Evidence-Based Skincare Routine
I've dabbled in skincare for a while but often just bought whatever Reddit said was good. I never really did deep research on what would move the needle. On a flight back from Taiwan, I spent a few hours researching what an optimal, evidence-based skincare routine would look like.
The Most Important Ingredients
Before picking out products, I wanted to learn what ingredients would have the most impact based on current skincare research. ChatGPT deep research mode using the O1 model helped me do this digging. Here's what I came up with:
Helpful for anyone:
- Niacinamide (Vitamin B3) - gentle, all-in-one ingredient for hydration, anti-aging, acne control and redness reduction
- Look for: 2-5% for effectiveness; higher may irritate
- Retinoids (Tretinoin) - powerful, evidenced backed active ingredient for acne and anti-aging benefits
- Vitamin C - fights aging, fades discoloration, and reduces inflammation
- Hyaluronic Acid - gentle hydration superstar
- Look for: multi-molecular weight or 0.5-2% total HA
- Ceramides - healing and protecting barrier for the skin
- Look for: 0.5-1%
- 50+ SPF (physical or chemical ok) - protects against aging and sun damage
- Omega 3 supplements - calms skin inflammation (2-3g per day from most studies)
- Collagen Peptide supplements - helps maintain skin firmness and combat aging (5-10g per day most effective in studies)
Specific for my skincare concerns (sensitive skin, redness, acne):
- Green Tea Polyphenols - boosts skin’s clarity and calms redness
- Azelaic Acid - clears acne, evens skin, and reduces redness
- (Maybe) Salicylic Acid - clears pores and helps with acne but trades off with redness and irritation
Routine & Products I Picked
Picked products with glowing Reddit recommendations that crossed off all the ingredients in the above list. Tried to keep it as simple as possible. Here's what I settled on:
AM:
- SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic® with 15% L-ascorbic acid (Vitamin C)
- ISNTREE Green Tea Fresh Serum (Green Tea Polyphenols)
- Cerave PM Facial Moisturizing Lotion (Hyaluronic Acid, Niacinamide, Ceramides)
- NIVEA SUN Protect Super Water Gel SPF 50 PA+++ (SPF50, PA+++)
PM:
- ISNTREE Green Tea Fresh Serum (Green Tea Polyphenols)
- Cerave PM Facial Moisturizing Lotion (Hyaluronic Acid, Niacinamide, Ceramides)
- (Every Few Days) Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA (Salicylic Acid, Green Tea Polyphenols)
- (Every Other Day) Curology (Tretinoin, Azelaic Acid)
Hope my research is helpful. If I missed something, let me know on Twitter/X @ryanlpeterman