Ideal against acne, this ingredient for skin care may well be your new everyday ally. But beware of a point.
The world of beauty never stops. Each month comes with its share of new products, scientific advances or emerging trends. His kingdom? The favorite platform of the Z generation: Tiktok. The Chinese application is full of tutorials, advice of all kinds and Dermatos videos. Recently, an ingredient has stung the curiosity of Internet users. And for good reason: it would be roughly effective against acne and scars.
It all starts when a user, @tatlafata posts a video of her on the plane spray the face of a mysterious spray, every hour. According to her, this product would be the secret not to end up with small pimples after a long journey. Very quickly, the sequence goes around social networks and brings together millions of views. Fascinated, Internet users all want to try this famous active: hypochlorous acid. The craze is such that, according to Vogue Business, research for this ingredient would have even jumped 132% compared to last year.
But then, what is hypochlorous acid? It is a substance produced naturally by the body in white blood cells, which has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Used on the skin, it calms redness and inflammation: “This is one of the reasons why this can be worth integrating it into your care routine. Especially if you want to unify your complexion and have healthy skin“, Explains Dr. Marisa Garshick, dermatologist, at Byrdie magazine. But that’s not all, his antibacterial virtues make him a real ally against rashes since they kill the bacteria responsible for acne on the surface of the epidermis. This asset also repairs the wounded skin and cleans open wounds. Cherry on the cake, hypochllois can reduce sensitivity cutaneous.
Until then, the advanced promises on Tiktok are therefore validated by dermatologists. But one question remains: do we really need to use hypochlorous acid every hour as does @tatlafata? This is the catch: according to a video published on the platform by Dr. Raj Arora. “”Applying too often can unbalance the skin flora, and cause redness but also irritations“, She says. Thus, she recommends applying it in the morning and/or in the evening, or after a sports session when you cannot wash your face directly.
Hypchlorous acid, however, has a major defect: it has the capacity to make other assets ineffective. It is then recommended to spray it in the first step in the skincare routine and wait about 30 minutes before putting a serum or a cream.
In addition, if it helps fight acne, it does not replace more effective salicylic or glycolic acid.