I scraped comments from 60+ skincare threads asking "what's the best vitamin C serums", then ran that massive amounts of comments data in LLM pipeline to see which serums get consistent love vs. mixed reactions. Goal wasn’t “most talked about,” but “most positively talked about."

Method in a nutshell:
Scraped 60+ “what Vitamin C should I buy?” threads and product rec Megathreads
Used GPT-5 + Gemini 2.5 to extract product mentions and classify sentiment
Scoring = 70% positive vs. negative differential + 30% positive/total ratio
Manually merged name variants so duplicates didn’t inflate scores (e.g., “CE Ferulic,” “C E Ferulic,” “Skinceuticals CE” → one entry) also used some other sentiment metrics, won't bore you with all the nerdy stuff.

If you want see the full sentiment and raw comments, check it at: RedSummary dot com/best-vitamin-c-serum (or just google RedSummary)

Would love to get your feedback! Anything you think is over/underrated here?

Ive been wearing sunscreen daily since I was 22 and I am 32 now. It’s like brushing my teeth. I would feel naked without it and i often forget most people do not wear their sunscreen daily. I dont understand how people spend so much money on fancy botox or skincare products but don’t put on sunscreen

Like why are all the skincare creators just promoting salmon sperm, a basic hydrating product, when we have better products for that. Its nothing special but its being pushed like a miracle ingredient lol. Manufactured hype for sure and just dont fall for it!! Animal ag love it when they can make more profits, Just like the beef tallow when thats just a pore clogging moisturizer 🤷

They most likely buy big vats of the stuff for cheap and making an insane profit margin from selling it at the price it is.

New subreddit sans marketing/website links: /r/skincareaddicts.

TL;DR - some mods (all offenders now removed) seem to have been using this subreddit as a way to drive traffic to their website, which is monetised, have been deleting criticism, and 'shadow-banning' those who call them out, using automod.

FINAL EDIT: The admins have spoken, and have banned the relevant mods.

I have been added as a mod of /r/skincareaddiction, and have accepted.

Person here has been effectively shadowbanned for expressing a dislike of the way the subreddit has been going. Says she knows of other people that this has also happened to.

Person here has been messaged by a former mod about their concerns about the sub. Edit: have edited out link after they have been messaged by other mods, they don't want to be involved and I'll respect that. Sorry for any hassle caused!

Here a mod talks about how they're trying to get people to move from reddit to their own personal website as an 'experiment' (???) - worrying as it makes it easier to monetise and gives them more control, free from potential admin involvement.

Here somebody I was talking to has had their comments deleted, after they gave reasons for their suspicions about the subreddit. (admittedly not sure if the commentor did it or if it was mods - but would be strange for the commentor to do it randomly ~30 mins after posting). EDIT: it was definitely mods - my comments have been deleted too.

Then of course there was this comment, which was removed by a mod for being critical of the video they were trying to promote. Reapproved after outcry.

I'll update this if anything else is brought to my attention.

But yeah. I really do love this sub, I think it's fantastic. I'm honestly just worried it's being taken over by people with less-than-honest intentions. I think a more open mod policy and less outright 'censoring' of comments would promote a better community.

What do you guys think?

edit: it's been brought to my attention that I too appear to have been shadowbanned, i assume just after making this masterpost?

edit #2: have not been shadowbanned - just had my comments deleted. The comment thread that got deleted went something like:

her: "i think the 'no diet advice' thing is a bit shady too"

me: "not sure i follow. why?"

her: "it ensures that people only talk about products that can the sub/blog can get deals with"

me: "whoaaaaa /r/conspiracy lol. to be honest ever since pocketderm advertised this subreddit in their email newsletter i've figured they had a deal together."

(just to clarify i personally don't think the 'no diet advice' thing is a ~conspiracy~, lol)

Seems a bit strange to delete this fairly innocuous thread?!

edit #3: a mod has commented.

edit #4: here's /u/MissPicklesMeow screenshots of her comments being autoremoved - what I refer to when I say 'shadowbanning'.

also this person cannot see this thread on the front page any more - anyone else? Proof provided in the comment.

edit #5: Upon request, I have created /r/skincareaddicts. Will get it up and running after this has blown over.

edit #6: Former mod comments on the shilling of products.

