For LYTA's Hyaluronic Acid Serum, the answer is damp skin. Press a few drops onto your face right after cleansing and put moisturizer on top immediately. With another brand's hyaluronic acid serum, go by its label, and if the label doesn't say whether it belongs on damp or dry skin, we'd use the same order. None of the studies below compared damp with dry.
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Hyaluronic acid serum on damp or dry skin, step by step
Its directions tie the serum to cleansing, not to a time of day, so our suggested order is the same morning and evening (retinol evenings aside).
- Cleanse. Massage Hydrating Facial Cleanser into damp skin, avoiding the eye area. Rinse with lukewarm water, then pat off the drips without drying your face completely.
- Toner, if you use one. Sweep Mild Toning Elixir on with a cotton pad or press it in with your palms, and go to the serum while your skin is still damp from it. It contains fragrance, so leave it out if fragrance bothers your skin.
- Serum. Press three drops of Hyaluronic Acid Serum onto your still-damp face (three is our starting point for "a few"). If your face has dried in the meantime, splash on a little lukewarm water and pat off the excess first. Its directions don't mention the eye area; for there, we make Active Eye Cream.
- Moisturizer, immediately. Smooth it over the serum before you do anything else, phone included. Pick Oil-Free Daily Moisturizer if you like a light, oil-free fluid, or Hyaluronic Moisturizer if you want a rich cream. The cream contains a green tea infused fragrant oil, so skip it if scented products bother your skin. Don't leave the serum bare on dry skin in a dry room; the directions warn against it without giving a reason.
- Sunscreen, in the morning. We don't sell sunscreen, so use your own. The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) advises picking one labeled broad-spectrum and water resistant, with SPF 30 or higher, and putting on a fresh layer about every two hours or after swimming or sweating.
Damp skin comes up in AAD advice too, for a different step. The academy's tips for relieving dry skin say to apply moisturizer while skin is still damp after a shower or bath. A separate AAD guide notes that moisturizer traps water in skin and can help reduce the appearance of fine lines. Both tips are about moisturizer. The damp step for our serum comes from its own directions.
What changes on retinol evenings
Collagen and Retinol Serum starts from the opposite place, a dry face after cleansing, and it's for evenings only. On the nights you use it, our plan leaves out Hyaluronic Acid Serum, which still goes on every morning as usual.
Start the retinol serum on two evenings a week. We'd make them Monday and Thursday and build up gradually from there, adding a third evening only after your skin has stayed comfortable for a couple of weeks (no stinging, no tightness, no flaking).
On those evenings, cleanse and pat your face completely dry. Smooth on the retinol serum, keeping clear of the eye area and the creases beside your nose, then seal it with moisturizer. Wear sunscreen every morning while you're using it.
If you're pregnant or breastfeeding, or trying to conceive, ask your doctor before starting a retinol product.
Putting moisturizer under the retinol as well as over it is called the retinol sandwich method, and our guide covers how we'd approach it with this serum.
If it stings or feels tacky
Don't push through stinging. Rinse with lukewarm water and stop whatever you added to your routine most recently. Pause Collagen and Retinol Serum as well, if you use it. Until your skin feels comfortable again, stick to a gentle cleanser such as Hydrating Facial Cleanser and a moisturizer your skin already gets along with.
We'd bring products back one at a time, a few days apart, with the retinol serum restarting at two evenings a week. Stinging or redness that hangs on, or comes back each time you restart, is your cue to see a board-certified dermatologist.
For serum that feels tacky or rolls into little bits under moisturizer, try one drop fewer next time and get the moisturizer on faster.
What two hyaluronic acid studies measured
Pavicic and colleagues (2011) describe hyaluronic acid as a well-known cosmetic ingredient "due to its strong water-binding potential." Their trial enrolled 76 women aged 30 to 60 with wrinkles around the eyes. For 60 days, a cream with 0.1% hyaluronic acid went on around one eye twice a day, and a placebo cream (the study calls it the vehicle) around the other.
Molecular weight describes how heavy a molecule is, and the study's creams ranged from 50 to 2000 kilodaltons (kDa). Every one significantly improved skin hydration and elasticity compared with the placebo side, while wrinkle depth improved significantly only with the low molecular weight creams, the 50 and 130 kDa versions.
Draelos and colleagues (2021) tested a hyaluronic acid serum on the faces of 40 women aged 30 to 65 for six weeks. They reported skin hydration, read with a corneometer (a skin moisture meter), up 134% right after application and 55% at week 6, plus improvement at week 6 in fine lines (31%) and wrinkles (14%). Colgate-Palmolive funded the study, and several authors were company employees.
Neither study tested our serum. We don't publish the concentration or molecular weight of its sodium hyaluronate (the form of hyaluronic acid on our ingredient list), so you can't match it to any cream in the Pavicic study. The whole ingredient list is short enough to read in one breath: aqua, butylene glycol, glycerin, phenoxyethanol, ethylhexylglycerin, sodium hyaluronate and xanthan gum.
Questions about hyaluronic acid serum
Can I use hyaluronic acid serum with retinol?
With LYTA's two serums, yes, at different times of day. Hyaluronic Acid Serum goes on damp skin; Collagen and Retinol Serum goes on a dry face after cleansing, evenings only, starting at two evenings a week and away from the eye area and the creases beside the nose. Our suggested routine keeps Hyaluronic Acid Serum for the morning on retinol days, under moisturizer and sunscreen. Collagen and Retinol Serum lists sodium hyaluronate among its ingredients too.
How many drops of hyaluronic acid serum should I use?
Three drops for the whole face is our rule of thumb with LYTA's Hyaluronic Acid Serum, pressed onto damp skin right after cleansing and sealed with moisturizer right away. Try two next time if your face still feels tacky once the moisturizer is on. With another brand's serum, use the amount its label gives, and if it gives none, three drops is where we'd start there too.
What if I put hyaluronic acid serum on dry skin?
Put moisturizer over it right away. LYTA's Hyaluronic Acid Serum is meant for damp skin after cleansing and shouldn't be left bare on dry skin in a dry room, so getting it covered is the priority. Next time your face dries before the serum step, rewet it with lukewarm water and blot it back to damp first.
Is hyaluronic acid serum good for dry skin?
It's on the American Academy of Dermatology's list of ingredients to look for when skin is dry, along with glycerin and shea butter, among others. LYTA's Hyaluronic Acid Serum contains glycerin and sodium hyaluronate, a form of hyaluronic acid, though we don't publish how much. Put it on damp skin and seal it with moisturizer right away. See a board-certified dermatologist if dryness doesn't settle.
Sources
- Pavicic T, Gauglitz GG, Lersch P, et al. Efficacy of cream-based novel formulations of hyaluronic acid of different molecular weights in anti-wrinkle treatment. Journal of Drugs in Dermatology, 2011.
- Draelos, Diaz, Namkoong, Wu, et al. Efficacy Evaluation of a Topical Hyaluronic Acid Serum in Facial Photoaging. Dermatology and Therapy, 2021.
- American Academy of Dermatology. Dermatologists' top tips for relieving dry skin.
- American Academy of Dermatology. How to maximize results from anti-aging skin care products.
- American Academy of Dermatology. Sunscreen FAQs.
