skinhow.org

Ingredients · 6

Ingredients, not brands

If you read nothing else

Six ingredients do almost all the useful work on body skin: urea and lactic acid soften rough texture, salicylic acid clears blocked follicles, glycolic acid resurfaces, benzoyl peroxide kills acne bacteria, and azelaic acid calms redness without bleaching fabric. The strength and how long you leave it on matter more than the brand.

Six actives · strengths and timeframes, no product names

Most of what decides whether a body product works is the active ingredient and its concentration, not the label on the front. A £30 lotion and a £6 one containing 10% urea do the same thing to the backs of your arms.

So these pages are written the other way round from a product roundup. Each one covers a single active: what it actually does, the strengths you will see printed on a label, how long it takes before you can judge it, and who should leave it alone. Where a cheaper product carries the same active at the same strength, that is worth knowing before you spend anything.

The six that matter below the neck

By the problem you have

What this page is based on

3 named sources, linked in full. No "studies show".