Is Skin Cycling Still a Thing? An Esthetician Revisits This Skincare Trend
In 2022, I wrote a blog post about a new skincare trend called “skin cycling”. I’m not one to hop onto trends; I’m actually very discerning when it comes to new skincare, trendy skincare, and social media trends. But I definitely like to look into everything to see what it’s all about, and when I dove deeper into the skin cycling trend, I actually loved it!
So let’s revisit it and see if skin cycling still has a place in our skincare routines today.
What Is Skin Cycling?
Skin cycling is a way to incorporate products into your skincare routine that aren’t meant to be used daily. Think: retinol, retinoids, AHA’s, BHA’s, and acne treatment products. Products that work best when used consistently, but not overused. Basically, it’s an organized way of laying out your skincare.
Skin cycling is an easy-to-understand way of laying out the best times to use all your treatment products. For example, “Use your glycolic exfoliant fluid on Tuesday/Thursday and retinol on Friday/Sunday.” The skin cycling ‘trend’ tries to make these seemingly complicated skincare steps easier to understand. When people talk about a ‘skin cycling’ routine, they're usually referring to their PM skincare routine. AM skincare routines should be pretty consistent with daily items like vitamin C, moisturizer, and SPF.
Scrub Me Secret: I have sensitive skin that doesn’t react well to many actives or too much exfoliation. My skin cycling routine consists of rotating in a retinol oil 2x a week instead of my facial oil. And once every 10 days, I use my antioxidant facial scrub as a physical exfoliant.
Why Skin Cycling Became So Popular
A few years ago, and maybe even still now, there seemed to be an obsession with rebranding or repackaging certain wellness routines, diets, beauty routine things, etc. These routines and habits weren’t necessarily new, but just explained in a different way and given a different name.
Scrub Me Secret: no shade to a rebrand or refresh! If it helps convey a message better, give people a better visual, or help them understand a helpful beauty or wellness routine better. As someone who doesn’t always grasp stuff the first time around, it’s nice to have it shown or explained differently.
So this is my educated guess as to why this specific skincare trend of skin cycling became so wildly popular. It was a trend that actually showed people how to properly apply skincare items. Estheticians were happy for the trend because it helped skincare users and clients understand that using daily actives wasn’t a great skincare routine. People were learning to NOT use their exfoliants, actives, and retinol daily. I believe it was so popular because it was a trend that estheticians and skincare experts agreed with and were happy to share and speak about.
What the Original ‘Skin Cycling Trend’ Got Right About Skincare
In 2022 (when I wrote my original article), skin cycling felt revolutionary because skincare culture was obsessed with more products, stronger actives, constant exfoliation, and everyone using retinol. It seems like everyone was using ALL of their products all of the time, thinking that more actives, more cell turnover, and exfoliation lead to softer, healthier, “younger-looking” skin. When in reality, too many actives and too much layering of skincare products lead to sensitive skin, breakouts, or dry/flaky skin. Thus, the skin cycling trend took off! It was an easy way for skincare experts to explain how to use your actives best and make them work for your skin.
In 2026, the terminology may be “trending” less, but the idea behind it (giving skin recovery time and not overusing actives) has become much more mainstream. In today’s skincare culture, I believe that we understand that ‘more’ or ‘stronger’ doesn’t always equal better skin.
I think that the skin cycling trend was a great kickstarter to help people understand how, when, and how often to use actives in their routine.
How Often Should You Actually Exfoliate?
Every type of skin is different, and some skin types (more resilient skin that gets a lot of buildup or produces more oil) benefit from more exfoliation than others. My general rule as an esthetician is to exfoliate no more than 3x a week - unless you’ve chatted with your esthetician or a skincare professional who knows your skin and tells you otherwise.
