Three things I wish I would have known before using The Ordinary's AHA BHA 30% Peeling Solution. This little bottle from The Ordinary is $7.20 of skin exfoliating acids that are absolutely amazing. My skin loves this and some people's skin... hates this.
Basically, this is a potent product. It is the highest percent of AHA, which is 30%, and the highest percent of BHA, 2% that you can get over the counter. And it's an exfoliating acid mask slash peel that you apply onto dry skin.
And it helps with acne. It helps with scars. It can help a little bit with pigmentation, depending on your skin type. It is absolutely wonderful.
And it has changed my life. But there are some things that I didn't know initially that I wish I would have considered or thought of. or looked into and that I realize other people have questions about as well.
So although we've already done a video that discusses how to use this, how to be super careful when you're using this, today we're going to be slathering it on my very tolerant skin and talking about those things that I wish I knew. If this is your first time using this, you should be using gloves. You should have an acid neutralizer on hand because you won't know what this is going to do to you.
If you have paper cuts, you don't want to find out, you should be wearing gloves. I'm going to be applying this directly to my skin. This is dry skin. I'm going to be keeping this on for under 10 minutes, which means I have to hurry up with this video. And I should be wearing a skincare headband.
I'm basically doing a lot of the things that I shouldn't always do. But this is where we're at today. And while I apply this, we'll talk about the first thing that I wish I should have known.
This is not supposed to sting. Yes, this is a very potent mask. It does have a lower pH, but even with the 30%, this is not the same quality or strength as what we use in medical aesthetic offices or in dermatology clinics or even in a regular esthetician's bed.
This is meant to be applied onto dry skin and yes, it is an exfoliating acid. But if it's stinging, it's probably a little bit too much for your skin. Some people have much more sensitive skin, and some people have skin that is much more resilient.
For myself, I grew up and struggled with acne all my life. I basically used anything and everything on it. I thought that I had to scrub my skin off with little apricot pits to make my acne go away, which is obviously very incorrect, right? So my skin is extraordinarily tolerant to what can be used. If you don't know how your skin reacts to this, patch test first.
Have an acid neutralizer on hand. Don't go in and apply this super thick layer. Use Vaseline around your eyes to protect it. Because this is an acid, it does do stuff and it is not to be messed around with. When we do chemical peels like a glycolic acid or AHA peel in office, it is very different.
We actually look for frosting on the skin. You know, you're exfoliating the skin, it actually frosts up and that is damage that is causing the skin to have a reaction underneath, which is later going to turn into both that peel as well as maybe some collagen stimulation, some scar reduction, depending on the acid or peel that's being used, maybe acne or pigmentation reduction, et cetera. Now those do itch, burn, sting, et cetera.
And that's why we actually have neutralizers on hand when we do that. That's also why a licensed professional does that. Now because this was formulated to be over the counter, they did put in I think it's Tasmanian pepperberry that they claim is supposed to be less irritating.
I do definitely say this is less irritating than what happens in an office, but I haven't seen any medical data showing that this Tasmanian fruit extract is actually helping, you know, to calm the skin. I will say that if you are super sensitive, this might feel a little bit ticklish, but it should never sting or burn. If it does, something's going on.
Either your skin is too sensitive or your skin has not built up a tolerance to this product. Maybe your acid mantle or your skin's barrier is damaged or this product is just not for you. In medical offices, we work people up to specific chemical peels.
We start them off with like a glycolic acid wash at home. Then maybe we'll add like a salicylic acid or a lactic acid moisturizer. And then you'll start off with a 10% peel. Then you'll go to maybe 15, 20, 30, 50, then 70%, which is intense and you're going to peel for days. But we build that up.
When you're just buying this over the counter, a lot of people don't realize how strong this can be. They've never used an acid before in their life and they just slap it on. Please don't do that.
Be careful, wear gloves, put Vaseline around your eyes, take it easy. Make sure that you are using a sunscreen when you use this and know that it is not supposed to burn or sting. That is something that I wish I knew because when I put it on for the first time, I thought it wasn't working. I was like, there's no stinging, there's no burning.
Are they lying to me? Is this BS? And then by the time I rinsed it off and saw my results, I was like, okay, this is actually a really nice at-home acid mask.
