Don’t fear, “skin cycling” is not a high-energy, sweat-inducing spin workout for the skin , it is actually quite the opposite of a regimen, one that builds in recovery nights for this skin through intermittent or alternating use of active ingredients.

The term was coined by a board-certified dermatologist, Whitney Bowe, MD, and took off as most things do now on TikTok. In fact, Whitney’s videos themself have garnered over 3M views, while posts that mention skin cycling have garnered 3.5B views, and the specific #skincycling rose to 271 Million views by Feb 2023 alone on the platform.

But what exactly is skin cycling you ask?

In its most basic of routines, skin cycling aims at simplifying and strengthening your skin barrier by applying only 3 highly effective products in a 4-day cycle. While all four days consist of applying product, 2 of the 4 are for “active recovery” which means instead of applying high or strong active-containing products, you apply a moisturizer, whether that be #slugging, an ointment, oil, or cream. The goal of these two rest days is to prevent irritation and inflammation.

So what are the actual benefits of the cycle? We’ve highlighted three:

1. It repairs your skin barrier, alleviating symptoms of acne, eczema, or atopic dermatitis.
2. May reduce product side effects and appeals to budget-conscious individuals seeking high-quality items.
3. Prevents skin dryness and protects against seasonal issues, improving existing skin conditions in cold, windy, or dry climates.

Cycle levels: establishing your baseline level

Newbie Cyclers: Over 18.5 million views of Dr. Bowe’s TikToks – Those new to skin cycling have flexibility to use less harsh ingredients or stagger the rest days in between active days or add a rest day.

Super Cyclers: Is targeted to more advanced skin cycling has 898.2k views of Dr. Bowe’s TikToks – Those who are experienced with using highly active products, can layer more active days on, or chose to add actives to their rest days. There are many suggestions to make this routine more useful for each user’s skin.

Sensitive Cyclers: 1.3m views of Dr. Bowe’s TikToks – Given that this routine uses higher active products than some consumers are used to, these videos give advice on products and modifications to the routine to further reduce irritations.

Ingredients for effective skin cycling

Exfoliate

• TEGO® RenewHA Mandelic – an aromatic AHA with skin exfoliation benefits which promote a renewed skin appearance. It also has antibacterial benefits for reduction in appearance of skin blemishes.

Retinol

• ROVISOME® Retinol Moist Pro MB – a stabilized form of vitamin A that can effectively reduce the appearance of wrinkles without inducing skin irritation. It does not contain antioxidant stabilizers such as BHA and BHT.
• InuMax® Advanced Retinol – uses InuMax® technology, a patent-pending delivery system that presents retinol stability and also enables the bioavailability of retinol into the deeper layers of the skin to maximize anti-aging benefits.

Rest
Recover & Boost the ECM

• RHEASOME® CeraBoost – an innovative delivery system that improves skin barrier from within, and boost skin’s own ceramide production.
• SKINMIMICS® PRO MB – a synergistic and powerful combination of 7 different ceramides. It offers skin regeneration from within and an improved barrier function.
• HyaCare® 50 – a tight junction strengthening hyaluronic acid that fills wrinkles from the inside and reduces deep wrinkles as well as crow feet.
• HyaCare® Tremella – derived from the Tremella Fuciformis Sporocarp Mushroom, it is a naturally isolated Hyaluronic Acid that has proven moisturization and humectency properties.
• TEGO® Natural Madecassoside – a highly refined triterpenoid saponin from the Gotu kola plant. It improves collagen synthesis to enhance skin recovery and increases the natural moisture factors such as aquaporin-3 for skin calming effects.
• TEGO® Pep 4-17 MB – an ECM boosting peptide. This preservative-free solution shows superior collagen, hyaluronic acid, and fibronectin boosting activity.
• TEGO® Pep UP – is a biomimetic tetrapeptide that boosts collagen and ECM components. It also has a lifting effect and improves facial contouring.
• BeautiFerm Lift – is a natural ingredient obtained from fermentation of Pichia pastoris strain. This strain provides unique benefits due to its up-regulation of cellular activity. It restores skin firmness, elasticity, & texture.

Happy Cycling!

As the book written on The Science of Communicating Science explains, SciComm is “a variety of practices that transmit scientific ideas, methods, knowledge and research to non-expert audiences in an accessible, understandable or useful way.” And that is such a beautiful thing we in cosmetic chemistry get to share with our customer base. Consumers have dubbed themselves as “skintellectuals”, which is a cute way of saying they are taking the time to investigate the ingredients that go into their skin care products. In fact, 75% said they request more information from brands about product ingredients and benefits. Many consumers however have surface-level knowledge of those ingredients and how they will address their individual skin care needs. We at Azelis aim to help you align their needs with ingredients better suited through proper communication of the science behind them!

According to Businesswire, Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for Active Ingredients for Cosmetics is estimated at US$3.5 Billion in the year 2022 alone, and projected for $4.3 Billion by 2026, so we will start right there.

Let us break down the science of Actives and how they translate to efficacy, value, and trust from your consumers even while we face yet another recession; and how communicating the right things has the potential to lead to brand loyalty for you.

#skinimilism

As we address consumers’ hunger for simplicity, transparency and efficacy, or more directly put; the concern for stripping away ingredients that is the “Express Lane of Personal Care” dubbed clean beauty. We must actually address that minimalism or simplicity doesn’t mean ineffective, on the contrary, it relies more on the efficacy of the ingredients which are responsible for the claims that interest your consumers. 

The delivery of our messaging should be thorough while also being decipherable for everyone. This is important as we face the potential for more misinformation and hurdles in the digital age. As we already understand the complications of supply issues over the last several years, we should also understand that this is something that we are likely to continue facing. Ingredients that are engineered have previously gotten a bad rap, however, with the power of education, this can shift and lab-grown and fermented sources can move into a more key role and enhance more drastically the sustainability story of products.

Although it can be more challenging to combat the buzzwords and fast pace of social media, as they say, “Science is Science.” So, by enlightening and educating consumers on the methods of delivery, coupled with the ingredient origins (which is where a lot of the ingredient conversations took place over the last decade) it becomes second nature to define how claims become evident to the average consumer with the more than average appetite for research. When it comes to science, and sceptics there is nothing compared to the power of proof.

Delivery with Purpose; Make it Easier with Delivery Systems

Break into why delivery systems such as those highlighted below not only deliver the same functionality as the actives, with better stability and ease of formulating:

• Inumax
• Oxyforce
• AquaPront
• Rovisome
• Herbapurifine
• Procontour

Click here to request our one-pager actives science communication roadmap which connects the dots between trends, formulations, & ingredients!