What are the skincare product not to mix?
Welcome to the first post in our series on skincare ingredients not to mix. To get monthly updates on this series, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter.
Let’s start off with one important and less widely known combo. One of the common questions we get asked is, can you use niacinamide with vitamin C together? From our experience, L-ascorbic acid (the chemically active form of vitamin C) and niacinamide are a combination that not everyone knows to avoid.
This combo is a bit controversial to begin with, because there are people who claim that combining the two are fine.
What to watch out for is that it is quite easy to mix these two ingredients without even knowing it.
This is because niacinamide is found in many moisturisers, toners, brightening or whitening products, and even essences, even if it is not advertised as the key ingredient.
For example, the J One Jelly Pack is a “clean ingredient” primer that contains niacinamide, while the SK-II R.N.A. Power Cream (dokodemo) is one of the best selling moisturizers on the market, which also contains niacinamide.
The other reason is, if you’re trying to fade dark spots or postinflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH), brighten your skin, or even your skin tone, chances are that both niacinamide and L-ascorbic acid will be in the skincare products that claim to do this. For example, we love the Skederm Vitamin C X30 Power Serum and the Drunk Elephant C Firma Day Serum because they are great at brightening our skin and evening our skin tone, while the The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% has helped to fade our post inflammatory hyperpigmentation and age spots.
By the way, some of the skincare we discuss are available on iHerb, which we use to buy a lot of our organic skincare. You can use our code AEJ0519 at checkout to get 5% off.
Niacinamide can react with L-ascorbic acid (or other acids) to form niacin, which can in turn result in facial flushing. This flush is quite persistent and can resemble a rash.
Some clinical studies on this chemical reaction suggest that only small amounts of niacin are formed, and are exacerbated by conditions such as heated environments.
However, it is difficult to control the severity of the exact chemical reaction that takes place, as this depends on factors such as the concentrations of niacinamide and L-ascorbic acid, the reactivity of the other ingredients present in your skincare, the pH of your skin at the time, your skin temperature, the force and rate of rubbing/patting that you use to apply these ingredients, the storage conditions of the skincare involved, and other environmental conditions.
Therefore, the best practice is to avoid applying these two ingredients together.
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P.S…this is probably obvious, but the information presented doesn’t constitute medical advice - always check with your own doctor!
