AHA, BHA, Retinoids... What the Hell Are We Putting on Our Faces?

When I was in aesthetician school, one of my instructors told us about a patient who called AHAs and BHAs her “AHA BAHAs.” And honestly? I get it. Unless you work in skincare, why WOULD you automatically know what all of this means? AHA. BHA. Retinol. Retinoids. Glycolic acid. Lactic acid. Salicylic acid. pH balancing. At some point skincare stopped sounding like skincare and started sounding like the chemistry class you did not sign up for. Meanwhile you are standing in your bathroom holding three bottles wondering which one goes first, whether you can use them together, and why your face suddenly burns when you put moisturizer on. So let’s make this way less complicated. You do not need to become a cosmetic chemist to take good care of your skin. You just need to understand what these ingredients are trying to accomplish, which one actually makes sense for YOUR skin, and when your face would really appreciate you leaving it alone for the evening.

You see this everywhere. pH balanced cleanser. pH balancing toner. Restores your skin’s pH. It sounds important enough that you start wondering whether you need to be standing over the bathroom sink with a little testing strip. You do not. Your skin naturally has a slightly acidic environment at the surface. That helps support the skin barrier and the normal microorganisms that live there. Some harsh cleansers can temporarily disrupt that environment, especially the old school squeaky clean kind that leave your face feeling like it might crack if you smile. But your skin is not a swimming pool. You do not need to manually “balance” it with three additional products every morning. A well formulated cleanser should clean your skin without leaving it stripped, burning or painfully tight. If your cleanser is making your skin miserable, I would rather change the cleanser than sell you another product to repair what the cleanser just did. pH matters with acids too, though, and this is where things get interesting. Two products can both say “10% glycolic acid” on the label and behave very differently on the skin depending on how they are formulated. Concentration is not the only thing determining how strong something feels. Which is why grabbing the bottle with the biggest percentage does not automatically mean you bought the best one. Okay. Chemistry lesson over. Mostly.

AHA stands for alpha hydroxy acid. Glycolic acid and lactic acid are two of the ones you will see most often. AHAs are especially useful when I am thinking about the surface of the skin. Dullness. Rough texture. Uneven tone. Some types of pigmentation. That buildup that makes your skin look like it has completely forgotten how to glow. They help loosen the bonds between old surface cells so those cells shed more easily. Glycolic acid has a smaller molecular size and can be pretty active. Lactic acid tends to be a little friendlier for many people and also has humectant properties, meaning it can help attract water. That does not automatically make one better than the other. It means I choose based on the skin. Your friend may LOVE glycolic acid. Your skin may file a formal complaint. Both can be true.

BHA stands for beta hydroxy acid. In skincare, the one you are usually talking about is salicylic acid. Salicylic acid is oil soluble, which makes it particularly useful when I am dealing with oily skin, clogged pores, blackheads and certain types of acne. Basically, AHA makes me think more about what is happening at the surface. BHA makes me pay more attention to what is going on inside that oily pore. If you have a nose full of blackheads and congestion, buying the strongest glycolic acid you can find may not actually be the smartest answer. Maybe we need salicylic acid. See why knowing what these things actually DO matters more than collecting every active ingredient you hear about?

This is where people get confused because everything active starts getting thrown into the same mental bucket. Retinoids are not AHAs or BHAs. Retinoid is the larger family. Retinol is one form within that family. Prescription tretinoin is another retinoid and is considerably stronger. These ingredients affect the way skin cells behave and turn over. That is why retinoids can be useful for acne, texture, uneven pigmentation and signs of aging. They are also one of my favorite examples of an ingredient people absolutely overdo. You use it twice and nothing falls off your face, so naturally you decide you are ready for every night. Then you add glycolic acid because you want faster results. Then salicylic acid because you saw a blackhead. Then your skin starts peeling around your nose and mouth, everything stings, your moisturizer suddenly burns and somehow you are still wondering whether you need a stronger product. No. Your face is begging for workers comp.

