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Ingredient Beauty Benefits

Skin concerns

Oiliness and sebum

Skin that turns shiny quickly because it produces a lot of sebum.

This overlaps with pores and acne, but it sits apart for one reason: it has a measurement of its own. Sebum comes out as a number on a sebumeter — unlike pore size or lesion counts, an instrument reads it directly.

That makes this one of the few concerns on this site that gets checked with numbers. But two things have to be kept apart.

  • Sebum went down — measured by instrument
  • It feels less greasy — reported by the person

Those do not always move together. An ingredient that absorbs surface oil reduces shine without reducing how much sebum is produced.

And producing a lot of sebum is not in itself a disease. There is a longstanding observation that oily skin tends to wrinkle later. It is better not to assume that less is always better.

Moderate evidenceAntioxidant

Niacinamide

Niacinamide

In a 12-week split-face study of 50 people, 5% niacinamide reduced fine lines, yellowing, red blotchiness and pigmented spots. The control was not nothing but the same moisturiser, and the manufacturer paid for the trial.

Moderate evidenceAcid

Salicylic acid

Salicylic Acid

Most acne trials used 30% peels performed in a clinic. What Korea allows as an acne functional claim is 0.5%, and only in rinse-off cleansers. There is a sixtyfold gap between those two numbers.

Moderate evidenceAntioxidant

EGCG (green tea polyphenol)

Epigallocatechin Gallate

In a trial splitting 90 people into three arms over four weeks, sebum fell significantly in all three (P < .01). But all three received a moisturising cream with an active in it — there was no arm that got the base alone. For acne, there is one 8-week randomised split-face trial.

Moderate evidenceOther

Carnitine (l-carnitine)

Carnitine

In a four-week trial splitting 90 people into three arms, 2% l-carnitine cream significantly reduced sebum (P < .01). But it took the longest to control oil, and the arm combining it with EGCG beat it significantly (P = .009). And there was no arm that got the base alone.

Clinical procedures related to this concern

Procedures are not listed alongside topical ingredients. They are not something you use at home.