What are adaptogens in skincare?
Adaptogens are plants traditionally used to help the body cope with stress – ashwagandha, ginseng, rhodiola, reishi and other medicinal mushrooms, holy basil, schisandra. The term comes from herbal medicine rather than dermatology.
The rationale for putting them in skincare rests on the link between stress and skin: cortisol drives inflammation, impairs the barrier and worsens acne, eczema and psoriasis. Reviews of adaptogen mechanisms describe effects on stress-response pathways at the cellular level.
What skin concerns do adaptogens treat?
Most adaptogens are also potent antioxidants and anti-inflammatories, which is where their topical benefit is clearest – calming redness, defending against free-radical damage, and supporting a barrier that stress has compromised.
The evidence is stronger for oral than topical use: randomised placebo-controlled work on ashwagandha shows measurable reductions in cortisol and stress. Applied to skin, treat them as a good antioxidant and soothing layer rather than a stress cure.
What ingredients are best paired with adaptogens?
They complement other antioxidants – vitamin C, vitamin E, niacinamide, green tea – and sit well alongside ceramides, hyaluronic acid and centella asiatica for barrier and calming work.
If stress is genuinely driving your skin, the routine is only part of the answer: sleep, exercise and the underlying stressor do more than any cream. Speak to a doctor before taking adaptogens orally, particularly with thyroid or autoimmune conditions or in pregnancy. Take our Skin Quiz.
What are acne scars?
Acne scars are permanent changes in skin texture left behind after inflammatory acne damages the dermis. They fall into two families: atrophic scars, which sit below the surface as ice-pick, boxcar or rolling depressions, and hypertrophic or keloid scars, which sit raised above it.
What most people call scarring is often post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation or erythema – flat brown or red marks with no texture change. Those fade on their own; true atrophic scars do not.
What causes acne scars?
Scarring happens when inflammation reaches deep enough to destroy collagen and the repair process either lays down too little (atrophic) or too much (hypertrophic). Deep nodular and cystic lesions carry the highest risk.
Delaying treatment, picking or squeezing, and prolonged inflammation all increase the odds. Genetics play a large part in who scars and how, which is why two people with identical acne can heal very differently.
What ingredients are best for acne scars?
For flat marks, ingredients that speed turnover and calm pigment work well: retinoids, vitamin C, niacinamide, azelaic acid, alpha arbutin and AHAs, with daily SPF to stop marks darkening again.
For true textural scarring, topicals can soften but not erase – retinoids and peptides help remodel collagen over months, while in-clinic options like microneedling, resurfacing and subcision do the heavy lifting. Preventing new inflammation is the highest-value step. Take our Skin Quiz.