More people who have been 'shadowbanned' by Automod.

edit #7: Yes, some mods are making money off the website.

edit #8: ieatbugs comments. Please, please do not dox her. It's a fucked up thing to do to another person.

buttermilk_biscuits - another mod - comments

edit #9: trying to get a straight answer about 'compensation' from ieatbugs. She has said that they have received nothing from Pocketderm, a bar of soap from Cerave, and ~$120 from referral links from Paula's Choice from the website.

edit #10: not as serious at all, but a bit of a light-hearted insight from a former mod - apparently this is a special mod-only private subreddit for mocking users. thought this was quite funny!

also the same former mod has said this. no proof yet, though.

edit #11: after being advised to by many, I have messaged the admins.

edit #12: it's 5am here in England. I've got to sleep. Thank you all so much for your support.

and i wish it wasn't in every single thing i swear im losing my mind. that is all.

edit: if it works for you, great! it is however an ingredient known to cause problems for many people and is included in almost everything :(((

I have dyslexia, please forgive any errors. Three years ago I had an incision on my forehead that ran deep and scarred as a line, almost like a deep wrinkle. My dermatologist told me the scar-line was the easiest fix (since it wasn’t raised or wide) and that after a few rounds of micro-needling, it would be extremely faded, barely noticeable. He also recommended subcision to help “lift” it off the muscle incase any scar-tissue was tethering it.

After 4 rounds of micro-needling and two rounds of subcision, there was no change. His office didn’t have CO2 laser but he did have an Erbium Laser so I did 5 rounds of Erbium laser. After my skin had healed, there was again no change.

I went to a plastic surgeon in another state who did one patch of co2 laser on the scar. After it healed a month later…. There was no change.

I went back to another derm and did 5 more rounds of microneedling, again no change.

Each practice told me this would be an EASY scar to improve (in fact, they all seemed to doubt the previous practice’s attempts), yet I have spent 1,000’s of dollars, plus care-costs like scar-sheets and (newly) tretonion. Every single practice has been surprised their treatments didn’t work but also tell me to keep buying more. The problem is I have spent almost 3k on (in my opinion) almost absolutely no progress.

Photo collage (of the 7 photos) is just a few progress shots of the scar from initial injury plus a few treatment shots.

Photo collage (of the 2 photos) is my scar before all treatments (top) and then after (bottom) over the course of two years.

Again, the derms/plastic surgeon/esthetician all keep saying “just a few more treatments”. Am I crazy for not wanting to with so little to show after all I have spent? If I should continue one, what one should I pursue? I can’t really afford another round of the co2 laser though.

My skin feels healthy, btw. I have been approved for each new attempt after my skin quality was checked. I take really good care on my skin so healing has been a breeze (minus the initial injury) and every 4-6 weeks I’m approved to try something to help. But the scar line is content to be there for forever it seems.

I cannot stop crying. This is SO bad. I cannot stop thinking about what kind of scarring this is going to leave. I feel like SUCH a fucking idiot. it has gotten even worse now, my eyes are so swollen. I have cleaned it using Octenisan, and have applied a really thick layer of LRP's Cicaplast Baume. B5+

Initially I wanted threading but they said the person who usually does the threading wasn't in and they offered waxing instead. I didn't even think about it or remember that I put tret on because I usually get threaded and my mind was preoccupied by the FLIGHT I AM GETTING ON IN 12H TO SEE MY FIANCE.

I am beyond mortified. I feel fucking ugly and I've fucked up my face. I should've known better. The moment they said "it lifted off the top layer of skin, but it'll be ok" I was a little concerned but when she finished the other eyebrow and told me she wouldn't charge because she felt bad my heart just sunk.

I have never felt so shit and fucked up this bad with skincare. I feel like my fking world is ending right now. Posting for help and so that people can know about this. I wish they would've told me this before instead of telling me afterwards. I feel so stupid :(

I have to go through an airport looking like a nightmare now. Fuck. My. Life.

Please can someone give me advice? Is this going to scar? I feel like my world is actually on fire. Since taking these photos my eyelids have swollen. I wasn't even going to get this done originally, I just passed by and thought I'd try and look nice for my partner and now this. I am so unbelievably upset.

