November 11, 2021
NewsDon’t worry. Microdosing isn’t as scary as it sounds. In fact, it can give your skin a healthy kick and turbo-charge your skin’s recovery. Grab a pen and take some notes, we’re giving you a full rundown of this new skincare trend that everyone is talking about.
If you’re someone who has a consistent skincare routine, the chances are that you are familiar with active ingredients. In fact, it’s likely that you’ve overdone it at least once. It’s easy to get carried away with your active ingredients. Like most things in life, it’s possible to have too much of a good thing. Most of us simply want to achieve healthy, glowing skin and assume that using more active ingredients is the easiest way of getting there.
Like another popular philosophy, good things come to those who wait. Patience is key to getting results from your skincare routine. You can’t simply layer dozens of active ingredients in the hopes of speeding up the process. Everyone has to wait. In fact, using too many active ingredients can do more harm than good. Certain active ingredients don’t mix well together and can lead to acne, dryness, redness, and irritation, amongst dozens of other side effects.
It’s this tendency to overcomplicate skincare and active ingredients in particular that has led to the “microdosing” trend becoming one of the biggest buzzwords in the industry right now. If skinimalism has taught us anything, it’s that adopting a simpler approach can transform your skin and give you the results that you want.
The popularity of microdosing comes from its ability to give you both short and long-term results that make a visible difference to the condition of your skin. We’re taking a look at what microdosing is and everything you need to know to be able to incorporate them into your routine. It’s a unique innovation that offers something for every skincare user.
While microdosing is becoming a growing trend within the industry, it’s not a new phenomenon. When you hear the word ‘microdosing’, chances are you’re thinking of psychedelic drugs like LSD. What microdosing does is use smaller micrograms of the substance, giving the user the focus and mental health benefits without the ‘high’ side effects that come with a larger amount of the substance being used. The concept of microdosing has been around in the healthcare sphere for decades but has finally made its way into the beauty and skincare industry.
The concept of microdosing with skincare ingredients is to avoid using high concentrations that can cause irritation. Microdosing is using a lower percentage, usually around one-tenth of the concentration, and applying it regularly. Using a microdosing amount means that your skin can grow its tolerance and maintain its protective barrier, while getting the benefits of the ingredients to create a healthy, dewy glow. With microdosing, you can use active ingredients daily instead of every few days. You get all the benefits with the ease of using a lower concentration. If you have sensitive skin, microdosing might be the answer to all your problems.
The beauty industry is looking at microdosing as a therapeutic way of helping you incorporate valuable but easy-to-oversee ingredients. These types of active ingredients include vitamin C, exfoliating acids, and retinoids. These active ingredients can be a game changer for your routine but it’s easy to go overboard and have an adverse reaction to them. They’re also notorious for being difficult to layer with other active ingredients.
By microdosing instead of jumping off at the deep end, you can avoid the adverse side effects of using active ingredients, such as redness, irritation, and flaking. Microdosing allows you to slowly build up your skin’s tolerance to the active ingredient to prevent side effects and irritation.
While you might start slowly with a normal product, it’s easy to become overly zealous and go overboard with a high-strength concentration that ends in chaos for your skin. Your skin can only take a certain level and concentration of an active ingredient before it starts to become inflamed in response. This response is the opposite of what you want from your active ingredients.
You want to see your skincare routine as something that develops slowly over time. Slow and steady wins the race. If you want long-lasting results and a visible improvement in your skin, you need to be committed and consistent with your routine.
If you speak to any dermatologist or skincare expert, they’ll all tell you the same thing. You’ll get the best results when you’re consistent with your skincare routine. The issue comes with active ingredients that you’re not using every day. It’s easy to forget about the retinoid that you’re meant to be applying twice a week. It means you end up forgetting to use it and your skin doesn’t build up the tolerance it needs.
Instead, if you use a lower strength of the active ingredient every day, it’s easier for you to create a regular and consistent routine. You can’t keep stopping and starting with an active ingredient, as it won’t give you the results you want. If you’re not consistent and keep trying to re-start with the active ingredient, your skin can end up in a worse state than when you started using the ingredient.
Never fear. You don’t need to go and see a dermatologist or pay a top tier price to try microdosing. Like anything, beauty brands are evolving to meet the growing demand for microdosing, making it more accessible and easier to use.
The brand Skin + Me offers a skincare subscription service that links you to dermatologist, giving you a tailored service that allows a specialist to prescribe you with the most suitable active ingredients for your skin type at a lower percentage. Boosters are another similar product to micro-dosing and are designed to be used alone or added to your moisturizer as a low-percentage way of getting active ingredients into your routine.
Another brand that has come out with a microdosing product is ‘Spectacle Skincare’. Their newly released Performance Crème works with a microdose of vitamin C, encapsulated retinaldehyde, and poly hydroxy acids all rolled into one formula. It also gives your skin a consistent dose of vitamin A, allowing your skin to get the most out of anti-inflammatory antioxidants and ingredients that help to stimulate your collagen and elastin production. If you’re a fan of skinimalism or want an easy to use skincare routine, this style of microdosing product is for you.
Every skin type could do with incorporating microdosing into their skincare routine. If you have sensitive skin or one that’s prone to irritation and reactions, you want to pay extra attention to the benefits of micro-dosing. It can be the best – and in some cases, only – way of getting certain active ingredients into your skin.
You don’t need to go overkill with high doses of active ingredients like retinol to see their benefits. Microdosing gives you the same benefits, without irritating your skin or causes more problems than you already have.
One of the main selling points of microdosing is that it offers something for everyone. Are you new to the world of active ingredients? Start with microdosing. Do you have sensitive skin? Try microdosing. Are you trying to find out what works for your skin? Bingo. It’s microdosing.
One thing you want to consider is that not every ingredient is suitable as a microdose. While we can expect the industry to jump on the microdosing trend and try to incorporate it into every product, there’s some that you can’t just microdose. SPF is the perfect example of this. Your skin needs at least SPF30 protection every day with a teaspoon-sized amount of sunscreen on your face.
Make a list of the active ingredients that you want to add to your routine, then set off in search of the microdose version of it. These microdosing products can be incorporated into your routine after cleansing and toning, before finishing off with a moisturizer to lock in the active ingredients and offer all-day hydration.
It’s that easy. With microdosing, active ingredients are more accessible and easier to use than ever before.
What do you think of the microdosing trend? Is it something you would consider adding to your routine? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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