- Night creams can add extra benefits to your daily skin care routine.
- Night creams contain active ingredients not found in creams for daytime use.
- Their benefits include anti-aging, deep moisturization and acne treatment.
A night cream for combination skin complements your daytime moisturizer by providing extra hydration in addition to other valuable skin care benefits. These creams are often thicker and richer than daytime face creams.
Your skin repairs itself from daily damage at night, making nighttime the best time to apply nourishing, rejuvenating skin care products.
If you have combination skin, you have areas of dry skin on the cheeks and oily skin on the forehead, nose and chin. When dealing with issues of both oiliness and dryness, a night cream can improve your skin’s overall health and appearance in several key ways.
Contents
Why Use a Night Cream?
A night cream allows you the opportunity to use ingredients that should not be on the skin during daylight hours.
Some of these ingredients, such as retinol, make skin sun-sensitive or are rendered inactive by the sun. Ultra-moisturizing formulas appear too greasy on the skin to be worn during the day.
Using a different product at night also gives you the opportunity to add more active ingredients to your skin care routine and address the concerns associated with combination skin.
There are many types of night creams, each formulated with active ingredients to improve the look and feel of your skin in specific ways. Some of the benefits associated with night creams are improved hydration, exfoliation and anti-aging.
Best Anti-Aging Night Creams for Combination Skin
Anti-aging night creams work to restore loss of collagen and elastin, the key proteins in maintaining skin firmness and elasticity, and to repair photodamage caused by the sun.
Some of these ingredients cause photosensitivity or are inactivated by exposure to light, making them better suited for overnight use.
Retinol
Retinol is one of the most powerful anti-aging molecules and can benefit both the dry and oily areas of combination skin. This skin-firming compound reduces the appearance of fine lines and softens even deep wrinkles by increasing collagen production and cell turnover rate.
Because retinol increases the skin’s sensitivity to the sun, it should only be applied at night and washed off in the morning. While using retinol, it is especially important to protect your skin during the day with a broad-spectrum sunscreen of SPF 30 or higher.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C offers several benefits to fight against the effects of aging. It’s an antioxidant, meaning it protects the skin from free radicals in the environment. It promotes collagen production and can improve an uneven skin tone by gradually reducing the appearance of dark spots.
Many people can use products containing Vitamin C during the daytime with no ill effect. However, if you have combination skin that’s also sensitive, reserve your Vitamin C for nighttime use as it can make your skin sensitive to light.
Vitamin E
Another antioxidant, vitamin E, is most effective when paired with vitamin C. It smooths the skin’s surface and helps retain moisture while speeding up the recovery of damaged skin.
Ceramides
Ceramides are lipids naturally produced by the body to moisturize and protect the skin. Topical application of ceramides in a night moisturizer restores ceramides lost with age and can increase their production.
Resveratrol
Resveratrol is a compound found in grape skin, dark chocolate, peanuts and berries and used within skin care products. As an antioxidant, it helps the skin repair itself during the night from damage caused by ultraviolet (UV) radiation and free radicals in the environment. It also encourages collagen production.
Best Moisturizing Night Creams for Combination Skin
Keeping your skin well hydrated with a moisturizer that contain the right ingredients for your skin concerns is among the best ways to maintain a healthy-looking complexion.
If your combination skin appears dry or dull, the best time to deeply moisturize your face is at night, when you can apply thicker products that are too greasy to wear during the day. Choose products that are fragrance-free to avoid irritating dry skin.
Night moisturizers offer different levels of hydration suited for somewhat dry to very dry combination skin.
Hyaluronic acid
Hyaluronic acid helps draw and lock moisture into the skin. Applied topically, it has been proven to help the skin maintain elasticity and firmness. As hyaluronic acid hydrates without adding oil, it can be an appropriate choice for even oily areas of combination skin.
By using hyaluronic acid at night, you can wake up with plumper skin and see a reduction in fine lines and wrinkles.
Glycerin
Glycerin is a humectant, meaning it attracts moisture to the skin. It also promotes cell exfoliation. Due to its excellent moisturizing properties, it is found in many skin care products.
Jojoba oil
Jojoba oil, extracted from the jojoba plant, is an antibacterial and antioxidant similar in composition to sebum, the oil naturally produced by the skin. It regulates sebum production by signaling skin to not produce more oil. It is also non-comedogenic and a source of vitamin E.
