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Whether your skin care regimen is simple or highly advanced, it should probably contain hyaluronic acid (or HA) in some way, shape, or form. HA can hold up to 1,000 times its own weight in water—and it attracts moisture, meaning it can pull water from the air into your skin. Here, hyaluronic acid binds to those water molecules, keeping your skin hydrated, nourished, plump, firm, and well-fortified.
For good reason, hyaluronic acid is extremely easy to come by in skin care products and can also be affordable to incorporate into your regimen. Read on to learn more about hyaluronic acid, how to incorporate it into your skin care regimen, and some of GQ’s favorite hyaluronic acid products of late.
What is hyaluronic acid?
Your body naturally produces hyaluronic acid and uses it in the skin, eyes, and joints. In the case of skin care, hyaluronic acid helps strengthen and fortify the skin’s hydrolipidic barrier—which keeps moisture locked inside the skin and keeps bacteria out. (If you’ve ever heard people talk about the skin’s “barrier function,” this is what they are referring to.)
While the body’s own supply of hyaluronic acid helps the skin without added help from skin care products, HA supplies wane with age. Over time, skin becomes less firm and duller, often due to issues with moisture retention and a weakening of the skin barrier. This reinforces the importance of ingredients like hyaluronic acid, daily SPF, and maybe even a retinol-anchored anti-aging regimen.
But won’t acids burn skin?
Ingredients with “acid” in the name might sound caustic—salicylic acid, lactic acid, glycolic acid, and hyaluronic acid all included. But don’t be intimidated: Your skin is itself naturally acidic. Do you remember learning about acids and alkalis in high school chemistry? That stuff is extremely important in the production of skin care, since it’s important to preserve the pH balance of the skin. On the 1-14 scale, wherein one is extremely acidic and 14 is extremely alkaline, your skin is just left of neutral—a 4.5 or five on the acidic side of things. And so, skin care products work to preserve this acidic balance in your skin without toppling you too far in either direction.
Acids are at the core of many skin care products, like the aforementioned alpha hydroxy acids (lactic and glycolic) and beta hydroxy acid (salicylic) in many serums that help dissolve dead skin and keep your complexion clear. Hyaluronic acid, like those alphas and betas, can be applied topically in order to obtain hydration and barrier-boosting benefits.
How to apply hyaluronic acid
Applying hyaluronic acid comes with a few key instructions. The below instructions are geared primarily towards serums, since other products will contain multiple ingredients and should be applied as directed.
1. Get a clean start
First, wash your face. You won't get the proper product benefits without removing oil, dirt, and grime.
2. Don’t fully dry the skin
Towel dry the face, but leave it slightly damp. Since hyaluronic acid pulls moisture into the complexion, you want to be in the habit of leaving just a bit of water on your skin. I only say this in case you’re in a bone-dry environment wherein there is little moisture in the air (i.e. an air-conditioned space, or the height of winter.)
It always helps to give the serum a small boost. But again—only a little moisture. Too much water will only distill the serum and could prevent proper application. If it’s applied to dry skin and has no moisture to attract in the air around you, it may look for that moisture in the further depths of your skin, which could lead to even more drying out, which would be entirely counterintuitive.
3. Apply the product
Next, place one or two drops of serum onto your pointer and middle finger, then rub those fingers against the same ones on your opposite hand. Bring both pairs of fingers to your face, and apply the serum first across both cheeks, starting at the nose, then lift and bring the fingers to the middle of the forehead and apply the product outward towards the temples. Now that the serum is on the face, you can repeat this motion—first the nose to the temples, then the middle of the forehead to the temples—until it is thoroughly absorbed. Then, you can do a second pass with a couple of drops from the chin to the cheekbones, and can even hit the jowls or neck with any excess.
Be cautious around the eyes—you can test the skin around the eyes for their sensitivity to whichever product you’re using. Some hyaluronic acid products are specifically targeted at this area, too. Typically, hyaluronic acid is gentle on skin, though.
4. Layer up
Wait about 15-30 seconds for the serum to absorb, then apply a moisturizer over top.
The Best Ways to Get Hyaluronic Acid
Hyaluronic acid has become such a common ingredient in skin care, that it has begun appearing in everything from moisturizers to cleansers to shampoos.
And while it’s hard to get too much of this good thing, just know that the best way to get the ingredient is through products that will remain on the face long enough to be absorbed into the skin. So, we will exclude any cleansing ingredients from the list below.
Serum
This is the most effective way to get hyaluronic acid, in that serum seeps into the lower layers of your skin, where the hyaluronic acid can keep things plump and promote long term resilience and fortification. And the best part is, you can opt into any price point you wish; some formulas might be hyper researched and with top-tier sourcing, while even some of the lower-cost picks will give your skin care regimen a serious moisture boost.
Moisturizers (Day and Night)
Moisturizers reinforce skin’s barrier functions by trapping hydration inside the skin and preventing bad stuff from getting inside. Hyaluronic acid fortifies these defenses when used in daytime moisturizers and overnight creams.
Moisture Masks
Whether deployed as a moisture cream or face-shaped sheet, moisturizing masks pump serum into the depths of the dermis to give skin a big one-time boost. They’re great for dull or tired skin that needs a jumpstart before a business meeting or date.
Eye Creams
The skin around the eyes is the most delicate, and thus most susceptible to signs of aging like wrinkles, fine lines, dark circles, and puffiness. Daily hyaluronic acid can play a supporting role to peptides in order to keep the area plenty hydrated, as well as fortified against skin-aging toxins.
Scalp Treatments
Scalps are skin, too! And by using a hyaluronic acid-packed scalp treatment or nourishing mask, you can fend off dryness and flakes, while maintaining a hospitable growth environment for your precious follicles.
Body Hydrators
We tend to forget that the skin all around our body can benefit from the same ingredients we apply to our face. And while you may want to invest your dollars from the neck up, don’t forget that there are plenty of HA-packed lotions and serums targeting everything else.
Boosters
If you’ve got a favorite moisturizer that lacks hyaluronic acid, you can always get a booster and add a couple drops to the formula or with each application. Now, note that these products are carefully engineered and a booster won't always work as well in practice as it does in theory. We’d sooner endorse adding a low-cost serum to the front end of your skin care regimen, but given HA’s near-universal tolerance on skin, there’s a good chance a booster product can only stand to help as opposed to detract.