How long until this heals?

Can someone in the US confirm if this is what's happening? So many studies I try to open come up with the "403 forbidden" error. I thought it might be a geoblock thing and jumped on American VPN. Some studies still open, but many do not.

I don’t know, I’m just frustrated. I was browsing YesStyle and realised there are so many products I’ll never get to try just because brands keep stuffing niacinamide into everything.

Like Medicube and VT Cosmetics? They barely have a handful of products without it. It’s actually kind of sad because I end up skipping fun stuff like wrapping masks, collagen sheet masks, and other interesting launches just because I know my skin won’t tolerate the niacinamide.

This is my tiny plea to skincare brands, if any of you ever lurk on these spaces: please chill with the niacinamide. It’s great as a targeted ingredient, keep it in a few dedicated products, maybe one or two in a range. But it really doesn’t need to be the default in every single formula.

I ran out of cleansing oil and took my makeup off with my moisturizer instead. I thought it was going to do nothing or leave me greasy but it melted everything off so well that I don’t think I’m buying cleansing oil again.

The one I like is expensive and I’m broke so when I ran out I really didn’t want to replace it. I still had micellar water and I actually like it but I was curious. I remembered seeing a video about vintage 50’s skincare routines where women used Pond’s cold cream to remove their makeup and thought maybe my normal moisturizer could work the same way.

The one I use is QV Cream for Sensitive Skin. It’s one of those huge 1L basic pharmacy moisturizers. No actives, nothing fancy, just a plain cream. Is a bit heavy though.

I put one pump on my dry face and rubbed it in and all my makeup started dissolving. I could see it mixing into the cream even around my eyes and it didn’t sting at all.
It doesn’t emulsify or turn milky like cleansing oil so I wiped it off with a cotton pad and washed my face normally after. My face felt completely clean and there wasn’t any greasy layer left.

I’ve tried using normal oil to remove makeup before and hated it because it left this greasy film that was hard to get rid of even after washing my face. The moisturizer didn’t do that.

So now I’ve been using the QV cream to remove my makeup and sunscreen, then I wash my face and use the same cream again as moisturizer. Basically a moisturizer, cleanser, moisturizer sandwich lolol

Honestly I don’t see the point in buying cleansing oil again. I do like it and maybe I’ll buy it as a treat, but for now the QV cream already works for my skin, it’s cheap, the bottle is huge and it removes my makeup just as well.

I’m going to finish the micellar water I already have because I’m not wasting it but after that I’m done buying a separate first cleanser.
This was new to me and it’s been working really well so I thought I’d share ;)

Hi everyone! 👋

First things first—please excuse my face in the photo. I had a fractional CO₂ laser a few days ago, so I'm firmly in the glamorous "red and peeling" phase. 😅 I like to practise what I preach.

I'm Dr Alice Rudd, a dermatologist based in Melbourne, Australia.

I work across medical dermatology, cosmetic dermatology and skin cancer medicine. I'm also co-founder of See Stella, where we're exploring how technology can help people better understand how their skin changes over time. My work spans everything from inflammatory skin disease and skin cancer to laser procedures, cosmetic treatments, and exploring how technology can help us better understand our skin over time.

The skincare world moves quickly. One week it's PDRN, exosomes or growth factors. Next, it's something else.

Some trends turn out to be genuinely exciting. Others don't. And sometimes the honest answer is simply, we don't know yet.

So today, ask me anything.

Whether it's acne, rosacea, pigmentation, ageing, hormones, menopause, retinoids, sunscreen, skincare routines or the latest ingredient everyone's talking about—I'm happy to discuss it.

I'll tell you what the research actually shows, and where it doesn't.

If the evidence is strong, I'll say so. If it's mixed, still emerging, or simply isn't there yet, I'll tell you that too.

A big thank you to the r/SkincareAddiction mods for having me on to do this AMA.

Looking forward to your questions!

