Beauty Blog

Alpha hydroxy acids and beta hydroxy acids are both exfoliants. Two common AHAs are glycolic acid and lactic acid, which are great for the fight against aging. Salicylic acid is a BHA and is best for decreasing inflammation. Remember in college when you got a pimple and put a crushed up aspirin (aka acetylSALICYLIC ACID) on it? Am I dating myself? Anyway, you were attempting to use acetylsalicylic acid as salicylic acid, a BHA. Cool, huh? Well, both AHAs and BHAs exfoliate the skin (read: remove old, dead skin cells and bring new ones to the surface). This, in turn, leads to decreased inflammation and pore size, diminished fine lines, improved skin texture and tone and unclogging of pores! Yay! BHAs generally penetrate deeper than AHAs and are better for acne and sun damage. You can use these wonderful hydroxy acids individually, combined or alternating, and can find them in daily skincare products as well as in stronger, physician-administered chemical peels. We offer both with our SkinCeuticals line at Gilded. But don’t forget that whenever you exfoliate, you become more sensitive to the sun, so remember to (AS ALWAYS) wear your SPF!