I just need to apply it on dry skin, like manufacturer's directions say, and like recognize that this is not the same as in-office chemical peels. But yes, it is still potent, and you still need to make sure that you are using it with caution. Real quick, can you please peel that like button for me? It's looking a little bit crusty. It needs a little bit of exfoliation, some TLC.
If you could just peel it, moisturize it, and SPF it, That would be, oh, that is great. Wow, that like button has glow. The subscribe button is feeling left out.
So slap an exfoliator on that and let me tell you about my back. You can use this on the chest, on the back, and on other areas of the body. Your skin is your skin all over your body.
And yes, different areas will have different thicknesses. They will have a different concentration of pores, pilosabaceous units, and sebum production. For instance, more on the face, chest, and back than elsewhere, but your skin can be exfoliated all over your body.
If you want to, yes, you can use this elsewhere. And it wasn't until six months in, I was like, I love this stuff. Why am I not putting this on my chest and on my back? I do go through this much faster now because yes, I use it on my neck, my chest, my shoulders, and my back. However.
for $7.20, I am not mad about it. Again, you need to apply sunscreen after, you need to apply it on dry skin, still follow manufacturer's directions, and you know, make sure that you are patch testing first, just the way you would on your face. But your skin is your skin is your skin. And yes, especially if you have acne, scars, or similar issues here and here that you're trying to treat like on the face, it's absolutely wonderful.
It's amazing. And yes, it is very, very fun to scare your roommates slash siblings slash significant other slash pets with when they think you are a bloody mess and they don't expect you to come out of the bathroom looking like this. Imagine that we live in the same house together and you see me digging through the freezer for vegan ice cream, I pop my head out and it looks like a bloody mess.
What would your first reaction be? You see? You see how hilarious that is from my perspective?
I wish I would have known how many fakes there are. online. I did not realize that A, this was so popular and still so inexpensive that, of course, anything good happens and someone has to rip it off. And the reason that I know there are so many fakes of this floating around Alibaba and AliExpress is because my face was used in some of them.
Yes, companies from who knows where are taking photos and videos. that I posted on the internet with my authentic experience with this official product that I went and bought myself from Ulta. It's $7.20 a bottle and they're basically using my face and my testimonial of this product to sell their fake knockoff ones. The fake knockoff knockoff ones are also like five or six dollars.
I'm like, why would you not pay $7.20 for the original? I understand that some people might not have access to it. If you're in Canada, do you have access to this? Because I know that some products from The Ordinary are not available in Canada. We have a few beautiful butterflies in Canada that I try to ship product to because they freaking can't get it, which is so frustrating.
But I still don't recommend buying the knockoff because I've actually tried knockoffs and fakes. And you can watch an entire video that we did where I tested the pH. First off, no, it didn't frost. No, it didn't sting.
and no, it didn't even exfoliate. That was not an acid. It was hardly an acid.
It had a pH of like five or six, which is identical to skin. And I think that they labeled it wrong. I think they lied about it.
It was basically like glycerin. It was like water in a bottle that was just dyed red. But if you go on Alibaba, you'll see a ton of these peeling solutions under different names. Why not pay the extra dollar and get an actual product?
Now, what's also interesting is that if you do dig deeper, there are actual knockoffs. Companies saying The Ordinary, when it is- quite obviously not The Ordinary. There've been some blog posts online that help people figure out if they're authentic or not because of the way that they're numbered on the bottom. Since The Ordinary was obtained like more fully by Estee Lauder, are they going to change their packaging or their supply chain? Very possible.
We've done a video on my thoughts and my support or not support of The Ordinary since that acquisition if you would like to see that video as well. But the gist of it is that I wish I knew how many fakes and knockoffs there were out there so that I could warn people about that accurately. Because if you're buying these fakes or knockoffs, they're not even labeled properly, the ingredients aren't even what they say they are, that could be extraordinarily dangerous, or it could just be a giant waste of money.
Again, the one that I did, dude, did you see it? Are you like an OG butterfly? Did you see it? And do you remember how pissed off I was? That video still lives here on this channel if you would like to indulge.
Indulge in this, indulge the like button and the subscribe button, and let me know if you want a video where I actually purchase some of the counterfeits and knockoffs and test them against the real thing. Always be beautiful both inside and out. I'm going to go rinse this off my face, and I cannot wait to see you in the potential counterfeit video that we do about this in the future.
So turn those notification bells on. Love you guys. Bye.