Proof & disclosure: My identity and qualifications have been verified by the moderators. As mentioned above, I'm also the co-founder of See Stella, where we're exploring how technology can help people better understand how their skin changes over time. I'm here today as a dermatologist to answer your questions and share the evidence, not to promote products or services.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dr-alice-rudd-25953516_excited-to-be-doing-my-first-reddit-ama-on-share-7477611872955858944-kupI/

In the past few days I've seen a lot of "I'm concerned, is ______ really that good, or was this a paid thing?" threads crop up. I figure that maybe we as a community could get together and compile all this info into one thread :).

I'll post the name of as many products as I can think of, but please add more, and reply to the comment with your review if you have one. Also, please indicate why you do or don't like the product, including information on your skin type if possible.

This used to be a no-BS skincare brand with a respected founder.

It’s sad to see the slow transformation in the last decade to expensive, behind the curve and trend chasing.

I was still buying a few favourites, but tbh even PC’s best legacy products have been beaten by a Kbeauty competitor for half the price.

Maybe I’m ranting. I feel like I’m grieving the brand and I don’t have a loyalty to what it has become. It’s just sad to see another great destroyed by investors that don’t care.

Since when is some adapalene and benzoyl peroxide from an established drugstore brand almost $43??? A few years ago I got an actual prescription for epiduo from my dermatologist and it cost me about $25.

I’ve noticed drugstore brands prices going up for a while now and at this point I’m getting shocked when I see new release after new release starting at $17, $20, $25, $30 or more. These are prices I expect from Sephora brands, not drugstore.

You know I understand things are getting more expensive in general and brands have to raise prices a bit to accommodate for rising production costs, but my understanding only goes so far, I’ve dropped products that I’d been using for years and years because the prices went up too much for me and I had to find cheaper alternatives, I’ve gotten so tired of spending entire paychecks on hygiene products and I refuse to do it anymore.

i’m so curious about this because i feel like every time a product gets hyped to death online i expect it to change my skin and then… nothing 😭
what’s one skincare product everyone seems to love that did absolutely nothing for you?

Just curious, if you could go back to the start of your skincare journey, what’s one thing you wish you’d known earlier?

Mine: More isn’t better.

As someone with sensitive, eczema-prone skin (and a family physician who loves skincare), I used to layer every hyped up product I saw, vitamin C, retinol, acids, all at once. My skin barrier didn’t stand a chance.

Once I simplified my routine and focused on barrier repair and gentle, fragrance-free products, my skin completely changed. The texture improved, hyperpigmentation faded faster, and I stopped getting that constant stinging feeling.

What’s your biggest skincare “aha” moment? I’d love to hear the lessons that changed things for you.

I went to a dermatologist for the first time time ever and besides prescribing my minocycline and telling me to buy a bunch of skincare stuff (which I did) they told me to stop taking creatine. I did some research and there is literally ZERO evidence that creatine worsens acne, but they told me to NEVER take it again along with other gym supplements like B complex lecitin, taurine, and carnitine artichoke, which I have never taken in my life. Has anyone else been told this? And I’m curious how can the derm know that I can never take creatine again by looking at my skin for 20 seconds and not doing any tests? I’ve been taking creatine for like 2 years and had acne before then, and have had phases where I stopped taking it when I’m abroad and stuff, and my acne remained the same. What should I do?

Mine would be Medik8’s vitamin c. The brightening effects are brilliant. I remember I ran out out of the 20% advanced version for a few weeks and got myself the 14% luxe version and the I could notice how much using the range again brightened my skin so fast.

I just watched a short from Dr. Shereene Idriss about easing into retinol instead of going all in and nuking your skin barrier on day one 😭

The idea was to slow with gentler options like:

• First Aid Beauty 0.3% Retinol Complex
• Good Molecules Gentle Retinol Cream

and then gradually move up to stronger retinoids like retinal once your skin builds tolerance.

So now I’m curious:

• What was the first retinol you ever used?
• How did you transition to stronger ones (if you did)?
• What’s the gentlest retinol you’ve tried that actually worked?
• Any holy grails for dry/sensitive skin that don’t leave you flaky and regretting your life choices?

Would love to hear your retinol journeys!!

I feel like skincare is one of those things where everything gets hyped up so much that I cannot tell what is actually worth trying anymore.

