Can I use Ascorbic Acid and Ethyl Lactyl Retinoate together?
Piel's routine check says: Caution
Pure vitamin C alongside a retinoid can be more than some skin tolerates at once. Vitamin C in the morning, retinoid at night. This applies when applied at the same time.
Pure vitamin C — L-ascorbic acid, not one of its gentler derivatives — works at a low pH, and a retinoid does not need one. This is less a chemical fight than two active layers landing on the same skin within a minute of each other.
Splitting them by time of day keeps both: vitamin C in the morning, where it also sits comfortably under sunscreen, and the retinoid at night.
Kept in one routine, leave a few minutes between layers and watch for tightness or stinging; if it appears, go back to the morning-and-night split. Piel's rule names L-ascorbic acid specifically — the vitamin C derivatives are a separate family and this rule does not cover them.
Ascorbic Acid belongs to Piel's family of L-ascorbic acid; Ethyl Lactyl Retinoate to retinoids.
About Ascorbic Acid
CosIng classes Ascorbic Acid as:
- antioxidant
- pH buffering
- fragrance
- skin conditioning
Pure vitamin C, and the form most of the research on topical vitamin C used. It is unstable in water and light, which is why products containing it are often packaged opaque and change colour as they age.
About Ethyl Lactyl Retinoate
CosIng classes Ethyl Lactyl Retinoate as:
- abrasive
- skin conditioning
Read the Ethyl Lactyl Retinoate page
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