Niacinamide

why we use niacinamide

The Basics

Niacinamide, or nicotinamide, is the form of vitamin B3 used in skincare. Skin cells turn it into NAD+, a coenzyme they need to make energy and repair damage, so it supports a long list of processes at once.¹ It prompts skin to make more of its own ceramides and the other lipids that hold the barrier together, keeping water in and irritants out. In cultured skin cells, ceramide production rose four to five times over.² It also slows the movement of pigment into surface skin cells, and it can lower oil production. Expect a stronger barrier, more even tone and a less oily surface, from an ingredient most skin tolerates well.

How does niacinamide fade dark marks?

Most brighteners, like alpha arbutin, slow tyrosinase, the enzyme that makes melanin. Niacinamide doesn't touch tyrosinase. Melanin is made in melanocytes and packed into melanosomes, which are then handed up to the skin cells around them. That handover is where niacinamide works. In lab models it blocked 35 to 68% of melanosome transfer, and in a 4-week clinical study, 5% niacinamide visibly reduced hyperpigmentation compared with the same moisturiser without it.³

Niacinamide and alpha arbutin make a good pair because they work at different steps of the same pathway. Alpha arbutin slows the enzyme that makes melanin, and niacinamide slows the handover of finished melanin to the skin cells around it, so less pigment reaches the surface. Clinical studies so far have tested each on its own.

Does niacinamide shrink pores?

The evidence is for oil, not pore size. In 100 participants, 2% niacinamide significantly lowered oil production after 2 and 4 weeks. In a 6-week split-face study of 30 more, surface oil dropped. Neither study measured pore size.⁴

What about fine lines and dullness?

In a 12-week split-face study, 50 women used 5% niacinamide on one side of the face and the same formula without it on the other. The niacinamide side showed fewer fine lines and wrinkles, fewer dark spots, less red blotchiness and less sallowness (the dull cast skin takes on with age), and its elasticity improved.⁵

How much niacinamide do you need?

The clinical results above came from 2% to 5%, even though serums at 10% or 20% are often sold as stronger. If a high percentage stings, dropping to a lower one keeps you in the range the studies used.

Can you use niacinamide with vitamin C?

Yes. The warning comes from a 1960s lab experiment that mixed pure niacinamide and pure ascorbic acid in water, then heated them to 40 to 50°C in an open container for a long time. Under those conditions some niacinamide converted to nicotinic acid, which causes flushing. A formula on your skin is buffered, stays below 35°C and isn't heated for hours.⁶

Will niacinamide make me flush?

Niacinamide is related to niacin (nicotinic acid), the supplement known for flushing. Niacin flushes because it binds a receptor called GPR109A on immune cells in the skin, which then release prostaglandins that widen blood vessels. Niacinamide lacks the acid group that binds that receptor, so it doesn't cause the same flush.⁷