I love active ingredients. I also love an intact skin barrier.

There is a difference between productive stimulation and keeping your skin irritated 24 hours a day. More peeling does not mean more progress. Burning does not mean a product is working better. Feeling tight after cleansing does not mean your skin is extra clean. And having six active ingredients in your routine does not make it advanced. Sometimes it just makes it complicated. I would much rather have you use one or two things consistently and actually tolerate them than spend every other week stopping your entire routine because you overdid it again.

This is where I want you to forget the acronym for a second and tell me what is bothering you. Are you mostly dealing with rough, dull surface texture? An AHA may be useful. Are you oily, congested and constantly fighting blackheads? BHA may make more sense. Are we trying to address acne, texture, pigmentation and long-term skin aging? A retinoid might earn a place in the routine. Is your face currently burning, flaky, tight and angry? Maybe tonight’s active ingredient is moisturizer. I am serious. Sometimes the most productive thing you can do for your skin is stop doing things to it.

Possibly. That does not mean you need to. Some people tolerate a thoughtfully designed routine containing more than one of these ingredients very well. Other people turn red just thinking about it. I usually care more about frequency than trying to cram everything into the same night. Maybe the retinoid gets certain nights. Maybe an exfoliating acid gets another night. Maybe your skin only needs one exfoliating treatment a week. Maybe you are already using a prescription retinoid and I do not want another acid anywhere near your face until I actually see how your skin is handling it. There is no medal for getting every active onto your face before bedtime.

This one matters. If you are using retinoids or strong exfoliating products on an area I am about to wax, I need to know. Wax does not care how expensive your retinol was. If that skin is overly exfoliated or fragile, waxing can take more than the hair with it. That is not the Brazilian or eyebrow upgrade anyone asked for. This is particularly important with prescription retinoids, but I want to know about all of your active products and medications before waxing. Depending on what you are using and where, we may need to adjust your routine, wait, or choose another hair removal option. Please do not leave that information out because you think skincare and waxing are unrelated. Your skin strongly disagrees.

This is another thing people forget. You may only use your retinoid three nights a week, but then you come see me for a chemical peel.

Guess what? That counts as exfoliation. So does certain prep before treatments. So does what I am doing in the treatment room. Your home routine and your professional treatments are supposed to work together, not compete to see who can make you peel first. If you are scheduled for a peel, microneedling or waxing, I want to know what actives you are using at home. Sometimes we need to pause something beforehand. Sometimes we need to change what you use afterward. That is part of treatment planning.

I know. I always come back to SPF eventually. If we are exfoliating skin, working on pigmentation, using retinoids or trying to improve signs of sun damage while you are getting unprotected UV exposure every day, we are making the job harder. Especially with certain acids, your skin can become more vulnerable to sun related damage. So please do not spend money on corrective skincare and then treat sunscreen like an optional accessory. It is part of the routine.

This is probably what I want you to remember most. You do not need an AHA because the internet said everyone needs one. You do not need salicylic acid just because you have pores. You do not need to start retinol on your 30th birthday because apparently that is now some sort of skincare law. And you definitely do not need a “pH balancing toner” simply because the words sound scientific. Your routine should solve problems you actually have. That is why I love when patients bring me pictures of their products or bring the bottles themselves. I want to see the cleanser, the toner, the serum you cannot pronounce, the retinol you use “whenever you remember,” all of it. Sometimes I recommend adding something. Sometimes I change how often you use something. And sometimes the best thing I can tell you is that three of those products are basically trying to do the same job and your poor face would like a day off. At Skin Therapy with Marissa in Bentonville, I would much rather help you understand why something belongs in your routine than hand you another bottle and tell you to use it. Because once you understand what your products actually do, skincare stops feeling quite so complicated. And if you still call them your AHA BAHAs? I will know exactly what you mean.