The 3-4-5 cream: how to read a formula built in three groups, and who a calming moisturizer is for
Dr.Althea's 345 Relief Cream sorts its ingredients into three jobs: clearing, nourishing and soothing. What each group does, which parts are well understood, and why it has suddenly taken off.
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Researched. We have not used this one long enough to give you a verdict, and we would rather say so than invent one. What follows is how it works, who it suits, and what it will not do. When we have used it properly, this page carries the verdict and the date.
Searches for this Korean cream have broken out in the last week. The name comes from the way the formula is organised: three ingredients for blemishes, four for nourishment, five for soothing. It is a helpful way to read it, because each group is doing a different job.
The 3: for blemishes and tone
According to the listing, a blend of niacinamide and plant extracts aimed at dark marks, blemishes and uneven tone. Niacinamide is the one with a strong track record: it helps with uneven tone and redness and is one of the best-tolerated ingredients there is. We explain it in niacinamide: what the percentage means.
The 4: for nourishment
Ceramide NP, resveratrol and sodium DNA from rice bran, among others, according to the listing. Ceramides are part of the skin's own barrier fats. Resveratrol is an antioxidant. The sodium DNA is a plant-derived version of the idea behind PDRN, the salmon-derived ingredient we wrote about in what PDRN actually is — and like PDRN in a cream, it is the least established part of the formula.
The 5: for soothing
Centella asiatica, madecassoside — one of centella's main active compounds — and tea tree leaf water, among others. Centella is one of the better-supported calming ingredients in skincare. Tea tree is soothing for many people and irritating for some, which we covered in tea tree toner pads.
Who it is for
Sensitive skin that also gets breakouts, red marks or redness — the combination that makes so many products a gamble. The listing describes a moisturizing cream with a silky, non-greasy finish, vegan, and tested as suitable for breakout-prone skin. It is a calm, everyday moisturizer, not a treatment.
How to use it
As the moisturizer step, morning and night, after serums and before sunscreen in the morning. If your skin is very reactive, try it on your jaw for a few days first; a long ingredient list gives more for sensitive skin to react to, however gentle each ingredient is.
Why it is trending
Korean skincare that combines calming ingredients with something for marks and tone has been popular for a while, and a cream that does both in one step suits people who want fewer products. That is a sensible reason for its popularity — and a reminder that popularity is not the same as a verdict.
What it will not do
It will not deal with active, inflamed breakouts on its own — that is a job for salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide or a doctor. It will not fade dark marks quickly, and not at all without daily sunscreen. And its plant-DNA ingredient has not been shown to do what the clinic versions of PDRN do.
The product
A Korean calming moisturizer that combines niacinamide, barrier support and soothing centella. Sold by the brand's own Amazon store when we checked.
The one people are searching for is the Dr.Althea 345 Relief Cream, 1.69 fl oz.
We do not print prices here, because a price we typed last month is a price that is wrong today.
Written by JamieG in Garner Town, Tennessee.
JamieG
Skincare and fragrance. Garner Town, Tennessee — population 125, two of whom are us.
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