The difference between chemical and physical exfoliation:
There are 2 different kinds of exfoliation: chemical and physical. Physical exfoliation refers to a type of facial scrub product or a scrubbing tool, like a silicone scrub brush. Physical exfoliation uses the scrub to buff away dead cells, dry surface cells, or debris, and boost circulation and oxygen flow in the skin.
scrub me secret: physical exfoliation isn’t the best thing for acne or larger breakouts. The action of scrubbing the skin may inadvertently pop or burst pustules or large whiteheads, damaging the skin or spreading bacteria.
Chemical exfoliation refers to using an AHA, BHA, or enzyme product that chemically eats away dead skin cells and signals to your skin to increase cell turnover. Even though chemical exfoliation sounds harsh and scary, sometimes it can be more gentle than a physical scrub. There are SO many different types of chemical exfoliating ingredients; some are better for oil control, and others are better for dry, dehydrated skin. You can learn all the details in my blog post that goes over Enzymes, AHAs, BHAs & PHAs.
How Often Should You Use Retinol or Retinoids?
First things first, if you don’t know what a retinoid is, stop by my blog post Retinoids: Retinol, Retin-A, Retinal for all the details.
This information about how often to use a retinoid product will vary depending on skin type and how potent your retinoid product is. Retinol potency ranges from 0.01% to 1% in a product. 1% is a pretty hefty dose of this cell turnover ingredient.
scrub me secret: Need to know how strong your retinol is? Low Strength (0.01% up to 0.25%), Medium Strength (0.3% to 0.5%), High Strength (0.5% to 1.0%)
General guidelines for how often you should use a retinol item: **Note: not everyone needs a retinol or benefits from a retinoid product.
Low Strength (0.01% up to 0.25%) - 2-3x a week
Medium Strength (0.3% to 0.5%) - 1-3x a week
High Strength (0.5% to 1.0%) - 1-2x a week
Retinol or retinoid skincare products shouldn’t be used on the same nights as other exfoliant products; this especially goes for chemical exfoliants. This is where skin cycling comes in! You’ll cycle your cell turnover products, dispersing them throughout the week. Example: AHA fluid is used on Monday and Wednesday. Retinol is used on Tuesday and Saturday; the other days, skin will heal and reset, no exfoliants.
Signs You May Be Overdoing Your Skincare Routine
Skin stings when moisturizer or hydrating products are applied
If your skin feels a stinging or burning sensation when you apply your hydrating serums, moisturizers, or hydration facial masks, this is a sign of over-exfoliated or sensitized skin. These are types of products that should feel soothing, hydrating, and comfortable when you apply them to healthy skin. Any type of burning sensation indicates an issue with your skin or the product.
Red and uncomfortable feeling skin
Skin that has an overall red undertone all the time and feels slightly sensitive or tender.
Clusters of small bumps/many little pimples
Tiny little, red bumps that aren’t pimples but look similar are a sign of a damaged skin barrier. When your skin is damaged and sensitive, there is more inflammation, which can trigger these little bumps and small breakouts.
Constant flakiness, dehydrated, chapped skin
If your skin is constantly flaking, dry, and dehydrated, you might want to pull back on exfoliation and focus on hydration and moisture.
How to Adapt Skin Cycling to Your Skincare Routine
In my original skin cycling post, I detail 3 different types of skin cycling routines. So definitely visit that for a lot more detail.
A simple way to adapt skin cycling into your routine:
Take an audit of your skincare routine and identify which of your products are exfoliants or create a lot of cell turnover. That would be facial scrubs or scrub tools, AHA products, BHAs (salicylic acid) 2% or over, retinol, and tretinoin.
Once you’ve identified how many exfoliants you have in your routine, create a skin cycling plan. This means picking the days that you’ll exfoliate and what days you’ll use specific products. And make sure to have at least 2 days in the week where there is no exfoliation or retinol.
Remember, all skin is different, and everyone’s skincare and skin cycling routine will look different. Some people will exfoliate once a week, while others will use exfoliating products 3+ times a week.
Let’s all drop our skin cycling routine or skin cycling questions in the comments! ⬇️