Reveal even, smoother, glowing skin with this 5% Lactic Acid + Hyaluronic Acid Exfoliating Serum formulation. Gentle AHA lactic acid offers mild chemical exfoliation, backed up with a blend of skin-soothing and hydrating actives to reduce inflammation potential and keep your skin hydrated and happy. I’ve had a ton of requests for AHA (alpha hydroxy acid) formulations over the years, and today I’m finally sharing one—I hope you like it! Show
 Want to watch this project instead of read it?Watch Now To start with: this is not a beginner formulation. Stirring the ingredients together isn’t challenging, but you need to be comfortable testing and adjusting pH to a fairly precise level to make this. This isn’t a particularly hard skill, but it takes practice, and if you’re a brand new maker I know it can seem intimidating. You’ll also need a digital pH meter, which is not an insubstantial investment. If purchasing a pH meter and pH testing/adjusting seems daunting to you right now, no worries! File this one away for the future, when you’ve got a bit more experience and have the budget for a digital pH meter. In the meantime, the 5% Lactic Acid product The Ordinary makes is lovely and inexpensive 😊 The AHA used in this formulation is lactic acid. Lactic acid is a naturally occurring part of our skin’s natural moisturizing factors, and is generally considered to be one of the gentlest AHAs. You’ll also find lactic acid in milk, but the stuff we use in cosmetics is synthesized and vegan. My lactic acid is a 90% solution from Voyageur Soap and Candle Co.; it looks like they’ve changed what they sell since I purchased mine as they now only have 88% lactic acid. If your solution is 88% instead of 90% you’ll need to use a bit more to keep the final percentage of lactic acid at 5%; I’ve included precise numbers in the Substitutions list at the end of the formulation. Alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) are, as you might’ve guessed, acidic! Even low concentrations will cause the pH of our formulations to become very acidic, so in order to prevent skin damage and irritation we need to raise the pH with a base. The CIR stipulates the pH of AHA products should be above 3.5, while the pKa values for lactic acid and glycolic acid mean a pH around 3.8 is best for formulations made with those acids for the optimal balance between efficacy and irritation potential (read this article from Lab Muffin to learn more!). Sodium hydroxide (NaOH, also referred to as lye) is the industry standard ingredient for increasing pH; you’ll find it on all kinds of ingredient lists for AHA products (Examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). It can be surprisingly high up the ingredient list! To use NaOH to raise pH you’ll want to create a 10% solution of it (remember your gloves and eye protection!) by mixing 1 part NaOH and 9 parts distilled water (by weight). I typically create 10–20g at time as you don’t want to keep this solution around too long or the pH will drift upwards. I’ve included 1% of a 10% NaOH solution in the formulation to kick-start raising the pH, but you’ll need more. Precisely how much more will vary with the pH of your distilled water and if you make any other changes to the formulation. Determining that precise amount is the tricky part of this formulation. If you’d like detailed guidance on this, I’ve created an exclusive video for my $10 and up patrons that goes through pH testing and adjusting step-by-step. To improve skin feel and reduce the chances of accidental over-application, I’ve included two thickening ingredients in this formulation: soft xanthan gum and polyquaternium 10 (which has a Humblebee & Me DIY Encyclopedia entry now!). They give the formula a rich, substantial feel that I really like. When you first mix everything up you will probably think “what the heck Marie? Why are we making face jelly?!”—but no worries! The viscosity drops to a much more, err, palatable level when we raise the pH of the formula. I wondered if this was soley due to the addition of the extra water in the NaOH solution so I tried a version where I added straight NaOH instead of the solution (which was a pain in the backside—I don’t recommend it!) and the viscosity still dropped. Save 20% on soft xanthan gum and everything else at Formulator Sample Shop with coupon code HUMBLEBEE Because acids have the potential to be irritating to the skin, I’ve included two skin-soothing ingredients: panthenol (vitamin B5) and allantoin. I was inspired to include some ingredients with anti-irritation properties by The Ordinary; their acid formulations include a Tasmanian pepperberry extract to head off potential irritation and sensitivity. If you are new to including AHAs in your skincare routine, please start slow. I’d start with using this serum ~3x a week, gradually working up to daily use. Pay attention to your skin, looking for signs of irritation. More is not necessarily better! As AHAs make your skin more sensitive to the sun, you must make sure you’re wearing a good sunscreen, even on days when you haven’t used the serum. This article from Lab Muffin mentions a study that found skin sensitivity took a week to return to normal after using a 10% glycolic acid product, so while I encourage daily sunscreen use regardless of AHA use, you’ll want to be extra diligent when you’re using AHAs and for a week afterwards if you stop using ’em. If you’re looking for a great sunscreen, I highly recommend checking out Japanese and Korean sunscreens. They are so much lighter than the sunscreens I’m used to buying in Canada, and they work a whole lot better to boot. Reddit’s Skincare Addiction has annual “holy grail” threads on sunscreen where you can find tons of recommendations. I really like the Biore UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence SPF40+ PA+++ 😄 Read this: Why Homemade Sunscreen is Never a Good Idea Want to watch this project instead of read it?Watch Now Relevant links & further reading
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Can i use lactic acid and hyaluronic acid together
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