You must have across the term “hyaluronic acid” several times if you have an active skincare routine and regularly stock up on your serums, cleansers, and moisturizers? But what is there in this hyaluronic acid that everyone wants it? We are not kidding when we say that this thing is loved by every person, irrespective of gender, generation, or income group worldwide. Even celebrities like Khloe Kardashian rave about it. This skincare ingredient deserves all-stars for how it can keep your skin supple and smooth and fight the signs of aging. But what is it exactly? Keep reading to find out!
What Is Hyaluronic Acid?
Hyaluronic acid is a sugar that is naturally present in your body. Mostly, it is in the skin, eyes, and connective tissues of the joints in more significant amounts. Firstly, hyaluronic acid is known to retain moisture so that your tissue remains hydrated and well lubricated. Besides this, hyaluronic acid has many other skin benefits too. People take it mainly as a supplement, but it is common in eye drops, topical serums, and injections. This article will help you know some of the main benefits of using hyaluronic acid for your skincare.
Benefits That You Can Get From Using Hyaluronic Acid
Hydrates The Skin
The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of hydration is hyaluronic acid in terms of skincare. You can compare hyaluronic acid to a large drink of water but for your skin. It can retain a thousand times more than its molecular weight in water. Hyaluronic acid penetrates deep into the skin and coheres water to your skin cells. Thus all the layers of your skin get rejuvenated with valuable moisture.
You can either use a pure hyaluronic acid serum on your skin by itself. You could also layer another product over the serum. Remember that it doesn’t need to be paired up with any other ingredient to work effectively. Hyaluronic acid is the perfect ingredient that shows how limited skincare can give excellent results too.
Can Be Used As A Humectant
A ubiquitous part of skincare is using humectants. Humectants can be compared to sponges as they absorb and retain moisture after collecting them. They facilitate hydrogen bonding and are hydrophilic. Several examples of humectants include sorbitol (or sugar alcohol), glycerin, butylene glycol, etc. But did you have any idea that hyaluronic acid is one of the best humectants? Hyaluronic acid first infuses the epidermis thoroughly with valuable moisture. Then it starts acting as a humectant and carries on, attracting moisture from the surroundings. Thus, hyaluronic acid provides long-lasting hydration to your skin.
Enhances Lipid Barrier
The skin, as we know, protects our body. It not only covers our muscles, bones, and internal organs but also from the toxins that cause detrimental effects on your skin daily. The skin protects us from these toxins by a lipid barrier. The lip barrier is the fatty layer on the skin’s epidermis that holds in moisture and prevents toxicants from penetrating the skin. But as we continue to age, the lipid barrier of the skin gets damaged. Everything, from UV rays to lifestyle choices, adversely affects the skin.
Increases The Skin’s Resilience
After hyaluronic acid enhances and protects the epidermis’ lipid barrier, the skin would defend itself better against toxins and environmental factors. It would be best if you knew the fact that a lot of products have preservatives in them. These preservatives harm the lipid barrier of our skin. Firstly, they kill down all of the good bacteria present in the lipid barrier, which help protect the surface of your skin against irritants.
Consequently, this results in your skin losing moisture and thus, causing infections and irritation. People with oilier skin generally tend to use harsh chemicals to make their skin not feel “oily.” But these chemicals strip the natural oils off your skin. That is why you should use hyaluronic acid, which strengthens the skin’s lipid barrier. It also works excellently for people with oily skin.
Tightens Skin
Nobody wants skin that sags ever. Yet, with age, everyone experiences the sagging of their skin. That is when the elastin present in your skin starts breaking down, and it loses its bounce. You can check whether the elastin is still present in your skin by pinching the back of your palm. The quicker the skin snaps back, the more elastin it has.
You would notice that the skin does not snap or bounce back as quickly due to the lack of elastin in older people. Though hyaluronic acid does not produce or replace elastin (we are truly sorry), it does help with your skin’s appearance. By using this ingredient, your skin would appear tighter and give you a pretty youthful appearance.
Smoothes The Skin’s Texture
Like hyaluronic acid enhances the appearance of tightness of the skin, it also helps in smoothing out your skin’s surface. Using this holy grail of an ingredient, you will start seeing how silky your skin looks and feels. If you have scars from acne, you can use hyaluronic acid along with a derma roller to help your skin look smooth.
Conclusion
Hyaluronic acid does not cause any significant side effects ever and not even minor ones, in most cases. You could take this ingredient as a supplement or use it as a serum on your skin. Hyaluronic acid is known for so many health benefits. It is also used in eye drops, as said before. In conclusion, hyaluronic acid is truly a holy grail when it comes to the conditions of skin, eyes, and health of your bone joints.