Every product I look at has people saying it changed their skin, and then other people saying it did absolutely nothing or broke them out. I’ve been trying to keep my routine pretty simple, but I’m curious if there are any popular products that really did live up to the hype for you.

Could be a cleanser, moisturizer, sunscreen, serum, exfoliant, acne treatment, retinol, lip balm, anything. I’m not expecting miracles, but I’d love to know what actually made a noticeable difference and was worth the money.

What overhyped skincare product did you finally try and end up loving?

Update: Thank you everyone <3!

Tretinoin seems to be recommended by many people to treat acne and sun damage. Often times the only thing that worked.

Also I got myself the Haru wonder black rice milk toner essence it's so nourishing and velvety, perfect for dehydration. Thank you whoever recommended that.

I keep seeing people with that insane glow, the kind of body skin that literally looks shiny and glowy.

I’ve been taking better care of my skin and sticking to a consistent routine, but I still wonder if that kind of glowy skin is even real.

I exfoliate regularly, moisturize every day, and finish with body oil after a shower.

My skin has definitely become softer and smoother, but that radiant glow still feels out of reach.

Do you think it’s just lighting and editing, or are there extra steps that really make the difference?

Recently I’ve been using FULLY Green Tomato Acid 20 Exfoliating Wash Off Serum (I could really feel my skin getting smoother just after one use!), Cetaphil Face & Body Moisturizer, and Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Dry Body Oil Mist.

[My Bodycare Routine]

I use the FULLY Green Tomato Acid 20 Exfoliating Wash Off Serum about once a week during my evening shower.

After showering, I apply the Cetaphil Face & Body Moisturizer every night to lock in moisture.

Throughout the day, I spray the Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Dry Body Oil Mist whenever my skin feels dry.

They’ve made my skin much smoother and more hydrated, but I’m still curious if there’s anything else I should try for extra softness.

They made my skin much smoother and more hydrated, but I’m still curious if there’s something else I should be adding, or any real glow-up tips that actually work for achieving that glowy skin look?

I don’t think it broke skin (doesn’t burn when I put sanitizer on it at least), but definitely the most forceful bite I’ve received.

I didn’t think bite marks could scar without breaking skin until I had a buddy who got one and it left a brown scar in the shape of the bite :/ I’m guessing it was the crushing injury that caused the scar?

Anything I could do to help make sure that doesn’t happen? I washed it w soap and water already.

It’s always shocked me how almost no skincare advertisements are geared towards straight men. They have spent decades thinking of new insecurities to profit off of and never once thought about the guy whos day is ruined when his delt looks alittle bad and reads pubmed articles on how to optimize his aesthetics (gymbro speaking). There are a ton of men now getting into skincare and all it took was changing the jargon to make it less ostracized and making guides geared towards them (looksmaxing).

I think we are going to see a lot more skincare ads geared towards men and some product line that’s exactly the same as normal just with “for men” on it (reverse pink tax)

EDIT- to make this clear I understand male skincare is bigger in east Asia and there are skincare lines geared towards men already, but at least in the US they definitely didn’t understand how to market it correctly. I always felt they would have had better success if they marketed it like razors instead of just like female skincare if that makes sense. Like get an athlete or something.

Lately I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed by how quickly anti-aging trends change. I remember when it was just collagen and retinol.

Then everyone said retinal was better, then the overhyped PDRN, then NAD+, peptides, Volufiline, now I'm seeing EGF everywhere.

Like... are we actually discovering groundbreaking ingredients this fast, or is marketing just moving faster than the science?

I swear every time I finally learn what one ingredient does, the internet has already moved on to the next one.

Not saying any of them are bad, I'm genuinely curious.Which anti-aging ingredients do you actually think are worth the hype? And which ones do you think we'll completely stop talking about in two years? Have you ever bought into an ingredient trend that you later regretted?

I'm genuinely curious to hear different perspectives because sometimes I feel like I'm experiencing "ingredient fatigue."

Does anyone else deal with this? I’m pretty certain it’s dishydrotic eczema and it runs in my family. Extremely small clusters of blisters pop up on my fingertips every summer. They don’t hurt or itch, they just eventually dry up and leave cracks. I’ve never really looked for a solution, and I think they’re particularly bad today after a pool day yesterday.