Think of it like this – if we do the same workout every day for our body, it stops becoming effective and if we don’t give our bodies a rest day we end up doing a lot more damage, which is why a spin class or interval training has become the rage and similarly, instead of applying the same skin products every single day, skin cycling believes in mixing it up. It works with a couple of actives applied on consecutive nights, followed by rest days where the focus is on hydration and barrier repair – a simple but effective trend, which explains its rising popularity and the buzz it has created on TikTok.
In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Prerna Sikka, Dermatologist and Cosmetologist at Dr. Karishma’s Aesthetics, explained, “It is indeed a non-invasive way to improve skin’s natural collagen production by application of active ingredients only on certain days, and following them up with so-called “rest” days. Yes, it is a social media trend. Still, it requires an expert recommendation for choosing the active ingredients, as the products must be FDA-approved. It is designed to give your skin a break from too many products and treatments and is usually performed over a period of four nights. There is usually no downtime or side effects of skin cycling if followed correctly.”
Talking about the skin cycling night rituals, she revealed it involves the following sequence:
• Night one is for gentle scrubbing of the skin using chemical exfoliants
• Night two is for retinoid application (must be dermatologically approved)
• Night three is for hydration and moisture
• Night four is also recovery, focusing again on hydration and barrier repair
• Repeat
Skin cycling is a simple but effective procedure that leaves your skin feeling softer and helps diminish early signs of aging, such as fine lines and wrinkles. Dr Prerna Sikka advised, “If you want great results, you can combine them with different types of in-clinic treatments such as Microneedling radio frequency, chemical peels, Q-switched lasers, medi facials, LED, etc.”
Elaborating upon the same, Dr Nishita Ranka, Dermatologist, Medical Director and Founder of Dr. Nishita’a Clinic for Skin, Hair and Aesthetics, said, “Skin cycling is the latest trend in skincare, this is nothing but the 4-day skincare routine where, on Day 1, you apply and exfoliate the skin, in your nighttime skincare routine, this could be a glycolic acid or salicylic acid which is your AHA or BHA so you apply the exfoliating agent on day 1 and then on Day 2 in the nighttime routine you apply retinoid on the face, of course in this weather it is important to be careful around the retinoid if you are suffering from dry skin or you are in a region that is very dry, the climate is dry. Make sure you apply moisturizer before you apply retinoid and avoid around the eyes and the mouth and if there is too much dryness you can also top it up with another layer of moisturizer. So night 2 will comprise a retinoid in this trend of skin cycling and to be careful it is better to sandwich the retinoid between two layers of moisturizer.”
She added, “Night 3 and Night 4 are repair days so you do not apply any active ingredients on the skin on these days and just use hydrating ingredients like ceramide, hyaluronic acid, and niacinamide which could soothe the skin down, because you have used two nights continuously some active ingredients, so 2 nights are rest days and this 4-day cycle is again repeated. So after the 2 nights of rest, you again apply the AHA BHA on the next night followed by the retinoid and this is, in fact, a great trend for people who are overdoing active ingredients or landing up with irritation on their skin. And especially in winter it helps the skin break so that your barrier can be repaired since the retinoid and AHA and BHA can damage the skin barrier when used excessively. so you give the skin time to repair itself, the barrier repairs itself and then you apply the active ingredient again. I feel like this is a great trend especially to begin on any active ingredient so if you are a person who is not used to retinoids maybe use retinoids only once in four days instead of using them every day or every alternate day, that way your skin gets time to adjust to activities.”
