Glycolic acid is a type of
alpha-hydroxy acid (AHA), which is widely used in the cosmetic industry as an
exfoliant. Until recently, my usual
method of exfoliation has been the mechanical sort, where you use a scrub with
tiny spherical particles to remove the dead cells off your skin. This however,
always caused my skin redness to plummet to beetroot-like shades, and tiny
broken capillaries to appear on the sides of my cheeks. That was the reason why
I decided that I needed a new peeling method. As Ruth from ‘A model recommends’
swears by Alpha-H’s ‘Liquid Gold’ to keep her skin in top shape (and she has
wonderful skin!), I decided to try chemical exfoliation out.
‘Liquid Gold’ is a refining exfoliant
with glycolic acid, silk proteins, and licorice extract. It is a clear liquid that you are supposed to
apply on cleansed skin every alternate night, followed by your moisturizer, or
on its own for an intensive treatment. I
have just finished the bottle and unfortunately concluded that this product is
not suitable for my skin. It has caused localized break-outs every time I used
it (I stopped using it for a while to ascertain the cause of the break-outs,
and they were definitely due to the ‘Liquid Gold’). My complexion did brighten
overall but this could also be attributed to the fact that I was taking a
multi-vitamin supplement at the time. The application was easy, similar to the
way you apply a toner and I experienced tingling sensations afterwards.
As a final note, I asked Dr.
Schultz from 'DermTV' whether glycolic acid would be advised for those with
rosacea (I have mild inflammatory rosacea myself) and he replied that it should
be okay if one started slowly, from a concentration of 8% and less, so keep
this in mind if you decide to use glycolic acid and you also happen to have
rosacea.
