Ingredient Spotlight: Understanding the Benefits of Glycerine

In this article:
What is glycerine?
Glycerine skin care benefits
Glycerine and skin hydration
Does glycerine boost collagen?
Is glycerine better than hyaluronic acid?
Is glycerine good for all skin types?
Glycerine and dry skin
Glycerine and oily skin
Glycerine and sensitive skin
Is glycerine safe for skin?
Can I use glycerine every day?
How to use glycerine
When to use glycerine in your skin care routine

In the world of skin care, there are several hardworking, beneficial ingredients that get very little attention, but are vital to the performance of a skin care product and to your skin.

Glycerine is one such skin-identical ingredient. Its uses in skin care are numerous, but what exactly does it do for skin and why is it so important? Let’s dive in.

What is glycerine?

Glycerine is a natural component of healthy skin. It’s also known as glycerin and glycerol, the latter being the term most often seen in studies about this classic ingredient.

As used in skin care, glycerine can be derived from vegetable and animal sources or made synthetically. In any of these forms, glycerine is hygroscopic, meaning it can draw moisture from the air around us and help keep that moisture in skin. Another word for hygroscopic is humectant (1). Other well-known humectants include hyaluronic acid and sodium hyaluronate.

Glycerine skin care benefits

Glycerine’s skin care benefits are numerous, but it primarily serves to hydrate skin and help it hold on to moisture. Other benefits of glycerine include:
 

• Helping to shield skin from environmental sources of irritation
• Working with emollients and oils to make dry skin feel soft and supple
• Fortifying and strengthening skin’s moisture barrier
• Enhancing the penetration of other ingredients into skin’s uppermost layers
• Improving skin’s resiliency and youthful look

Glycerine and skin hydration

Glycerine’s the underground hit of skin care hydration. Beyond glycerine’s humectant properties, it’s also involved in the transport and activity of aquaporins within our skin’s surface (2).

Aquaporins are key players in maintaining skin’s moisture balance, keeping it feeling smooth and comfortable even in drier climates. They’re known as channeling proteins because they intuitively channel the flow of vital hydrating substances (including water and glycerol) to and within skin’s uppermost layers.

Does glycerine boost collagen?

Glycerine and collagen – both naturally occurring substances in the body – share a role in helping maintain skin’s overall health. While glycerine doesn’t necessarily boost collagen, it can help stabilise it, and anything you can do to help retain collagen is certainly beneficial for skin! (3)

Is glycerine better than hyaluronic acid?

While glycerine and hyaluronic acid share many of the same traits and benefits (as mentioned previously, they are both humectants), there isn’t a marked advantage to selecting one over the other.

Each has its role to play in boosting skin health and incorporating both into your routine is optimal for achieving a plumped, revitalised look. It’s the same analogy we’ve used many times before – to improve your diet you wouldn’t incorporate just one type of healthy food, but a variety of them to get the best results.

Is glycerine good for all skin types?

Glycerine is good for all skin types because research shows it mimics what’s known as skin’s natural moisturising factor (NMF) (4). As we age and are subjected to environmental stressors, skin’s NMF becomes depleted. Whether you have dry, oily, or even blemish-prone skin, replenishing it with glycerine makes skin’s moisture barrier more resilient.

As board-certified dermatologist Dr. Corey L. Hartman puts it, “Glycerine is great because it appeals to a wide variety of skin types and works well with most skin regimens. It provides light moisturisation that soothes sensitive skin, relieves dryness, and doesn’t clog pores.”

Glycerine and dry skin

Glycerine is what’s known as a skin-replenishing ingredient, meaning it helps keep skin’s surface strong and protected from environmental damage. Over time, environmental exposure causes skin to become dull, dry, and flaky. Glycerine’s ability to defend skin and help it retain vital hydration is part of why it’s included in so many moisturisers for dry skin.

Glycerine and oily skin

Despite its ability to retain moisture, glycerine is an excellent choice for oily skin as well (oily skin needs hydration just as much as any other skin type!). Glycerine is lightweight and non-pore-clogging, making it an ideal ingredient for oily skin that needs moisturisation to stay younger-looking and healthy. As a bonus, glycerine doesn’t feel oily and is even suitable for blemish-prone skin.

Glycerine and sensitive skin

Glycerine is also a good choice for sensitive skin. Because it’s a natural component of skin, it helps to visibly calm redness and inflammation (5). It’s one of the gentler ingredients you can find in skin care products and can even help alleviate signs of sensitivity over time.

Is glycerine safe for skin?

Glycerine has a long history of safe use for skin and is considered a non-allergenic, fragrance-free ingredient (6).

In 2019, the Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel evaluated relevant data and concluded that glycerine, “is safe as a cosmetic ingredient in the practices of use and concentration” as described in the panel’s safety assessment. Their report looked at maximum use concentrations of up to 79.2% glycerine in leave-on products and 99.4% in rinse-off products.

Can I use glycerine every day?

This question has a very easy answer – absolutely, yes! For the reasons stated above, it’s perfectly fine to use glycerine as part of your daily skin care routine. Because of its barrier-replenishing benefits, calming properties, and long-standing proven record of safety, glycerine is a fantastic ingredient to use daily – or even several times a day.

How to use glycerine

Glycerine can be easily incorporated into your skin care routine because it’s already widely available in a variety of personal care products.

When to use glycerine in your skin care routine

You can safely and effectively use glycerine in nearly every single step of your skin care routine. Several skin care brands use glycerine when formulating everything from cleansers and toners to serums and moisturisers. For hydration, it’s best to use glycerine in leave-on formats like moisturisers, creams and serums so the skin care ingredient can sit on skin and help it trap moisture, letting those water channels (aquaporins) in skin’s surface distribute the glycerine evenly.

Overall, there’s no wrong way to use it—just look for skin care products that contain this unsung hero along with other beneficial ingredients.

Learn more about skin care ingredients.

References for this information:

1. Journal of Drugs in Dermatology, April 2020, pages 372-376
2. American Journal of Cell Physiology, May 2020, pages 1,144-1,153
3. Food Chemistry, September 1999, pages 483-487
4. European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, December 2013, pages 638–645
5. Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation, March 2021, pages 223-231
6. International Journal of Toxicology, December 2019, pages 6S-22S