Skin Care: Niacinamide | 300 Seconds of Science

General Manager: Juan Contreras

Producer: Nicole Maxhimer

Author: Kristen Dauber

What’s up, science lovers! Have you been using this time off to take care of your skin? If not, listen up, because today we’re going to take a look at what’s considered to be a “holy grail” skincare ingredient.

Niacinamide is one of the most popular active skincare ingredients that has been proven to work among dermatologists and researchers. Also known as vitamin B3 or Nicotinamide, Niacinamide is a water-soluble vitamin that works with the natural substances in your skin.

Vitamin B3 is present in food, which is called Niacin. It helps change carbohydrates into the fuel our bodies need. Some foods that include this vitamin are chicken, fish, liver foods, mushroom, eggs, beets, and green vegetables. So, when you are referring to foods or supplements, it’s known as vitamin B3 or Niacin. Alternatively, when you are talking about skincare products, as we are today, it’s known as Niacinamide or Nicotinamide.

pH Levels

Our skin’s natural pH level is around 5.5, which is considered slightly acidic. So, products with a low pH, around 1-6, are at a level closer to the skin’s natural levels. For example, chemical exfoliants (glycolic, lactic, madelic, ascorbic acids) work well on the skin at low pH levels.

This means chemical exfoliants will penetrate more deeply, work more effectively, and have a greater concentrated effect on the skin. This can also mean that it can be irritating if it’s too low, which is why it’s important to introduce chemical exfoliants into your routine slowly. On the other end of the spectrum is high pH levels, which is 8-14 on the scale and considered to be alkaline. This is the biggest threat to your skin barrier. The biggest indicator of using a product that’s too alkaline is the tight and squeaky-clean feeling that you get from cleansers sometimes. This means that your skin has been stripped of sebum that’s actually good for a healthy barrier function, leading to redness, inflammation, and dryness. Because our skin lies at a 5.5 on the pH scale, you want to look for products that lie between 4.5 and 7. Slightly more acidic products are preferred since that’s what’s similar to our own skin levels.

Niacinamide is one of the most stable active ingredients in skincare, with a pH of 7, or around neutral. This is unlike chemical exfoliants such as AHA’s, BHA’s, vitamin C, and vitamin A which are considered acidic.

(If you need to brush up a little on skincare terminology, check out my blog on it here. )

Since Niacinamide is a stable ingredient, it also works well with other ingredients. Niacinamide is non-acidic and non-irritating and works well on almost all skin types. It is absorbed easily by the outer layer of the skin. It helps to keep the acid mantle, which is a combination of oils, proteins, and ceramides on the outer layer of our skin, healthy. Essentially, this means that you can get soft and glowy skin without the irritation that other chemicals can give you.

Benefits of Niacinamide

Hold on tight, cause there are a lot of benefits to using Niacinamide. They include:

Improve skin barrier function
Decrease skin hyperpigmentation
Reduce fine lines and wrinkles
Decrease redness and blotchiness
Improve skin elasticity

So basically, everything you’re looking for in an entire skincare routine in one ingredient. Let’s get into how Niacinamide helps to achieve these benefits.

1. Brightening and lightening hyperpigmentation:

Niacinamide reduces color, or pigmentation, by disrupting one of the key enzymes that produce melanin. Melanin is a pigment that our body produces that gives our skin the color that we have, as well as hair and eye color. Melanin is also produced by the skin in response to damaging sunlight and UV rays, which is why when you don’t apply sunscreen, you can get sunspots and freckles. Niacinamide helps to prevent melanin production by stimulating the production of keratin, which increases the thickness of the skin’s outer layer. So, it’s effective in evening out the skin tone and brightening your overall complexion without irritation. This is also extremely helpful in evening out acne scars.

2. Improves Dryness and Anti-Aging:

Niacinamide greatly reduces the evaporation of water from the skin and helps to increase the moisture content of the stratum corneum. This means we can achieve a thicker and healthier skin barrier. Keeping your skin barrier well nourished is the key to healthy skin, as it produces fatty acids, ceramides, lipids, and key proteins needed to maintain plump, healthy, and glowy skin. On top of the moisturizing qualities Niacinamide provides, it increases collagen production and slows down the bonding of glucose and proteins in the skin that leads to cross-linked collagen (which can reduce elasticity in the skin). Basically, Niacinamide can help to slow skin aging and maintain elasticity.

3. Helps Control Acne:

Whatever skin type you may have, Niacinamide can help to control and alleviate mild to moderate acne. It has antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties, which is a gentle way to help control acne. It helps to reduce redness and bacterial build up in the pores, as well as control and reduce the amount of sebum that secretes from your pores. This is especially helpful for sensitive, acne-prone, or oily skin types because it controls the sebum without stripping your skin.

4. Helps Shrink Pores:

Continuing on with the talk of regulating sebum production, Niacinamide helps with reducing the appearance of pores. The less the pores are clogged with excess sebum and dead skin, the finer and smaller the pores will appear. This means that the texture of your skin will also be smoother and softer.

5. Reduces Redness and Rosacea:

Rosacea is a skin condition with no cure, much like eczema, which can leave the skin red and inflamed. When Niacinamide is used on this type of skin, it can help alleviate the redness because, once again, it can help improve the skin barrier..

6. Fights Free Radicals:

Free radicals are apparent in the air and, when coming in contact with the skin, can cause oxidative stress, one of which is making our skin age prematurely. Like vitamin C, Niacinamide can help fight the damage of free radicals and prevent the skin from aging and dullness. However, unlike vitamin C, Niacinamide is a much more stable ingredient. Vitamin C is known to be unstable and acidic, which can cause irritation to the skin. Since Niacinamide is stable, you don’t have to worry about irritation to the skin.

How To Use

The good thing about Niacinamide is that you can use it with little to no irritation to the skin, it can be used in high percentages and still be well tolerated by the skin, and it is a stable ingredient. This means it will work well with your other skincare ingredients no matter what stage of your skincare routine you’re in.

Generally, you want to apply products with lower acidity earlier on in your skincare routine, since they work better with the normal levels of our skin. This includes toners, AHA’s, and vitamin C. Since Niacinamide works better on slightly higher pH levels, it’s best to use it after cleansing, toning, and serums such as AHA’s or vitamin C. After using these low pH level-dependent actives, you can basically begin applying your Niacinamide at any point. Don’t forget to finish with a moisturizer!

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