Maria from WIMJ
2 years ago

Thoughts on Skin Cycling

I'll be frank: "Skin cycling" is a hype. It is also a campaign with a purpose of promoting the product line of the dermatologist who came up with it. Notice that the term "Skin Cycling" is trademarked.

(Don't get me started on the analogy between muscle training and skincare. Skin isn't a muscle. It doesn't benefit from the "high-intensity"- "recover" cycle. Muscles grow stronger after getting mirco-tears from exercise. Skin doesn't get better or more resilient if we disrupt the skin barrier on one day, and let it recover on the second. We should avoid disrupting the barrier in the first place).

It does not mean that the method is all bad though. There is just no more to it than "Take care of your skin barrier. Don't over-exfoliate. Avoid irritation from strong actives". If the idea of the cycle helps you to keep a consistent routine and avoid irritation, it's great!

What worries me is that the method makes you feel like "the exfoliation day" is a must. In reality, there is a trade-off between using a retinoid and exfoliation. The more often you use retinol, the less you need to exfoliate. And, the more often you exfoliate, the less tolerance to a retinoid you'll have. Many people do not need to exfoliate at all when they are using a daily retinoid. Retinoids speed up the cell turnover anyway. If you are choosing between an exfoliation day or a more regular retinoid application, go for the retinoid.

If you choose to exfoliate, it's not a bad idea to skip the retinoid on that day. But don't exfoliate if your skin feels irritated from a retinoid.

The rest days are not a must either. You can use your retinoid product daily without an issue (after the "retinoid-initiation" period where you use it only a couple times a week increasing the frequency slowly). Still, if your skin feels sensitive, rest days are a great idea. But then definitely skip the exfoliation.

Also, avoid going "all-in" on your retinoid & exfoliation days. Do not choose a higher concentration of the actives just because you are planning a rest period afterwards.

And remember that, beyond avoiding over-exfoliation, there are 3 important parts to keeping your skin barrier strong and healthy:

- gentle and not too frequent cleansing

- avoiding unnecessary irritants in skincare (in your AM, PM routine, and on the "rest days" if you follow the cycling method)

- daily moisturization with a product with humectants & emollients / occlusives.

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I love this post

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Very happy if it's helpful! 😊

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amazing , learning so much .Sending loads of love

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Thank you Saira ❤️

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I get so confused about exfoliation. I’ve tried to read about it and read that you should exfoliate once or twice a week and that it helps your retinoid penetrate more deeply. No?

Also, Whitney Bowe, who developed skin cycling doesn’t push her own products. In fact she often shows different brands in her videos. She just says it’s helped her patients get better results.

I’m not sure.

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Yes, definitely agree that the method can help avoid irritation and there is definitely nothing wrong with giving your skin rest days. But is it any better than using a retinoid on Mon, Wed, Thur & Saturday, and exfoliating on Sunday? Probably not. Would you get better results if you are able to tolerate a retinoid daily and not exfoliate at all? Probably yes.

It is true that if your upper skin layer is thinner, retinoids (and other ingredients some of which can be irritating) will penetrate the skin easier. But it also means that the risk of irritation is higher... So there is actually not much more behind the idea than simply don't over-exfoliate and be careful with strong actives.

The other problem with the method is more on the behavioural side. Skincare is part of a routine (and it's a good thing). Ideally, it is simple and consistent, so you form a habit. It is hard to form a habit with counting the days (is it an exfoliation day or a rest day today?). So in a way it is adding complexity where it's not necessary.

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And quoting from Dr. Bowe's website: "The concept is very intuitive. Your muscles need recovery days, your mind needs recovery days, so it makes sense that your skin also benefits from recovery days. Think about it, if you are trying to build strength in a particular muscle group, say your leg muscles, you don’t just load those muscles every single day with heavy weights, that leads to injury, not strength. You may focus on your upper body one day, and your lower body the next, deliberately building in time for those muscle fibers to repair and grow stronger between sessions..." - This analogy is so wrong. Muscles and skin are very different! If you "load your muscles" 2x a week with max weights, your muscles will get stronger. If you "load your skin" with an active that messes up your skin barrier 2x a week, your skin won't get "stronger", even with the rest periods. It would just go through 2 avoidable inflammation cycles.

Of course, there are therapy methods where the skin is treated with strong peels or lasers, but it's done under a derm supervision and for specific cases (like the need for a serious skin resurfacing to reduce scars or pigmentation). And it is not part of a regular skincare routine.

I know Dr. Bowe is using this analogy to promote rest days rather than "heavy loads", but once you adopt this intuitive concept. it's hard not to use it the other way (as in "Let me get a higher % retinoid or peel, I'll let my skin recover on the rest days".)

I think the best part of the method is the rest day(s) and the idea that it's ok to simply moisturize your skin, and not use actives every single day. Exfoliate-retinoid sequence can work well for some people, but many others would benefit more from a retinoid-azelaic acid sequence instead...

And just to illustrate the complexity that comes with the method, another quote from Dr. Bowe website: "If you’re new to powerful actives such as AHA, PHA, BHA, or retinoids, introduce new products one at a time. Nights 1 and 2 are what I like to call “push” nights. So, start with one “push” night followed by 3 recovery nights. The cadence would look like this: Exfoliation night, recover x 3, exfoliation night, recover x 3. Try this for 2-3 weeks. If you find that your skin is doing well..., then add the retinoid night and begin to follow the classic 4 night Skin Cycling™ method." This is basically saying exfoliate 1.5x per week for the first 3 weeks. Is 1.5x really so much better than 1x per week and worth all the day tracking?.. It's great if it works for people, of course! but if it feels a little complex, it's because it is...

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Thank you so much for your reply! Definitely food for thought! 😘 I appreciate you sharing all of that.

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Love love this post! Thank you

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Thank you so much.

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It's great if the skin cycling system helps people reduce irritation from their skincare routines. The trend is new, but the system itself is really not: it’s simply a different way of saying, exfoliate once to twice weekly, and use a retinol twice a week 😊. What we love about the trend though is that it is a great way to maintain a consistent skin care routine—which gets the best results. Our resident aesthetician Jenna recorded her take on the trend in a short video - check it out here!

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Such a useful post Maria! I was in between: should I increase the use of adaplane to every night or instead add a new active (mandelic or azelaic acid). I have sensitive skin and slowly managed to increase adapalene use to every other night so I don’t want to risk any irritation.

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Thank you Ditty!

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