This $7 peel from popular skincare brand The Ordinary claims to unclog pores and even texture

• The Ordinary's popular AHA + BHA Peeling Solution promises a week's worth of exfoliation in a single use.
• Insider producer Celia Skvaril tried the peel and discussed its results with content creator and skin-care specialist Hyram Yarbro, who loves the product for its low price and easy use.
• Mara Leighton from our Insider Reviews team also tried the peel and was impressed with its skin-smoothing results at such a cheap price. Read Mara's full review here.
• When you buy through our links, we may earn money from our affiliate partners. Learn more.

Following is a transcript of the video.

Celia Skvaril: Today I am trying this peeling solution from The Ordinary. I have seen it everywhere. I feel like it's all over social media right now, so of course I needed to try it. But also it's supposed to help with textural irregulerrties... [beep] irregulerrties? [beep] Irregulerrities. You know when you say a word so much you don't know if it's a word anymore? It's also supposed to help with textural irregularities and lackluster tone. Two things that I struggle with, so, perfect. I feel like a lot of my active acne has cleared up, and I'm just left with a lot of scars now. So I think that this could be really helpful for me. I've used a few AHAs and BHA chemical exfoliants before, but to be honest, I just heard they were good for you, and I don't know what those things mean. So Hyram has very graciously offered to come back and talk to me about this product.

Hyram Yarbro: Hi, I'm Hyram, and I'm a YouTube skin-care content creator.

Celia: Yay! It's a tongue twister. [both laugh] What do AHAs and BHAs really do?

Hyram: Yes. So, both ingredients are exfoliants, but they operate differently. AHAs refer to multiple ingredients, like glycolic acid or lactic acid or a bunch of others. What they do is they dissolve the dead skin cells off of the surface of your skin. And then you have BHA, which actually is only one ingredient. It's salicylic acid. And salicylic acid is the smallest of all the molecules for exfoliants, so it goes deepest into the pore and pushes out all the dirt, the excess oil, the sebum, the built-up dead skin cells, which means it's best for people with acne or breakout-prone skin. But you absolutely have to wear sunscreen if you're gonna be using it because it does, AHAs and BHA make your skin really sensitive to the sun. This is a great way to just, like, reset your skin. Just getting basically a week's worth of exfoliation into one specific treatment. But if you do have any really intense acne scars or any really intense dark spots, I wouldn't say that this is gonna be the miracle product for that.

Celia: You're supposed to use this on a clean face, so I just washed my face with my normal cleanser. I have used acid exfoliants before, and my skin isn't very sensitive, but just to be safe, I did a patch test a few days ago, and I'm all clear. OK, I know I need to shave my face, so please ignore, but we're all doing the best we can. They look very dry. You don't wanna get this near your eyes or in your mouth, so you can use a little bit of Vaseline on those areas to protect them. I'm going to put it on now. I'm applying it to the areas of my face that have the most scarring first, so they're on there longer. It feels a little bit uncomfy. Nothing bad. It feels a little bit itchy and a little bit stingy, but to be honest I kind of like that feeling 'cause I think it's working then. I don't know if that's true. Look at me acting like I know what I'm talking about. [laughs] So, I feel like you can really see, like, the glossiness of it and that it penetrated into all of the pores and crinkles on my face.

OK, my timer just went off, so I'm in the bathroom now, if you couldn't tell, and I'm gonna take this off. Roll my sleeves up. If you're worried about any of the acid still being on your face, you could cleanse with a very gentle cleanser or a pH cleanser. Also you could apply a gentle moisturizer here. I just wanna see what my skin looks like right after, with nothing, so I'm not doing anything.

OK, my first impressions. I don't know if this will make sense, but I feel like since I've had this really bad breakout, I felt like my face was never even. It's obviously still not perfect color-wise, but I feel like for the first time in a few months, my face actually looks even. When I'm looking at myself right now, everything looks like... [makes sucking noise] It just looks, like, smoothed over, like I have a filter. Like I have the perfect filter on Instagram on or the beauty filter on TikTok on right now. Like, that's what I feel like. I'm... I'm actually speechless. My pores look so small. Oh, my God! This was a blackhead before, and it's gone! It's helped get the dryness around the scars to go away. Hyram told me that I would see an immediate difference, and I believed him, but I didn't think it would be like this. I feel like it looks beautiful, and I haven't said my face looks beautiful in a very long time. I 100% am going to be using this again. I'm obsessed with it. I need to reevaluate my life, because I don't know what I've been doing without it for so long. When I think, when I think... when I think of, when I think of.... Am I a broken record?