The best Glycolic Acid treatments

8 treatments we index contain Glycolic Acid. Only 7 publish a concentration that clears the effective threshold of 5% — so those are the only ones that can be ranked honestly. Here they are.

B #1 · The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution
$10 · 30% Glycolic Acid 81/100 B #2 · Paula's Choice 25% AHA + 2% BHA Exfoliant Peel
$42 · 25% Glycolic Acid 81/100 B #3 · Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Framboos Glycolic Night Serum
$90 · 10% Glycolic Acid 75/100 C #4 · L'Oréal Paris Revitalift Derm Intensives 10% Pure Glycolic Acid Serum
$30 · 10% Glycolic Acid 63/100 D #5 · Paula's Choice 8% AHA Gel Exfoliant
$38 · 8% Glycolic Acid 57/100 D #6 · COSRX AHA 7 Whitehead Power Liquid
$25 · 7% Glycolic Acid 57/100 D #7 · Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 8% AHA Gel Exfoliant
$33 · 8% Glycolic Acid 57/100

Why the list is this short

1 other treatments contain Glycolic Acid but publish no concentration. A treatment can list Glycolic Acid on the front of the box at a dose far below what the research supports, and nothing on the label would tell you. We don't guess a number, so those stay ungraded — see the full Glycolic Acid picture and the open rubric.

Common questions

What's the best Glycolic Acid treatment?

By disclosed dose, The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution grades highest (B, 81/100). It's ranked on the concentration the brand actually publishes, not on marketing.

How many treatments disclose their Glycolic Acid concentration?

7 of the 8 treatments we index that contain Glycolic Acid. The other 1 list it without a number, so we withhold a grade rather than guess.

Get "Efficacy Grade of the Week"

We deconstruct one viral product a week — the active, the dose, the receipts. Free, and you can't pay us to inflate a grade.