Alpha Hydroxy Acids for Anti-Aging | Glycolic, Lactic, Malic? What Works + How to Choose!
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hey everybody its Angie and welcome to
hot and flashy today’s video is the
third installment in my anti-aging
ingredients series the first was on the
retinoids the second was on sunscreen
those are the two most important
ingredients that you can use to help to
turn back the hands of time or to help
prevent future aging I’ll put the link
to the playlist right up here and you
can check that out anytime but today’s
video is going to be about the alpha
hydroxy acids so alpha hydroxy acids aka
aah A’s are a group of acids that are
used in skincare basically for
exfoliation
they can be naturally derived or they
can be synthetic and there are lots of
different alpha hydroxy acids and as
with all anti-aging ingredients some are
more effective than others
and we’re going to talk about why in a
couple of minutes but in general the way
that they work is that they exfoliate
the skin so you can exfoliate your skin
a number of ways you can rub it with a
loofah or a scrub with grains in it but
at my age I prefer to be nice and gentle
to my skin I don’t want to do anything
that’s going to scratch the surface and
cause harm so I much prefer the chemical
exfoliants and that’s where alpha
hydroxy acids come in so the way they
work is they break down the bonds that
hold the dead skin cells onto the
surface and cause quicker cell turnover
which is great because as you get older
one of the things that your body slows
down on along with everything else it
seems collagen production and everything
is that the surface layer of the skin
the stratum corneum which is all made
out of dead cells anyway it turns over
much more slowly than when we’re younger
and as those dead skin cells tend to
pile up on top of each other it makes
our skin look dull it can make our skin
look crepey so the way AJ’s help our
skin is that they thin the outer dead
layer of skin and they also thicken the
deeper layers of skin they can help with
lightening age spots and discolorations
with overall brightness with skin’s
surface texture and with fine lines and
wrinkles so given that they can do all
that and there is some evidence that
they also help with collagen gene
expression
why wouldn’t you be using one in your
skincare routine right well the answer
is that
they can also be irritating and that the
effectiveness very much depends on the
formulation so there are alpha hydroxy
acid products that you can buy at the
store and they come in every form there
are washes there are toners there are
leave on products gels creams serum
because it is an over-the-counter
ingredient it’s not regulated by the FDA
or you can get alpha hydroxy acid peels
done at a Med Spa or a dermatologist or
a plastic surgeon’s office so there are
a number of studies done in 1996 they
studied different strengths of glycolic
and lactic acids so there was a 50% peel
then there was a 25% topical and then
there was an 8% topical now they all
showed results but they were at varying
level so the 50% definitely showed the
best results as far as thinning the
stratum corneum and thickening the
deeper layers of the dermis and also
showing some collagen gene expression
and the 25% was a little bit less
effective but still showed some of those
markers and the 8% was even less
effective they were moderately effective
at reducing the signs of sun damage in
the skin so I’ll link those studies
below and you can use those to kind of
decide if you want to get like an
in-office peel if that’s going to be
more effective for you or if you want to
use some kind of alpha hydroxy acid
everyday at home so the main thing that
you want to be looking for when you’re
selecting an alpha hydroxy acid product
or treatment is the kind of acid that it
uses the concentration of the acid and
the pH of the formula so that will all
affect how effective it is so you could
put oh say 50% glycolic acid into a
formula but you can make the pH so high
and so neutral that it’ll be like
putting water on your skin or you could
put a tiny percentage of glycolic acid
on a product and put the pH really
really low and it will peel your skin
right off because then it is just pure
acid so where these are concerned you
really have to be mindful of the formula
and you really have to find brands that
tell you what the pH is what the
concentration is the at-home products
are generally anaconda
raishin of two to 20% with a pH range of
1.9 to 6 1.9 is going to be very very
effective because that’s much more
cassidy and six is much more neutral and
so that is going to be much less
effective the sweet spot and the safest
spot is around a three point five pH so
