The All New Differin Dark Spot Corrector. What do you mean all new, this has been around for
a while now. Yes, it has, but the formulation used to have 2% hydroquinone, remember? Under the
2020 Cares Act, hydroquinone became prescription only. So this is the new reformulated version,
which has 4% niacinamide. But the real question is, is it any good? I'm going
to dive deep into the dark spot correcting formula of this product, go over niacinamide,
some of the products other key ingredients, test it out, as well as explain how to use it and
combine it with other ingredients in order to get the best results. So you dont want to miss this.
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Now differin is a really popular brand here in the US. Arguably one of their most sought after
products was their adapalene gel, for those who wanted to get an alternative to tretinoin, and
wanted a product that was more stable. Largely, thanks to its, 3 aromatic rings right here. And I
did make a video on a while back, if you wanted to recap on it, you can watch that here.. This time
its on a new formulation, a dark spot correcting serum containing 4% niacinamide. Which I've left
a link to pick one up down below. But what about this product exactly makes it stand out. Why did
they choose to use niacinamide over something else like a vitamin c serum. Well lets take a look at
one of my favorite diagrams, that I think really paints this picture clear. We have our melanocyte
here right, which are your skin cells that make pigment and give you those dark spots. And on
the left we have, different things that cause hyperpigmentation and dark spots, things like:
solar radiation, irritation, hormones to name a few right. When they make contact to our skin,
tyrosinase gene expression takes place. That's where you can stop that with retinoids. Then
glycosylation occurs, which is fancy for a sugar getting added on to change the molecule to make it
activated tyrosinase. This is where you have your tyrosinase inhibitors to come in and block them
to stop this pathway. Some of which you are very familiar with. Your azelaic acid, hydroquinone,
Kojic acid- which is favorite of mine, arbutin and vitamin c. Next what ends up happening,
if the pathway continues. Your melanin gets packed into melanosomes. Which are
those tiny organelles inside the melanocyte that synthesizes the pigment. And the the melanosomes
start to move into the keratinocytes, which is your typical basic skin cell. And here's
what I want you to pay attention to. The melanosome transfer. Niacinamide comes in,
as the last part of this pathway and says, yeah, I get you've done all that hard work. Now I'm going
to come in and block your melanosome transfer, so you cant give my face any more pigment. And
we have data to support that. “Niacinamide is an effective skin lightening compound
that works by inhibiting melanosome transfer from melanocytes to keratinocytes. Exactly
what the diagram depicted. And that's not the only thing niacinamide does. Given a sufficient
bioavailability, niacinamide has antipruritic, antimicrobial, vasoactive, photo-protective,
sebostatic and lightening effects depending on its concentration. And i know you might be
thinking. Is 4% even enough to get any results. The ordinary uses niacinamide 10%. Why not
just go with that one. The reality is a higher concentration doesnt always mean better results.
For some niacinamides over 5% spike histamine levels causing allergic reactions. Plus one of
the major problems with higher concentrations of niacinamide is stinging. If you can have a
lower one with very similar results and you can tolerate it better, why not just go with that
one. Because the randomized double blind study that looked at 4% niacinamide vs 4% hydroquinone,
showed us “ good to excellent improvement was observed with niacinamide in 44% of patients,
compared to 55% with Hydroquinone. And here's a photo of a volunteer from the study, after using
the 4% niacinamide daily after 8 weeks. As you can see, an excellent decrease in pigmentation.
The one other ingredient that stands out to me in this, is the hippophae rhamnoides oil. Which is
known as sea buckthorn berry. And if youve never seen one before. This is what they look like. And
why on earth would they put that in here. .Well, apart from trying to stand out from the hundreds
of other dark spot correcting products out there. Sea buckthorn, is no joke. It has a “unique
unsaturated fatty acids, such as palmitoleic acid and gamma-linolenic acid, giving sea-buckthorn
oil skin regeneration and repair properties. Because remember, the end goal with fading away
dark spots and hyperpigmentation, is to repair the skin back to its original tone and texture.
Go ahead and use your gentle cleanser to wash your face. Once your face is clean. You can
use your toner if you have one. Next, Use a pea sized amount directly on the dark spots that you
are trying to fade. I like the product because it Goes on smoothly, and doesn't feel like it clumps
up. Minus the smell though. The smell, could be a little better. After, wait about 15 minutes,
use your moisturizer, then your sunscreen. And then use it again at night. And you want to
keep this up for about 3 months to see if you see any results before you decide to discontinue it.
If your trying to combine it with differin adapalene or your retinols or retinoids.
You definitely want to wait until the purging period is over with any products that increase
cell turnover. And its important not to rush into the next product. You want to give your
skin the time for it to absorb and dry up, before using the next ingredient.
Always remember the rule of layering. Go from thinnest and lightest products to the heaviest.
Overall, I think the differin dark spot correcting serum has the recipes to be a
great product for people suffering from dark spots and acne scars. Of course not everyone
will have the same results. But if youve tried a bunch of different products already and nothing
worked. Try giving this one a try and let me know how that experience is. And in the meantime,
click that subscribe button too if you found any value in this, and ill see you on the next one.