Can Skin Get Used to Skincare Products

A viewer asked:

A friend of mine says she changes her regimen every few months, in order to avoid her skin 'getting used to' the products she's using which she said, causes them to be less effective on the skin. I’m not referring to adjusting your skin care regimen to certain seasonal changes. Is this true?

Hmmmm… Very interesting! And by the way, I get this question quite often.

So, what do you think?

I have good news!

It’s very unusual for your skin to “get used to” the beneficial effects of skincare products.

When the active ingredients in your products are giving you the results and improvement you want, there’s no reason for the active ingredients in that product to stop giving you the same result… Unless, of course, the condition you’re treating changes. So whether it’s a cleanser, toner, exfoliant, moisturizer, sunscreen… If it’s not broken, don’t fix it!

Now, as the viewer did allude to, there are seasonal changes in vehicles that should be made twice a year… for example, in the winter, you may need to switch your glycolic exfoliating serum to a cream… but there’s no reason to change the active as long as it’s working… which in this example is the glycolic.

However, I started by saying it’s VERY unusual for your skin to “get used to” the beneficial effects of skincare products… and I stressed beneficial…

So here comes the “Ol’ DermTV trick”…

While your skin doesn’t get used to the beneficial effects of skincare products, it can get used to and even eventually accommodate some of the potentially irritating effects of some products, for example, exfoliants. That’s why I start my patients on my 8% glycolic product nightly and after a month, add a 10% product on alternate nights, and… then a month later, replace the 8% glycolic with a 15%. That way, it enables your skin to gradually adjust to the potential irritancy of the exfoliants.

But… There is one exception to your not getting used to the beneficial effects of products… And I’ll send a BeautyRx product to the first three viewers who can tell me both which type of product it is and how to prevent it. For the answer, be sure to watch next week’s episodes. But here’s a hint: it may be a skincare product, or a nail care or even a hair care product.