Your Guide to HA: What is Hyaluronic Acid and How Does It Work?

Posted by Nikki Wisher on Nov 29th 2022

If you’ve been reading up on skin care, you’ve probably noticed that you’re hearing a lot about hyaluronic acid. It has been a staple in the skin care and aesthetics world for decades, but what exactly is it and how can it make a difference in your skin’s health and appearance? Settle in because I have everything you want to know about hyaluronic acid and how to use it to get a youthful glow.

What Is Hyaluronic Acid?

Hyaluronic acid, or HA as it’s called for short, is actually a substance that your body naturally produces. You have hyaluronic acid in many organs and areas of your body, including your joints, eyes, and skin.

HA is incredibly versatile. It works excellently for retaining water and for lubrication. Your body uses it for functions like helping your joints to operate smoothly and keeping necessary hydration within your skin.

How Does Hyaluronic Acid Work for Your Skin?

As skilled as your body might be at using the hyaluronic acid it naturally produces, skin care specialists and manufacturers have found new ways to harness HA’s exceptional abilities by applying it to your skin topically. When it’s used properly, hyaluronic acid can do your skin several favors.

Skin Hydration

The most common use of HA is for hydrating your skin because, in that department, it’s an unparalleled powerhouse. Hyaluronic acid retains water incredibly well. When you apply it to your skin topically, it boosts your skin’s hydration and helps to keep it moisturized.

Fun fact: hydrated skin looks younger, too, because the moisture plumps up the skin, which makes fine lines and wrinkles less visible. That’s part of the reason you will often find HA in anti-aging skin care products.

Skin Flexibility

Hydration isn’t the only reason hyaluronic acid is so effective for helping your skin look younger. HA has also been found to contribute to your skin’s flexibility.

Why does this matter? Let’s look at the way your skin sags as you get older. When you’re young, your skin has specialized proteins that make it firm and flexible, helping your skin to withstand the effects of gravity and stay lifted and taut. As you age, your body produces less of those proteins, causing your skin to be less flexible and, as a result, less able to stand up against gravity. Progressively, gravity has more and more of a hold on your skin, pulling it down and leading to sagging and wrinkles.

The more flexible your skin is, the more resilient it is against gravity and the repetitive movements that cause other lines and wrinkles. Hyaluronic acid can help you retail some of that flexibility.

Wound Healing

Hyaluronic acid’s moisturizing and anti-aging powers are exciting enough, but it helps with another key task for your skin too: wound healing. When your skin has plenty of hyaluronic acid, wounds heal more smoothly, quickly, and seamlessly. As a result, you have a lower risk of developing scars.

How to Get the Advantages of Hyaluronic Acid for Your Skin

At this point, you’re probably thinking, “I’d love to take advantage of everything hyaluronic acid has to offer for my skin. What’s the best way to do that?” Well, you’re in luck. Because of HA’s versatility, countless skin care brands have used it to enhance their products. There are a few top ways to put hyaluronic acid to use.

Use a Hyaluronic Acid Serum

Hyaluronic acid generally has the strongest impact when it can reach the deeper layers of your skin. That is what serums have to offer because they use smaller sizes of particles compared to many other types of skin care products. You can add a hyaluronic acid serum into your skin care routine after your cleanser but before your cream or moisturizer. Try these:

Use a Moisturizer with Hyaluronic Acid

HA is best known for its moisturizing capabilities, so it should come as no surprise that it’s a common ingredient in effective moisturizers. Because hyaluronic acid doesn’t make your skin sensitive to sunlight, it can be used in both daytime and nighttime moisturizers. Try these popular favorites:

Use a Hyaluronic Acid Product for a Specific Area

You’ll find hyaluronic acid in plenty of skin care products that are designed for full face use. If you have a specific area you really want to focus on, though, there are more specialized HA products out there too. For example, there are eye creams with hyaluronic acid to rejuvenate the area around your eyes, as well as lip products with HA to amplify your lip hydration. Try these specialty products:

All Your Hyaluronic Acid Favorites in One Place

Whether you just want to dip your toe in the pool and try your first product with hyaluronic acid or restock your skin care routine with HA products, Skin Elite has everything you need. Browse our products, find the hyaluronic acid that suits your skin best, and start getting that luscious glow.