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Adapalene and glycolic acid

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Adapalene and glycolic acid: keep them apart

Keep them apart

Use them on alternate nights, with glycolic acid on one evening and adapalene the next, because combining them causes skin irritation. Both ingredients speed up skin renewal, so using them together can cause redness, dryness, and a damaged skin barrier. You can switch to using them on different nights or choose gentler, lower strengths.

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Adapalene products

Glycolic acid products

Questions and answers

Can you use adapalene and glycolic acid together?

No, you should keep adapalene and glycolic acid apart in your routine. Combining them in the same step may cause irritation or barrier disruption because both increase cell turnover, so try using glycolic acid in the morning or on alternate nights and adapalene on alternate evenings.

Which goes first, adapalene or glycolic acid?

Keep adapalene and glycolic acid apart by using them on alternate evenings or putting glycolic acid in your morning routine, because combining them in the same step may cause irritation or barrier disruption.

Are adapalene and glycolic acid good for sensitive skin?

Sensitive, dry, and reactive skin should avoid direct overlap of adapalene and glycolic acid. Both increase cell turnover and may cause irritation or barrier disruption when layered, so you should alternate their use by applying glycolic acid in the morning or every other night, and adapalene on alternate evenings.

Research on adapalene and glycolic acid

Behind this pairing advice

Lovi checks every pairing with brand-independent rules our dermatologists and cosmetic chemists build and review, and personalizes every pick with AI trained on the real results of millions of users. Lovi trains its fit score models on a proprietary dataset built from more than 10,000 expert-labeled products and more than 100,000 simulated examples, following an internally consistent methodology presented at Cosmoprof, AMWC, and Skin of Color Update.

  • Nadia Kapleva, MS

    Nadia Kapleva, MS

    Co-founder, Medical Director

    Cosmetic chemist, cosmetologist, aesthetic products developer

  • Alexey Shagraev, PhD

    Alexey Shagraev, PhD

    Co-founder, CEO and CTO

    PhD in computer science, 3x US patent holder, ex-Google, ex-Yandex

  • Dr. Sof铆a Perea P茅rez, MD, MSc

    Dr. Sof铆a Perea P茅rez, MD, MSc

    Medical Board

    Aesthetic medicine practitioner, MSc in Longevity and Anti-Aging Medicine

  • Aishani Shah, MD

    Aishani Shah, MD

    Medical Board

    Specialist dermatologist, MBBS, MD, IFAAD

  • Asya Zubkova, MS

    Asya Zubkova, MS

    Medical Board

    Cosmetic chemist, SCS, IFSCC member

  • Hanna Kurets, MD

    Hanna Kurets, MD

    Medical Board, Medical Advisor

    Dermatology MD

  • Elina Nazarenko, MD

    Elina Nazarenko, MD

    Medical Board

    Dermatology and diagnostic consultant

  • Victoria Derkova, MS

    Victoria Derkova, MS

    Medical Board

    Cosmetic chemist, cosmetic development technologist

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