Introducing a cycling that isn’t torturous: skin cycling 🚴🏼‍♀️

Don’t fear, “skin cycling” is not a high-energy, sweat-inducing spin workout for the skin 🚴🏼‍♀️, it is actually quite the opposite of a regimen, one that builds in recovery nights 💤 for this skin through intermittent or alternating use of active ingredients.

The term was coined by a board-certified dermatologist, Whitney Bowe, MD, and took off as most things do now on TikTok. In fact, Whitney’s videos themself have garnered over 3M views, while posts that mention skin cycling have garnered 3.5B views, and the specific #skincycling rose to 271 Million views by Feb 2023 alone on the platform.

But what exactly is skin cycling you ask?

In its most basic of routines, skin cycling aims at simplifying and strengthening your skin barrier by applying only 3 highly effective products in a 4-day cycle. While all four days consist of applying product, 2 of the 4 are for “active recovery” which means instead of applying high or strong active-containing products, you apply a moisturizer, whether that be #slugging, an ointment, oil, or cream. The goal of these two rest days is to prevent irritation and inflammation.

So what are the actual benefits of the cycle? We’ve highlighted three:

1. It repairs your skin barrier, alleviating symptoms of acne, eczema, or atopic dermatitis.
2. May reduce product side effects and appeals to budget-conscious individuals seeking high-quality items.
3. Prevents skin dryness and protects against seasonal issues, improving existing skin conditions in cold, windy, or dry climates.

Cycle levels: establishing your baseline level

Newbie Cyclers: Over 18.5 million views of Dr. Bowe’s TikToks – Those new to skin cycling have flexibility to use less harsh ingredients or stagger the rest days in between active days or add a rest day.

Super Cyclers: Is targeted to more advanced skin cycling has 898.2k views of Dr. Bowe’s TikToks – Those who are experienced with using highly active products, can layer more active days on, or chose to add actives to their rest days. There are many suggestions to make this routine more useful for each user’s skin.

Sensitive Cyclers: 1.3m views of Dr. Bowe’s TikToks – Given that this routine uses higher active products than some consumers are used to, these videos give advice on products and modifications to the routine to further reduce irritations.

Ingredients for effective skin cycling

Exfoliate

• TEGO® RenewHA Mandelic – an aromatic AHA with skin exfoliation benefits which promote a renewed skin appearance. It also has antibacterial benefits for reduction in appearance of skin blemishes.

Retinol

• ROVISOME® Retinol Moist Pro MB – a stabilized form of vitamin A that can effectively reduce the appearance of wrinkles without inducing skin irritation. It does not contain antioxidant stabilizers such as BHA and BHT.
• InuMax® Advanced Retinol – uses InuMax® technology, a patent-pending delivery system that presents retinol stability and also enables the bioavailability of retinol into the deeper layers of the skin to maximize anti-aging benefits.

Rest
Recover & Boost the ECM

• RHEASOME® CeraBoost – an innovative delivery system that improves skin barrier from within, and boost skin’s own ceramide production.
• SKINMIMICS® PRO MB – a synergistic and powerful combination of 7 different ceramides. It offers skin regeneration from within and an improved barrier function.
• HyaCare® 50 – a tight junction strengthening hyaluronic acid that fills wrinkles from the inside and reduces deep wrinkles as well as crow feet.
• HyaCare® Tremella – derived from the Tremella Fuciformis Sporocarp Mushroom, it is a naturally isolated Hyaluronic Acid that has proven moisturization and humectency properties.
• TEGO® Natural Madecassoside – a highly refined triterpenoid saponin from the Gotu kola plant. It improves collagen synthesis to enhance skin recovery and increases the natural moisture factors such as aquaporin-3 for skin calming effects.
• TEGO® Pep 4-17 MB – an ECM boosting peptide. This preservative-free solution shows superior collagen, hyaluronic acid, and fibronectin boosting activity.
• TEGO® Pep UP – is a biomimetic tetrapeptide that boosts collagen and ECM components. It also has a lifting effect and improves facial contouring.
• BeautiFerm Lift – is a natural ingredient obtained from fermentation of Pichia pastoris strain. This strain provides unique benefits due to its up-regulation of cellular activity. It restores skin firmness, elasticity, & texture.

Happy Cycling! 🚴‍♀️