin Pharm. Our team is here to help you take your skin to the next level, whether that means helping you choose the right skin care products or skin treatments.
This article was medically reviewed by Madeline Stoffer, MSN, NP-BC, a board-certified nurse practitioner with six years of experience in cosmetic dermatology.
Sources:
Dual Effects of Alpha-Hydroxy Acids on the Skin | PMC
Epidermal and dermal effects of topical lactic acid | PubMed
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