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Want to know why glycerin is superior to hyaluronic acid? Keep reading to find out.
Glycerin is a powerful skincare ingredient I didn’t know much about until recently. I’m researching many skincare ingredients to understand skincare formulations better and, therefore, find the best products without trying them all.
Let me tell you, glycerin was a wonderful surprise. It’s actually better to look for glycerin than hyaluronic acid as it is super hydrating!
Let’s go about everything that I found out, shall we?
Composition of a good moisturizer
1. Humectants
Humectants are ingredients or molecules that grab onto water. This is their purpose in a moisturizer: holding to as much water as they can.
Basically, they help in avoiding transepidermal water loss which is the loss of water that passes from inside a body through the epidermis (i.e. our skin) to the atmosphere.
Glycerin and hyaluronic acids are both humectants and are featured in many moisturizers as well as in other skincare products.
2. Emollients
Emollients are ingredients that typically have oils in them. Therefore they are able to soothe dryness and irritation.
They are also called barrier creams since they form a film on our skin’s outer layer. Given this ability they can help:
- Attract moisture
- Prevent the loss of moisture in our skin
- Soften scaling or peeling skin
- Soothe irritated and dry skin
Common emollients include mineral oil, ceramides, and paraffin.
3. Occlusives
Occlusives are usually waxy, oily, and thicker substances. Their job is to seal in moisture and water into our skin, therefore, avoiding transepidermal water loss as much as possible.
Essentially, they do not allow water to evaporate from our skin.
Common occlusives are petrolatum (no, it’s not bad for you), silicones and waxes.
What is glycerin
As we already said, glycerin is a humectant and it’s most definitely one of the strongest ones.
It is an odorless, colorless viscous liquid that attracts water and holds onto it but it also has other benefits such as:
- Antimicrobial properties
- Antiviral properties
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) also approves its products for wounds and burns, this is incredible! So, if you’re looking for scar creams definitely look for ones with a base in glycerin.
I only tried Cicatricure so far (fortunately I don’t need it often 😂) but, let me tell you, it worked flawlessly.
According to a 2016 study, it’s used in concentrations of 5% or less and lower concentrations were found to. be still very effective. Also, it’s typically combined with other ingredients because it helps them work better in fact, it’s unlikely that you find a glycerin serum on its own.
Why glycerin is better than hyaluronic acid
When I first read about this I was so confused because I thought the golden standard for hydration was hyaluronic acid. My skin was feeling super dry so, I decided to have a little experiment:
- I used hyaluronic acid for three days
- I waited a few days without using either one of them
- I used products with glycerin for another three days
I was shocked by the results. Don’t get me wrong, hyaluronic acid definitely did something but my skin felt so much better after the first day of application! I was truly amazed, no one is even talking about it.
So, I honestly proved, at least to myself, that glycerin is better than hyaluronic acid but why is it?
It comes down to the 500 Dalton rule.
500 Dalton rule
for a substance to be able to cross the skin barrier – meaning, for an ingredient to be able to penetrate your skin – it must have a molecular weight of fewer than 500 Daltons.
Glycerin’s molecular weight is approximately 93 Daltons as opposed to hyaluronic acid which is always larger than 500 Daltons!
This does not mean that hyaluronic acid is useless but it means that glycerin is much more effective.
I think hyaluronic acid is super well marketed, honestly at this point way more than it needs to be, while glycerin is not. Fortunately for you, now you are more educated on the topic and can choose better for yourself and your skin.
I have an entire article about why hyaluronic acid is a scam and everything you need to know about it if you’re interested in knowing more.
Also, a little tip, you absolutely do not need a hyaluronic acid serum so don’t waste your money!
The best products containing glycerin
Cleansers
Vanicream gentle facial cleanser
This a super cheap cleanser with a fluid consistency that, I have to admit, can be a little tacky. This is actually due to glycerin but the tackiness goes away almost immediately, or at least with this product it does.
Overall this is an amazing cleanser perfect for sensitive skin and, in my opinion, fantastic to follow with irritating ingredients such as retinoids.
This one is a little pricier for my boujee girls out there. It contains glycerin, of course, but it also contains glycolic acid, making it perfect for mild exfoliation.
Serums
Aveeno Calm and Restore Triple Oat Hydrating Face Serum
This serum is fantastic as it basically is the whole calm and restore line, I highly recommend it.
It glides incredibly through the skin thanks to glycerin. Apart from being tacky, it helps spread your product across super easily, which means you need less product to cover larger areas.
It also contains oats which are the star of this line for repairing your skin and minimizing irritation.
This is one of my favorite vitamin C serums. Being formulated with glycerin it helps to reduce dehydration and irritation.
The only critique I have to include for this product is that it is in a dropper. This makes vitamin C constantly exposed to air and light so it oxidizes very quickly.
When vitamin C oxidizes it’s basically useless so, yeah, don’t love the packaging but if you go through vitamin C quickly it’s absolutely amazing.
Moisturizers
I have talked about these two so many times and much more in-depth than I can do here, so I highly encourage you to check these moisturizers out, I talked all about them in an article about how to have plump and juicy skin in the winter.
This post was all about glycerin as a hydrating skincare ingredient.
- Sethi A. et al. Moisturizers: The Slippery Road, Indian J Dermatology, 2016.
- Bjorklund S. et al. Glycerol and urea can be used to increase skin permeability in reduced hydration conditions, European Journal Of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2013.