that’s what you’re going to be looking
for then the in-office peels are 20% and
up they go all the way up to like 70%
and the pH will be much much lower so
that your dermatologist or your doctor
can control the depth of the peel how
long to leave it on for so you want to
leave those in the hands of the
professionals because you don’t want to
be messing around with a super low pH
high concentration product at home you
can do some harm to your skin a study in
2009 showed that using glycolic acid did
increase sun sensitivity so as with all
anti-aging actives or just people who
are concerned with anti aging in general
should definitely be used with sunscreen
everyday there are also some studies
done in the same year comparing 0.05%
retina a to a 10% glycolic acid
treatment and that showed that the
results from retin-a were far superior
to glycolic acid so if you’re thinking
that you know this over-the-counter
thing could be just as good as like a
prescription retin-a not the case but if
you can’t use retin-a then glycolic acid
or lactic acid could be a good
substitute although it won’t give you
the same results over time that retin-a
does so retin-a still the gold standard
so let’s take a look at the individual
alpha hydroxy acids the two that are the
most studied and are the most effective
are glycolic and lactic acid glycolic
acid is the Big Daddy of the alpha
hydroxy acids because it’s the little
daddy of the alpha hydroxy acids it is
the smallest molecule and so as the
smallest molecule it penetrates the skin
better it’s absorbed much more easily
but of course that also makes it a
little bit more irritating to the skin
glycolic acid is derived from sugar cane
but most of the preparations you’ll see
now use it in its synthetic form as with
all the acids they’re all derived from
something in nature but most of them are
sin
that acknow lactic acid performs much
the same as glycolic acid although its
molecule is slightly larger so it
penetrates the skin a little bit less
easily but it also can cause less
irritation and be a little bit milder
and gentler on the skin lactic acid is
originally derived from milk products
there’s also some evidence that lactic
acid is moisturizing to the skin that it
actually increases ceramide levels which
is awesome because you know how I love
ceramides and anything that can help to
increase my ceramide levels I am all
over that now the rest of the alpha
hydroxy acids they’re kind of all lumped
together because there are much larger
molecules they don’t penetrate the skin
as deeply and so they’re much less
effective and those are mandelic malik
tartaric and citric acid and those are
all fruit acids but they still have
their place in skincare they can help
and a lot of them are used in some of
the higher concentration alpha hydroxy
acid products to kind of buffer the
other acids and make them a little bit
less irritating and more easy to use
alpha hydroxy acids are great to work in
to your anti-aging skin care routine
they work very well and symbiotically
with things like retinoids so you can
use those together they don’t cancel out
any other ingredient the only thing that
you really need to be careful of is skin
irritation and sensitivity and when
you’re using other acids like retinoids
or say a vitamin C which is also an acid
then adding in more acids then can make
your skin a little bit sensitive and
using some chemical sunscreens can also
irritate your skin if you’re using an
acid I had such a hard time working
alpha hydroxy acids into my skincare
routine it was really vexing me for
quite a while but I have finally gotten
a couple into my skincare routine so I’m
currently using a daily 5% lactic acid
serum and I love that and then I’m using
a once a week 25% kind of mixed acid but
mainly glycolic acid peel and on the day
that I do that I don’t put on my retin-a
so that’s usually like Sunday night I’ll
go up to do like my you know skincare
spa routine I’ll do
peel then I’ll do a mask and that’s my
little Sunday night ritual so when I
first started using my lactic acid I did
introduce it slowly only one day a week
then I was going up to like two or three
days sometimes I would alternate it with
my vitamin C serum but over the course
of say a month I was able to work it in
and get up to every night and I don’t
have any skin irritation from it and I
feel like my skin looks so much better
from being able to use a lactic acid so
in my routine the way I do it is because
my retina is the most important thing
that I use and it must be used at night
I put that on at night I don’t use other
acids along with it at night then in the
morning I use my vitamin C and my alpha
hydroxy acid and I use only mineral
sunscreen because they’re much more mild
