Trying to manage the signs of aging is one of those things we all try to do to help maintain our confidence as we age. To that end, we go through a lot of steps in hopes of magnifying whatever effects we can get from our products and habits. Many of us regularly go to spas and maintain carefully designed skincare routines to help improve the overall health of our skin as we age. Those of us with particular skin needs also try to do what we can to help mitigate any inherently damaging aspects of our skin to prevent it from being our own worst enemy. All this work isn’t done at random. We look for information about what will work well for our skin to give ourselves whatever edge we can. Niacinamide is one of those fancy-sounding ingredients that is both clearly a chemical and might have caused worries if you ever looked at an ingredient list. Try not to worry about it though. It has decent potential for helping you fight various signs of aging.

What Is It?
To explain niacinamide, we need to explain vitamin B first. Most people think of vitamins as monolithic things that aren’t divisible at all and provide all their benefits from just “being a vitamin” This is an inaccurate picture in all cases, but it is particularly inaccurate when it comes to vitamin B. Accurately stated, when people say “vitamin B” they should be saying “vitamin B complex” to indicate they’re referring to a complete version of the vitamin including all its numbered versions. Niacinamide is derived from vitamin B3 and actually a fairly flexible compound. It sees a lot of use within medicine with a number of positive benefits for various skin conditions. Niacinamide is particularly known for being used in some acne treatments and at least shows some promise in being used in skin cancer treatments. However, it also has shown promise in treating the signs of aging.

Overall Skin Health
The most significant effect that niacinamide appears to have is actually augmenting the overall health of your skin as you age. It provides compounds that help to repair and maintain multiple layers of skin with a particular focus on the outer layers. This adds extra layers of protection to your skin that help it be less sensitive than it would be otherwise. Additionally, the defense ensures other treatments are more effective. Niacinamide also has a noticeable anti-inflammatory effect. This is why it gets used in treating acne and skin cancer, but it also serves as a good way to help maintain the health of aging skin in the face of the use of potentially harsh products. The best part is that the ingredient is generally considered fairly safe for most skin types and is seldom associated with any long-term skin irritation even though there may be a short-term reaction simply due to using a new product.

Skin Lightening and Firming
That niacinamide can support your skin’s overall health and defense with age is quite good. Anti-inflammatory properties are particularly beneficial due to the increased sensitivity that comes with age. One of the better things you can get out of it is the ability to minimize one of the obvious signs of photoaging: shifts in skin tone and clarity. Topical niacinamide has been associated with helping to lighten skin and even out skin tone when used appropriately. This effect is almost a bonus alongside the fact that it helps to ensure healthy collagen and elastin formation within the skin. When combined, this helps to reduce the overall appearance of wrinkles and sagging in aging skin. Improved color is also quite common overall as it helps to mitigate some of the more common shifts in skin tone associated with age. It is important to note that it needs to be used in an appropriate concentration to make the most of the ingredient though.

Niacinamide is a fairly useful compound overall. It is simply obscure in its origins unlike some other chemicals that get used in skincare. Ultimately, everything is a chemical and there is no real point to avoiding something simply because it is one. Water is a chemical, after all. Niacinamide can be useful to skin of any age, but its skin lightening and firming effects make it particularly useful to aging skin by helping mitigate some of the more common effects of aging on the skin. Look for it the next time you’re trying to find a good anti-aging product as you’re more than likely to see it on the ingredients list.