Hello, everyone, I am dermatologist Wang Ruiyan.
In 1974, a British person added a special ingredient to the sunscreen, accidentally achieved a whitening effect, and later people began to study, confirming its whitening, oil control, anti-aging and other eighteen martial arts, more rarely, it is well tolerated, suitable for most skin types.
In the blink of an eye, it has transformed into the "top stream" of the skin care ingredient industry, and major brands of skin care products want to share a piece of it.
This is niacinamide.
Both niacinamide and niacin belong to the category of vitamin PP (vitamin B3).
Niacinamide is an old medicine in dermatology, and dermatologists often use it to treat niacin deficiency, polymorphic solar rash, photosensitive dermatitis, frostbite, acne, bullous pemphigoid, etc.
However, a thousand people have a thousand Hamlets in their hearts, and different people have different feelings about the use of niacinamide.
People are beginning to have more and more questions about niacinamide, is it true that the use of niacinamide will grow hair? Will it turn black again after deactivation?
With these questions in mind, let's talk about whether niacinamide is worth using.
1
Why do whitening products love to use niacinamide?
Many skin care ingredients have whitening effects, such as vitamin C (ascorbic acid), passic acid, arbutin, why do so many skin care products like to use niacinamide?
This starts with the process of darkening the skin.
We simply divide the process of skin darkening into the production and transmission of melanin:
The first step is to produce melanin.
The machine that produces melanin is called melanocytes, the raw material is called tyrosine, and melanin is produced through many steps in the middle, one of the important tools is tyrosinase, which plays a decisive role in many key steps.
The second step is to transmit melanin.
The produced melanin is stored in the basal cell layer in the form of melanocyte bodies, and then passes through the spiny cell layer, the granule cell layer, to the outermost stratum corneum of the skin.
The general whitening ingredient works hard in the first step to reduce the output of melanin from the source, while niacinamide takes a different path and works the second step.
Niacinamide intercepts the melanin body and does not allow it to be transmitted to the upper layer of the epidermis, so that the skin cannot be darkened, and the whitening effect is achieved.
The intercepted melanin will be normally catabolized and will not accumulate in the basal layer.
Therefore, there is no need to worry about the skin will turn black again after stopping niacinamide.
In general, the concentration of niacinamide has a whitening effect when it is 2% to 3%, and it is difficult to achieve a whitening effect below the concentration of 2%. The use of niacinamide is not recommended in high concentrations, and the higher the concentration, the higher the risk of intolerance faced by the skin.
If it is sensitive skin or dry skin, the sebaceous membrane is not sound or the degree of tolerance is not enough, the tolerance needs to be established first.
There are several specific methods:
1. After application, leave on the face for 5-10 minutes, wash off with water, continue the skin care steps later, and increase the stay time appropriately the next day until there is no feeling of discomfort all night.
2. Mix and dilute with lotion or moisturizer.
3. Start with low frequency, for example, use once every 2-3 days, and use it once a day after gradual adaptation.
4. Start with a low concentration, establish tolerance and then try a high concentration.
The default optimal concentration of niacinamide is generally 1% to 5%, and the sensitive skin is 1% to 2%. If there is a redness allergy during use, it is necessary to stop using it immediately and seek medical attention as soon as possible.
Many people are concerned that niacinamide has a certain irritation to the skin. In fact, niacinamide itself is very mild, causing irritation is the trace amount of niacin in it.
However, with the current purification technology, it has been possible to reduce the niacin content. It is good for everyone to look for a regular brand.
2
Niacinamide is more than just whitening
In addition to whitening, niacinamide has many therapeutic and cosmeceutical benefits, such as:
1. Repair skin barrier and moisturize
Niacinamide can improve the skin barrier function, reduce moisture loss, reduce facial erythema and irritation, moisturizing nature is not a problem.
2. Relieves acne and rosacea
3. Oil control to reduce blackheads
After getting older, the texture of people's skin will become worse, one of the important factors is the enlargement of pores, long-term external use of niacinamide can reduce skin oil secretion, shrink pores, reduce blackheads to make the skin smoother, improve the texture of the skin.
4. Anti-wrinkle and anti-aging
Long-term external use of niacinamide can also reduce the wrinkles of the skin, it is said that there are two reasons, one is to increase the collagen of the dermis layer through niacinamide, the other is that niacinamide can reduce the production of glycosaminoglycans in the dermis layer, the normal dermal structure and function only need a low concentration of glycosaminoglycans, the concentration is too high will make the skin worse.
3
Does niacinamide really grow hair?
Before I saw someone say that using niacinamide skin began to grow hair, my first reaction was that hair loss was saved! Is this really the case?
Think beautiful!
The origin of this statement is like this, niacinamide has a relative called niacin, in 2005, there was a study found that niacin has a certain effect on female hair loss, but no research has been studied, it is reasonable to speculate that the vasodilation effect of niacin plays a role.
If niacin can promote hair growth, does its derivative, niacinamide, have the same effect?
Let's not say that niacin is not really a vasodilator ability, the vasodilation ability of nicotinamide is actually minimal, if there is such a good hair growth effect, graduate students who issue drugs can easily let it go?
So why is niacinamide "touched porcelain"?
At present, I think the most reasonable speculation is that niacinamide can brighten the skin tone, the skin becomes whiter, and the hair that originally blends with the dull skin color is obviously exposed and becomes noticeable.
According to a recent survey, 2/3 of users did not find a change in hair after using niacinamide products.
Compared with whitening, hair removal is simpler, not to mention that most users who feedback that the hair has changed, most of them think that this change can only be felt by themselves, and they are not noticed by others.
In addition, niacinamide will hydrolyze niacin in an acidic environment, and there are rumors that niacinamide cannot be used with acid products, which ignores a necessary condition - high temperature.
In fact, the regular skin care formula is very stable, and the room temperature and the temperature of our skin cannot reach the high temperature, which is self-defeating.
In addition to skin care products, niacin and tryptophan can be obtained in food, and niacin is converted into niacinamide, which is an important structure of CoenzymeS I and Coenzyme II, which can participate in the oxidation of sugars, fats, proteins and tissue respiration.
Nicotinamide is now added to many foods.
4
Write at the end
In recent years, more and more people have joined the ranks of the "ingredient party", but it is not enough to understand these basic knowledge, and it is the key to rationally look at skin care ingredients.
After all, skin care products are not drugs, there is no need to prove how much effect there is, for everyone, or pay more attention to her safety and use of feelings.
Resources:
"Cosmeceuticals", People's Medical Publishing House, zeo Diana Draelos editor-in-chief, Xu Detian as the main translator, Liu Wei as the chief reviewer