Evening Out Skin Tone With Glycolic Acid
November 17, 2020
“When so many factors play into the condition of skin tone and how even it is (or isn’t), achieving the buttery smooth complexion of your dreams is just that—a distant dream,” explains Lindsay Metru in Brydie.
However, redness, dark spots, and splotchy skin do not need to remain a permanent condition or persistent problem. Glycolic acid, the gentle chemical exfoliant recommended by dermatologists and skincare experts alike, can help even out skin tone and create a more radiant, glowing complexion.
What causes uneven skin tone?
There are a wide variety of factors that can contribute to uneven skin tone. Most commonly, injury or irritation to the skin is the driving force.
When the skin becomes injured, changes in texture and color are apt to occur as the skin heals. Unfortunately, these unwanted changes in tone and texture can linger for days, weeks, months, or even years in the form of redness, dark spots, and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.
Uneven skin tone can be a result of:
- Acne
- Pollution
- Sunburn
- Rashes
- Razor burn and ingrown hairs
- Skin conditions that cause itching, like eczema and psoriasis
- Atopic dermatitis
- Insect bites
- Injuries
While uneven skin tone might seem inevitable, there is a simple, effective treatment to help support a more even, glowing complexion. Consistent use of the superstar skincare ingredient, glycolic acid.
The need for exfoliation
Consistent exfoliation with glycolic acid is the key to evening out skin tone, because glycolic acid helps to even out skin texture.
When the skin surface is rough from dead, dry skin cells, acne, or fine lines and wrinkles, the complexion is more prone to shadows and the appearance of uneven coloration.
“Skin tone is 75% about how the light hits it and what the light does when it hits it,” dermatologist Neal Schultz, MD told Brydie. “Does it reflect back or does it get scattered? When the surface is smooth and the light reflects off, skin tone appears more even because it gets brighter and the browns are not as obvious.”
For a more even complexion, chemical exfoliation with glycolic acid offers up the ultimate one-two punch: smoother skin texture and tone.
Smoothing texture
Glycolic acid is the lightest, smallest member of the water-soluble Alpha Hydroxy Acid family, which makes this molecule the best at quickly penetrating the surface of the skin.
Once applied, glycolic acid gently diffuses the bonds that hold cells together, which helps to loosen the top layer of skin. By sloughing away dead, damaged skin cells, glycolic acid can rapidly remove roughly textured patches of skin and fade away dark spots or redness from the face.
“Glycolic acid helps shed dead skin cells and reveal the newer, brighter layers underneath by acting on the stratum corneum. Normal, intact stratum corneum consists of tightly packed layers of dead skin cells that are tightly bonded together,” dermatologist Kenneth Howe, MD said to Glamour. “With their glue dissolved by glycolic acid, those tough, rough layers of dead skin cells can more easily slough away.”
By improving the skin’s texture, glycolic acid also quickly evens out skin tone.
"Glycolic acid helps shed dead skin cells and reveal the newer, brighter layers underneath by acting on the stratum corneum."
Kenneth Howe, MD, dermatologist
Supple, firmer skin
Additionally, glycolic acid offers up another big booster to improving skin tone. Glycolic acid promotes collagen production, the protein that supports the skin’s firmness and texture.
By stimulating the fibroblasts in the dermis to increase the production of collagen, glycolic acid helps to minimize the roughly textured fine lines and wrinkles that can add to uneven skin tone.
“Chemical exfoliators, such as alpha- and beta-hydroxy acids, have emerged as arguably some of the safest and gentlest ways to break down the bonds between skin cells and decongest pores,” explains Vogue. “Glycolic acid has the smallest molecular weight of all AHAs, so it penetrates the deepest and can build collagen in addition to improving texture and tone.”
In short? By supporting important proteins like collagen, glycolic acid helps to improve skin softness, suppleness, and tone.
Radiant, even skin tone
Across the board, consumers want healthy, glowing, and evenly toned skin. Consistent chemical exfoliation with workhorse ingredient glycolic acid is a fast and effective solution to smoothing out skin texture and improving skin tone.