and much less sensitizing than a
chemical sunscreens so the lactic acid
serum that I use in the morning is from
the ordinary this is their lactic acid
5% plus hyaluronic acid 2% this is at a
pH between 3.6 and 3.8 we’ll have been
able to work this in daily and I
absolutely love this then once a week I
do a mild 25% peel at home this is from
drunk elephant this is their TLC Sakaki
baby facial this contains 25% alpha
hydroxy acid a mix of acids in here is
glycolic lactic tartaric and citric but
then there’s 2% beta hydroxy acid and
this is at a pH of 3.3 – this is like a
10-minute peel then you rinse this off
and then you moisturize well and go to
bed and I gotta say when I get up the
next morning my skin is so smooth and it
feels so nice it’s like baby skin so
other products that I recommend that our
great products that if you wanted to try
something at different price points one
brand that I really really love is the
Alpha skincare brand this is like a
drugstore brand I have these products
both in my Amazon shop if you’re
shopping today I’ll put the links to
everything I’m showing you below in the
information box so this one is a facial
product this is the Alpha skincare
essential renewal lotion this is a 10%
glycolic acid lotion at a pH of 4 this
is paraben and fragrance free this is
their body lotion I’ve done
two videos on this before with
before-and-after pictures and this stuff
is amazing this is their renewal body
lotion it’s a 12% glycolic acid lotion
for use from the neck down it’s also at
a pH of 4 so that’s a great brand
another great brand to look at of course
is the ordinary they you know I use
their lactic acid they also make a
ten-percent version of this and what I
love about the is the ordinary is that
you can’t beat the prices and they tell
you how much is in there right on the
label and on their website they always
tell you what the pH is another great
company is Paula’s choice and the
Paula’s Choice products all are very
well formulated they’re all cruelty free
they’re all fragrance free and the
Paula’s Choice products also lists the
concentration the type of acid and the
pH either on the website or right on the
label if you’re concerned with dark
spots or age spots a really great
product to get is the Paula’s Choice
resist triple action dark spot eraser
this is a seven percent alpha hydroxy
acid it’s a mix of glycolic and lactic
it also contains 2% hydroquinone which
is a spot light nur and it’s at a pH of
3.6 Pixy makes a couple of good glycolic
acid serums and toners they make the
pixie glow tonic this is a whopper one
that they sent me look it’s customized
it says Angie on the label but I had
purchased this before that and use that
one all up so this is what I happen to
have on hand to show you this is a five
percent glycolic acid toner and it has a
little bit of a higher pH at 4.12 but
that’s not bad because you don’t want
put on your toner and have it like
burning your skin off so that’s a nice
mild toner to use if you’re trying to
work in a glycolic acid and they’re all
too harsh for you that might be a nice
way to get one in there then they also
do make one that’s a little bit more
heavy duty and that is the pixie
overnight glow serum this is a 10%
glycolic acid at a pH of four another
really great lactic acid serum is from
sunday riley it is the good jeans
product this is a much more spendy but
luxurious product that’s got 5% lactic
acid and a 2.6 ph it is fragrance free
natural vegan paraben free sulfate free
gluten free
and certified cruelty free another
product with lactic acid in it is the
Colleen Rothschild mandelic acid
radiance serum this is another you know
luxury product this one is a 10%
combination of mandelic and lactic acid
and it’s at a pH of 3.5 this one is
fragrance though it has a pretty strong
fragrance of peonies or something like
that so if you like a fragrance which is
not my big thing but you know if you
love fragrance and you love that luxury
skincare this could be a great product
for you to try out all right so that was
a pretty decent selection of alpha
hydroxy acid products right hopefully if
you’re looking for something to work
into your skincare routine that you
could find something from my recommended
products or that now you know what to
look for in an alpha hydroxy acid
product and which acid you’re going for
what the proper pH is and how to select
something that was it for today’s video
everybody I hope you found it helpful
and informative if you did give it a
like and subscribe to my channel as
always I thank you for your time and
really appreciate your watching so I
hope you have a great day and I will see
you in the next video so take care
everybody bye bye
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