Layering skincare merchandise with dimethicone – or any mixture of elements – is necessary to the outcomes you get out of your skincare routine. Your fastidiously thought-about particular person skincare merchandise are constituted of elements that won’t mix nicely, might forestall absorption of different merchandise or might create undesirable really feel or movie in your pores and skin. A reader requested me the essential query about product layering within the context of dimethicone and I will share my reply with you. The ideas apply to all product layering, whether or not there may be dimethicone in your product or not.
Hi there Dr. Bailey, layering skincare merchandise with dimethicone is one thing I’m questioning about. My moisturizer comprises dimethicone and I’m simply questioning if that might forestall the tretinoin (Retin A) that I take advantage of from penetrating my pores and skin? Ought to I apply tretinoin first then my moisturizer? Does it actually matter if I apply it earlier than or after the tretinoin? Thanks very a lot in your time. Sincerely, Rui
Expensive Rui,
This is a wonderful query. The skincare merchandise that you just apply, and their elements, do have an effect on one another in various methods. Absorption is one in every of them. We layer merchandise as a result of some elements cannot be positioned collectively in the identical bottle, tube or jar and saved for months to years however are suitable and energetic when layered in your pores and skin for 12 hours.
The layering order of skincare merchandise is necessary to product outcomes, but it surely’s additionally troublesome to be completely sure that we all know what’s truly occurring on the pores and skin stage. That is as a result of it isn’t potential to review all of the product or ingredient mixtures. In some unspecified time in the future, we have now to suppose issues by with common scientific ideas as greatest we are able to.
Layering Pores and skin Care Merchandise
As a common rule I like to recommend thinner and/or water-based skincare merchandise first and thicker/oil-based or dimethicone containing merchandise after.
You might have heard that “water and oil do not combine”. It’s a useful idea relating to merchandise. Your pores and skin is extra advanced as a result of it is composed of lipids (oils which we are saying are lipophilic) and protein (that ‘likes’ water and we describe as hydrophilic). Because of this the lipids will take up elements that blend nicely with oil and the protein will take up elements that blend nicely with water. We use this to our benefit in product layering.
Layering ‘occlusive’ skincare merchandise
When layering your skincare merchandise, there may be the extra idea that’s necessary and that’s that some elements are ‘occlusive’. I wish to say that they “seal the deal” with merchandise layered earlier than and assist forestall pores and skin dryness. It doesn’t imply that an ingredient makes your pores and skin really feel heavy or that the ingredient clogs pores, it simply means that it’ll layer on prime of the pores and skin to stop water loss. This is applicable to oils and dimethicone.
Occlusive elements akin to oils and dimethicone (a siloxane that features different elements on this household akin to cyclopentasiloxane and cyclohexasiloxane) will assist forestall water evaporation from pores and skin referred to as Transepidermal Water Loss (TEWL). However, water-based formulations will penetrate pores and skin and likewise evaporate if they aren’t ‘trapped’. We use occlusion to assist entice water-based elements in addition to water that retains your pores and skin hydrated and supple.
Lastly, there are particular person ingredient mixtures must be thought-about separately. I will begin with dimethicone, which has its followers. That stated, some folks choose to make use of extra ‘pure’ occlusive akin to botanical oils.
Is dimethicone dangerous for pores and skin?
My opinion is that dimethicone is usually a nice skincare ingredient when formulated right into a product fastidiously. I additionally like pure oils in skincare. The underside line is that dimethicone has some wonderful causes for being in your skincare merchandise.
4 advantages of dimethicone in skincare
Dimethicone is added to skincare merchandise as a result of it helps them to glide properly over your pores and skin.
Just a little dimethicone in your pores and skin additionally provides it an exquisite silky really feel and softens the looks of effective wrinkles.
It improves your pores and skin’s means to retain moisture and helps to guard it from irritation.
It’s moisturizing, pores and skin softening, noncomedogenic and nonacnegenic and prevents extra oil from diluting different skincare merchandise akin to make-up.
Dimethicone might even barely enhance the thickness of the highest dwelling layer of your pores and skin referred to as the dermis.
As a result of it acts as a barrier nevertheless, dimethicone might have an effect on the penetration of some elements akin to Retin A into the pores and skin. It relies on how a lot dimethicone is within the product although. Merchandise with a considerable amount of dimethicone may nicely block tretinoin if they’re utilized first.
Merchandise with a comparatively small quantity of dimethicone akin to my Day by day Moisturizing Face Cream work nicely with tretinoin. I’ve constructed 1000’s of tretinoin and retinol skincare routines with this cream and have by no means discovered it to have any unfavourable influence on Retin A penetration when it comes to the apparent seen outcomes of tretinoin.
Study extra: How one can Apply Tretinoin Cream: A Information to Demystifying Its Use
How have you learnt if tretinoin Retin A can penetrate your dimethicone moisturizer?
You probably have any doubts about your merchandise, you’ll be able to all the time check them as a result of Retin A will irritate your pores and skin every so often if it is penetrating. After I assist my sufferers work out this product mixture, I inform them that in the event that they’re on the strongest stage of Retin A cream and so they by no means get irritated then both they’ve actually robust pores and skin or one thing they’re doing earlier than utility of the Retin A could also be affecting its penetration.