Shea butter
Shea butter is extracted from the nut of the African shea tree. It contains several beneficial fatty acids and vitamins A, E and F.
As shea butter is comedogenic and can clog pores, you might not want to use it on acne-prone areas of skin, but it can provide deep hydration for your dry areas of skin.
Best Exfoliating Night Creams for Combination Skin
An exfoliating night cream can work gently overnight to unclog your pores and dissolve the bonds holding dead skin cells together. After washing your face in the morning, your face will feel smoother and appear brighter.
Glycolic acid
This alpha-hydroxy acid (AHA) can easily penetrate the skin to reduce scars, hyperpigmentation and acne. In night creams, glycolic acid can be found in concentrations ranging from 2–10%. As a rule, the more sensitive and dry your skin is, the lower the concentration you should use.
Lactic acid
Lactic acid is another AHA that works similarly to glycolic acid. Its larger molecular size means it cannot penetrate the skin as deeply as glycolic acid, resulting in a gentler exfoliation. This property makes lactic acid particularly effective for sensitive or dry skin types.
Best Night Creams for Combination Skin and Acne
Acne in combination skin can be difficult to treat, as many products designed to address acne are too harsh for the dry areas of the face.
One solution is to use two moisturizers: one on the oily areas of skin and another on the dry areas. Or, you can use one oil-free moisturizer that provides enough hydration for your entire face.
Night creams designed to treat acne contain oil-regulating and antibacterial ingredients.
Salicylic acid
Salicylic acid is the most commonly used anti-acne ingredient. It is a beta-hydroxy acid (BHA) and is lipophilic, meaning it dissolves in oil. This makes it an effective exfoliant for oily areas of combination skin as it easily penetrates clogged pores to break up sebum plugs.
Salicylic acid also regulates oil production in the skin, lessening the likelihood of pores becoming clogged in the future, and is an anti-inflammatory.
While you may find you can only use a salicylic acid-containing night cream on part of your face, it is a good choice as it is an ideal ingredient for managing breakouts.
Niacinamide
Among its many skin care benefits, niacinamide, a form of Vitamin B3, is effective in treating severe acne. With regular use, you may see a decrease in acne lesions and inflammation.
Nighttime Skin Care Routine
At the end of the day, first thoroughly cleanse your face with a face wash or cleanser and follow with a gentle skin-balancing toner.
Skin care products should be layered from thinnest to thickest; apply a serum if using, followed by an eye cream and then proceed to your night cream. Apply the night cream over your face avoiding the eye area, and then the neck.
Takeaway
Night creams can offer your combination skin certain benefits beyond your daytime skin care routine. They allow your skin to absorb vitamins, antioxidants and anti-aging molecules that are light-sensitive or cause light sensitivity when worn in sunlight.
By choosing a night cream formulated to address your skin’s unique needs, you can round out your daily skin care regimen to maximize your skin’s health and appearance.
Sources
- Ganceviciene, R., Liakou, A. I., Theodoridis, A., Makrantonaki, E., & Zouboulis, C. C. (2012). Skin anti-aging strategies. Dermato-endocrinology, 4(3), 308–319. doi:10.4161/derm.22804
- National Center for Biotechnology Information. (n.d.) Glycolic acid. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Glycolic-acid
- Pavicic, T., Gagulitz, GG., Lersch, P., Schwach-Abdellaoui, K., Malle, B., Korting, HC., Farwick, M. (2011) Efficacy of cream-based novel formulations of hyaluronic acid of different molecular weights in anti-wrinkle treatment. J Drugs Dermatol, 10(9), 990-1000. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22052267
- Bissett, D. L., Oblong, J. E., & Berge, C. A. (2006). Niacinamide: A B Vitamin that Improves Aging Facial Skin Appearance. Dermatologic Surgery, 31, 860–866. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16029679
- Ratz-Łyko, A., & Arct, J. (2018). Resveratrol as an active ingredient for cosmetic and dermatological applications: a review. Journal of Cosmetic and Laser Therapy, 21(2), 84–90. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29737899
- Dinarello C. A. (2010). Anti-inflammatory Agents: Present and Future. Cell, 140(6), 935–950. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2010.02.043