Niacinamide: when a fashionable ingredient happens to be a good ingredient.
What do we know about niacinamide? Lots.
Figure. Niacinamide.
Other names: nicotinamide, 3-pyridinecarboxamide, nicotinic acid amide, vitamin PP, nicotinic amide, vitamin B3
From my glossary:
Vitamin, skin brightener
Niacinamide (vitamin B3) benefits skin color and decreases melanin synthesis (important for hyperpigmentation); decreases inflammation, itching (pruritus) and UV-induced skin cancers, and prevents immunosuppression by UV irradiation. By increasing NADPH, the donor of reducing power in cell biosynthesis, niacinamide will increase synthesis of collagen, involucrin, filaggrin, and keratin.
Niacinamide is one of the components of NADPH (reduced niacinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate) the coenzyme that provides the reducing power required to build new molecules in the human body. Niacinamide and niacin are not synthesized in the human body and therefore must be supplied externally (this is why we call niacin a vitamin), either through the diet or through topical application (or even better, both).
Niacinamide is also part of NAD (like NADP but without the extra phosphate), the molecule that is wherever carbohydrates and other foodstuffs are oxidized (respired) to make energy. Even when following a normal healthy diet, topical application of niacinamide will result in increased synthesis of collagen, keratin, involucrin and filaggrin. Topical application of niacinamide will decrease pruritus and inflammation, help acne-affected skin, decrease oiliness, alleviate atopic dermatitis, decrease UV-induced skin cancers and help decrease facial pigmentation. These are just a few of the beneficial effects of topical application of niacinamide to the skin, and it would be suspicious that there are so many were it not for the crucial role of this chemical in human metabolism.
What do we have here? A chemical that we need and can’t make (a vitamin), with so many benefits to the skin that new applications are found every day. You can’t lose.
Because of niacinamide benefits, it appears in many of our products. As usual, you don’t need high concentrations because we don’t need niacinamide in high concentrations and because once you start using too much of anything you can expect the unexpected. Also, at Skin Actives, we don’t need to use high concentrations of most actives because we use the synergy between them to obtain the best results with lower concentrations.
Skin Actives products that contain niacinamide:
For DIY: pure niacinamide
In the enzymatic exfoliation powder
…and many more
Claims on this page have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent any disease.