NAD Serum
NAD Serum from Skin by Render, built on Nad+. Below: what's in it, whether the active actually reaches the layer it needs to, where it goes in a routine, and what to expect.
NAD Serum at a glance
| Sold by | Skin by Render |
| Price | $34.98 |
| Where it goes | Serum — thinnest first |
| Key active | Nad+ |
Does Nad+ actually work on skin?
This is a different question from whether it works injected, and the answer is often different too — a molecule has to survive the stratum corneum before any of its biology matters. Full Nad+ breakdown →
Human clinical evidence
- No meaningful controlled evidence for topical NAD+ on skin. The systemic NAD+ literature is a separate argument and does not transfer to a serum.
Correlative data
- A recent and heavily marketed addition to skincare. Reported experience is hard to separate from the rest of the formula.
How the mechanism reads
- NAD+ is central to cellular energy and to sirtuin and PARP activity, and skin NAD+ falls with age and UV exposure. Replenishing it locally is a reasonable idea.
- NAD+ is ~663 Da and highly polar — close to the practical limit for passive skin penetration, and the polarity works against it. Whether a topical raises NAD+ in living skin at all is not established.
- NAD+ is large, charged and unstable — close to a worst case for crossing intact skin — which is why serious topical work in this space uses precursors rather than the dinucleotide itself. A product listing NAD+ high in the ingredients is making a penetration claim it has not evidenced.
- The mitochondrial argument for skin is genuinely interesting (energy availability for repair, sirtuin signaling), and it is currently better served by the oral route, where the human data actually is.
How to use NAD Serum
Step 3 — Serum — thinnest first
AM. Sits comfortably under sunscreen. The mechanism is interesting and the molecule is large, charged and hard to get through skin. Run it as a supporting layer, and keep the expectation with the oral route where the human data is.
What to expect, and when
Unclear — topical NAD+ has no controlled evidence. Treat as experimental.
Where to get NAD Serum
Buy NAD Serum at Skin by Render →What bloodwork can and cannot tell you here
None of this shows up in your bloodwork, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. A cosmetic is a local intervention: the actives small enough to cross the stratum corneum act on the fibroblasts and keratinocytes in the millimetre underneath it, and the amount reaching your circulation is nowhere near enough to move a serum number. That is not a criticism of the product. It is the reason a lab result cannot tell you whether it is working, and the reason the honest measurement is a photograph in the same light twelve weeks apart.
What blood work is for here is the half of skin aging a cream cannot reach. Intrinsic aging is glycation, chronic inflammation and the substrate your fibroblasts have to build with — all measurable, all correctable, and all of it working against the serum while you use it.
NAD+ is a large, unstable, water-soluble molecule, and the delivery argument for a topical is weaker than the marketing. Separately, there is no NAD+ test in the routine catalog at all — whole-blood NAD is a research assay, so even the oral NAD+ story is not one you can follow on a lab report.
| Marker | Why it matters for this |
|---|---|
| HbA1c (Hemoglobin A1c) | Glycation cross-links dermal collagen from the inside; no cream reaches that |
| hs-CRP (High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein) | Chronic inflammation degrades matrix faster than a serum rebuilds it |
| Ferritin | Under the skin-and-hair threshold, repair slows whatever you apply |
| Vitamin D (25-Hydroxy) | Commonly low, and barrier function and repair both depend on it |
| IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor 1) | The growth-longevity trade-off, and a direct driver of sebum output |
The Longevity Baseline panel covers these in one order — 13 markers, $219.10 with the discount applied.
Collagen synthesis & dermal matrix → — the internal side of the same problem, and what to do about it.
Check results you already have → · All 103 markers A–Z
Other Nad+ products in the Vault
The rest of the routine
Every cosmetic in the Vault is free to read — mechanism, evidence, layering and where to buy, no login. What Skool adds is the compound side: 278 peptides and small molecules with dosing, cycling and the protocols that use them.
Join Skool — $10/mo →