In No Rush

Can mandelic acid truly offer gentle, enduring transformation without compromising the skin's balance?

- By KRITI SHUKLA

It was 1831 in a dimly lit German apothecary when pharmacist Ferdinand Ludwig Winckler heated amygdalin, extracted from bitter almond kernels and—almost accidentally—isolated what we now know as mandelic acid.

Named after mandel, the German word for almond, the compound spent much of the next century in unglamorous roles: first documented in medical texts, then used as an antibacterial treatment for urinary tract infections. Long after, skincare recognised its unique temperament.

Pioneers like Dr James E Fulton, the acne-focused innovator behind early clinical formulations, recognised what Winckler could never have imagined: this large-molecule AHA doesn't rush. It glides. No dramatic redness, no “sandblasted” peel, just steady, polite cellular turnover that does the job without drama.

I first stumbled across it in a Reddit thread—a user with melanin-rich skin swearing by 10% mandelic as a secret weapon everyone else overlooked. Dermatologists I spoke with echoed this assessment, noting that molecular size directly influences penetration depth, and slower penetration allows exfoliation to occur without overwhelming the skin's inflammatory response.

CLINICAL APPEAL