Ingredient glossary
Linoleic Acid
On your shelf ✓What Linoleic Acid does for your skin, who it suits, and what to watch for.
INCI: Linoleic Acid · Also: LA
In short: Linoleic Acid delivers barrier support and hydration, suits most skin types, and the evidence behind it is strong.
- What it does
- Barrier support, hydration
- Best for
- Dry, Combination, Oily skin
- Evidence
- Strong
- How long
- 2–4 weeks
The molecule
The Glow take
One of the ingredients I trust most.
When your goal is calming breakouts and congestion, Linoleic Acid delivers, and the research properly backs it up. It tends to suit dry skin best.
— Maya
What it does
- barrier support
- hydration
- anti acne
strong evidenceA double blind cross-over trial with around two percent linoleic acid showed about twenty five percent reduction in microcomedone size and barrier studies support its role alongside ceramides and cholesterol in optimized repair mixtures.
On a label: usually effective at 1-2%.
Who it's for, and who should skip it
Tends to suit
- acne prone
- oily
- combo
- dry
- compromised barrier
Approach with care
No specific group flagged to avoid it.
- Clogs poresLow
- Irritation riskLow
How it fits each skin type
- DrySuits
- CombinationSuits
- OilySuits
- SensitiveNeutral
Often chosen for acne prone, compromised barrier.
Where it fits in your routine
Give it two to four weeks, and possibly less: that is simply when it was measured.
What was measured, and in whom
Measured on: Microcomedone size, digital image analysis of cyanoacrylate follicular casts.
The anchor is a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised cross-over study in which a linoleic acid gel of roughly 2.5% reduced the overall size of follicular casts and microcomedones by almost 25% over a one-month treatment period, with no change at placebo-treated sites. One month is the whole of the study: there is no reading beyond week 4 and no interim biopsy reported, so 4 weeks is the ceiling and true onset may be earlier — quoting a window running to 8 weeks asks the reader to wait for a result nobody looked for. Two limits on reading it as a consumer timeline: the endpoint is an instrumented surrogate measured on cyanoacrylate casts, not visible acne, and the population was acne-prone skin with microcomedones rather than inflammatory acne; and products typically formulate 1-2%, below the level tested, with no time course established there. Its other role, as a fatty acid in barrier-repair lipid mixtures, runs on the much faster barrier-recovery clock and is a different outcome entirely.
Letawe C, Boone M, Pierard GE. Digital image analysis of the effect of topically applied linoleic acid on acne microcomedones. Clin Exp Dermatol 1998;23(2):56-8. PMID:9692305 (double-blind placebo-controlled randomised cross-over, 1-month treatment period). The 2.5% concentration is not stated in the abstract and is taken from secondary reviews of this paper, so it is given as approximate.
Plays well with
- ceramides
- cholesterol
- retinoids
Linoleic Acid, answered
Is Linoleic Acid safe during pregnancy?
Yes. Linoleic Acid is considered safe to use during pregnancy and breastfeeding. As with anything, if you are unsure it is worth a quick word with your doctor or midwife.
Who should avoid Linoleic Acid?
No specific group is flagged to avoid Linoleic Acid. It is well tolerated by most skin. Still, introduce anything new one product at a time.
What concentration of Linoleic Acid actually works?
Linoleic Acid tends to do its job in the 1 to 2% range. Much lower and it is likely underdosed.
Can you mix Linoleic Acid with
This, for every label you own
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