Likewise, tretinoin will scale back blackheads to deal with pimples and trigger pores and skin brightening, enchancment in uneven pigment and discount in effective strains and wrinkles. All of those outcomes are 100% seen to you within the mirror. If you happen to see tretinoin working, it is getting by and being absorbed into your pores and skin!
How one can layer skincare at evening with Retin A
For instance, I personally have use my Day by day Moisturizing Face Cream for years with its dimethicone content material. The layering order of my nighttime merchandise with tretinoin is:
Inexperienced Tea Antioxidant Pores and skin Remedy Cream,
Day by day Moisturizing Face Cream,
wait quarter-hour or extra, then
I apply my tretinoin (Retin A).
Discover that I like to recommend making use of the Inexperienced Tea Remedy Cream first as a result of it’s a thinner product. It’s not water primarily based however the consistency is way much less occlusive.
I can and do get very chapped from Retin A on occasion and so I do know that the Retin A is getting by the Day by day Moisturizing Face Cream. I can even see the useful leads to the mirror.
Apply moisturizer earlier than tretinoin not after tretinoin
There is no such thing as a level in making use of your moisturizer after Retin A as a result of moisturizers must be utilized instantly after toweling your pores and skin dry to ensure that them to work. Retin A in my follow, then again, is all the time utilized after ready 15 or extra minutes after toweling dry and making use of different merchandise (together with your moisturizer). This helps to stop pores and skin irritation, chapping and the retinoid dermatitis. I have been prescribing tretinoin because it was first launched for pimples within the mid-Eighties. I’ve in depth expertise with serving to all complexion varieties tolerate this drugs and I’ve discovered that ready quarter-hour actually reduces tretinoin pores and skin peeling.
Stopping pores and skin irritation is why I apply my moisturizer, wait quarter-hour or extra after which apply my Retin A final. – Dr. Bailey
Retinol causes much less pores and skin irritating than tretinoin for delicate complexions
Some folks with delicate pores and skin don’t desire the inconvenience of tretinoin or need to alternate it with a neater to make use of retinoid. Retinol is understood to be much less prone to result in retinoid dermatitis. It has the identical mechanism of motion as tretinoin although must be utilized in larger concentrations to stimulate collagen renewal.
Retinol will be utilized proper after washing and toweling pores and skin dry. My Retinol Anti-Wrinkle Evening Cream comes comprises the best allowed retinol focus, which is 1%, which we denote as 10X. It is a medical-grade retinol that you’d anticipate from a dermatologist and retinoid knowledgeable.
My Retinol Evening Cream can be formulated with the identical inexperienced tea antioxidants as my Inexperienced Tea Cream and it has dimethicone. I truly prefer it topped with my Day by day Moisturizing Cream for the additional advantage of ceramides and squalane within the Day by day Cream. Frankly, I do that 3 to 4 nights per week and the tretinoin routine the entire others.
My face all the time sleeps with a retinoid as a result of they’re the most effective elements to combat the indicators of pores and skin growing older and I need that! – Dr. Bailey
Retinol Anti-Wrinkle Evening Cream comprises dimethicone
Get the advantages of three useful elements in a single product.
I alternate my Retinol Cream with tretinoin (or use it extra typically than tretinoin since it’s simpler) and apply it proper after cleaning my face, neck and chest at evening.
How lengthy do you wait to use moisturizer after retinol?
Let the retinol product dry to the contact however past that, there isn’t a want to attend. I apply retinol after which I layer my Day by day Face Cream on prime. If the retinol isn’t totally dry to the contact, it is potential to pat the moisturizer onto pores and skin.
Can you utilize a face oil with retinol?
Sure. As of this replace in 2023 my put up menopausal 64 12 months outdated complexion wants much more lipid elements. I prime my retinol with the Day by day Moisturizing Face Cream boosted with a number of drops of my Omega Face Booster Oil which comprises stunning botanical barrier therapeutic oils. Typically I even apply my face oil straight with out cream and instantly on prime of the Retinol Evening Cream. It is simple to inform that that the retinol is working as a result of the pores and skin brightening is seen within the mirror. That is 37+ years of utilizing a nightly retinoid cream and my pores and skin appears to be like youthful than my joints really feel!
This was an important query that reveals you perceive quite a bit about skincare elements. I hope my reply helped.
Heat Regards,
Cynthia Bailey MD, Dermatologist
Click on right here to see my Retinol Anti-Wrinkle Evening Cream and Day by day Moisturizing Face Cream
Disclaimer: Please understand that availing your self of the chance to submit and obtain solutions to your questions from Dr. Bailey doesn’t confer a physician/affected person relationship with Dr. Bailey. The data offered by Dr. Bailey is common well being data impressed by your query. It shouldn’t be an alternative choice to acquiring medical recommendation out of your doctor and isn’t supposed to diagnose or deal with any particular medical drawback (and isn’t an extension of the care Dr. Bailey has offered in her workplace for current sufferers of her follow). By no means ignore your individual physician’s recommendation due to one thing you learn right here; this data is for common informational objective solely.
