What Does Niacinamide Do: 5 Niacinamide Benefits
You may have heard about niacinamide – a common skincare ingredient – but what is it, and what does it do, exactly? In this article, we’ll look at the benefits of niacinamide skincare, explore how it can help you and your skin and find out how you can incorporate the vitamin into your skincare routine.
What is niacinamide?
Niacinamide is a water-soluble vitamin. You might know it as vitamin B3, while it’s also sometimes called nicotinamide. It works alongside the natural substances that are already in your skin and has anti-ageing properties. It’s found in a variety of foods, from meat and fish to vegetables and eggs, while it’s also used in skincare products.
Niacinamide benefits: What does niacinamide do?
1. Helps skin retain moisture
Niacinamide helps the skin grow a lipid barrier, retaining more moisture. While this is beneficial for all skin types, it’s particularly helpful for people with mature skin or eczema.
2. Minimises the appearance of large pores
Niacinamide helps to keep your skin smooth and moisturised, which can lead to the size of your pores decreasing over time.
3. Regulates oil production
As well as retaining moisture, niacinamide helps to regulate the amount of oil produced by your sebaceous glands, making sure they don’t produce too much and give you oily skin.
4. Helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines
Another benefit of niacinamide is that it can reduce signs of ageing like fine lines and wrinkles, when used over a longer period of time.
5. Helps build keratin in the skin
Keratin is a protein that helps to keep skin, hair, and nails strong and healthy. While our bodies produce keratin naturally, niacinamide helps to build it up. As we age, our bodies tend to produce less keratin, making niacinamide a valuable ingredient in anti-ageing skincare products.
How to use niacinamide
Fortunately, if you’re wondering how to use niacinamide, it’s simple. You’ll find it in a range of skincare products alongside other helpful ingredients. You can apply leave-on products to cleansed skin or try treatments that target particular skin concerns like large pores or bumps.
There are niacinamide products that specifically target the eyes too. These products can help address circles under the eye, loss of firmness, and crow’s feet.
While it can vary from product to product, you might expect to see results from two to four weeks after using niacinamide skincare twice a day, but ongoing use is best if you want to see continued improvement.
Niacinamide in face serums
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