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THE INTERVIEW

Me: Hello, hyaluronic acid. It is nice to have you here. Can I call you “HA”? HA: Yeah, it is totally fine to shorten my name to HA. Thank you so much, Rayo for having me. It is great to be on your platform. Me: The pleasure is all mine. So recently, I have seen a lot of cosmetic industry praising you to be the best humectant. You have been featured in many creams, gels, lotions, dermal fillers to name a few. HA: Oh, I am actually the best humectant. You should see me at work. Me: Hmmm, I am actually curious, what makes you the best humectant? HA: I am the best humectant because I have a very strong ability to trap water on the skin. My structure gives me the ability to trap up to 1000 times my own weight in water, for example, 1g of my weight traps up to 1000 times of water to the skin. This result in softer, smoother, radiant-looking skin. So the cosmetic industry is crazy about me. If you have me in your skincare routine, you are in luck. I do not irritate the skin as I am naturally occurring in the human body and if you apply me topically, I will hydrate your skin with no irritation whatsoever. I live in the dermis with my other family members; collagen and elastin where I also stimulate anti-aging components. Me: WOW, you got some wonderful traits, I am impressed. Any weakness I shoud know of? HA: None, absolute no weakness that I can think of Me: Thank you, HA. It was nice to have you here.

The real truth about hyaluronic acid

After the interview, I did my research to find the real truth about hyaluronic acid, only to find out our prince charming (hyaluronic acid) is not being totally honest after all.

I have seen a lot of creams, gels, so many other products with hyaluronic acid. If it is such an amazing ingredient in the cosmetic industry, why then do some people still suffer from dryness after topical application of HA? I got curious to learn more about hyaluronic acid and to my surprise; our prince charming got weaknesses after all. I will mention 3 flaws that I found across the web which I find very interesting.

hyaluronic acid is moody

It is a pretty moody substance. For example, In high humidity weather conditions such as winter or during the rainy season, HA will take water from the air and add to your skin making you look plump and supple. However, during a low humidity weather condition, HA will absorb water from the deepest layer of your skin (dermis) making you look extremely dry and flaky.

So if you really want to get the most out of hyaluronic acid during the dry season, I suggest you get a humidifier or apply occlusive agents to your skin after using HA, this will help seal in moisture to your skin.

hyaluronic acid is very big

Saying it is very big is an understatement. In fact, it is a HUGE molecule. This is a great limitation if you are applying hyaluronic acid serum topically. It just would not penetrate the skin. There are different sizes of hyaluronic acid:

High molecular weight HA or HMWHA: It consists of molecules that are 1500 kD and larger and cannot penetrate the skin. Instead, they sit on top of the skin barrier where they improve skin moisture and elasticity making you look plump and radiant. However, the effects are short-lived. They have no real long term effects

Low molecular weight HA or LMWHA: It consists of molecules that are 50kD or lesser and this ensures water is stored deep within the connective tissues. This gives more advantageous as they work with collagen to minimize the signs of aging and the effect is long-lasting. However, this also leads to inflammation when used in high dose.

High molecular weight HA sits on the epidermal layer, the middle molecular HA penetrates but does not get to the dermis, the low molecular HA deeply penetrates into the dermal layer

The high molecular weight is found in creams and serums, they do not penetrate the skin, they sit on top and are short-lived while low molecular weight leads to inflammation of the skin in high dose.

hyaluronic acid can be easily degraded

Hyaluronic acid in our blood lasts up to 3 to 5 minutes while the one in our skin does not last up to a single day. Meaning that even if you apply it topically or intradermally, the turn over rates is high. In other words, Hyaluronic acid gets flushed down the drain.

I have seen lots of Hyaluronic acid serum that claim “100% hyaluronic acid” this claim is quite misleading. Remember 1g of Hyaluronic acid holds up to 1000 times water. So why add any more to a substance that gets easily degraded? I find it a bit unnecessary.

did the cosmetic industry solve the hyaluronic acid problem?

The cosmetic industry knows the real truth about hyaluronic acid. Therefore, the cosmetic industry looked for ways to solve problems between high and low molecular weight hyaluronic acid. They solve this problem by breaking down hyaluronic acid into simple molecules such that we now have; high molecular, middle molecular and low molecular weight Hyaluronic acid. This ensures it penetrates all layers for optimal moisture across all skin layers for a more smoother, radiant glow.

Example of such products is in The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 30ml and SkinMedica HA5 Rejuvenating Hydrator .

What can you do to get the most out of hyaluronic acid?

Whether you live in a humid or non-humid environment, you should always have occlusive moisturizer. This two work hand in hand to prevent moisture loss and dry skin. You can get occlusive agents from cocoa butter, mineral oil, lanolin. It helps seal in moisture drawn by hyaluronic acid. These two ensures the moisture stays that way and not degraded.

Conclusion

This has really been lengthy and I appreciate you for staying with me to find the real truth about hyaluronic acid. It is not a bad ingredient after all but cosmetic industry overdoes the appraisal sometimes. If we use it properly, we can get its beneficial effects especially for people with dry skin. It is actually one of my top favourite ingredients.

Please share, like and comment if you found this information helpful. Thank you 🙂

Photo by Jernej Graj on Unsplash

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