Bryan Johnson’s Skincare Routine (2026) – Products, Protocol & Results

In this article we’ll look at the full skincare protocol Johnson uses in 2026.

Until his 40s, Bryan Johnson didn’t think much about his skin. He skipped sun protection, ate poorly, and by his own account his skin sat in the 98th percentile for damage when he started Blueprint. 

In 2025, he reported a 9-year reduction in measured skin age. He went from a skin age of 40 at chronological age 44 to a skin age of 39 at chronological age 48 (source). And he continues on this skincare journey in 2026 too. 

TLDR: Bryan Johnson Skincare Protocol

• Skincare foundations first: He avoids midday sun, sleeps 7 to 9 hours, eats whole foods, and cuts junk and fried food before any product comes into play.
• Daily topicals: He cleanses, applies a serum, then a moisturizer, all built around an active called SFC, plus prescription tretinoin at night.
• Diet and supplements: Collagen peptides, polyphenols from olive oil, cocoa flavanols, berries, and oral nicotinamide riboside support skin from the inside.
• In-clinic therapies: Two laser sessions, focused ultrasound (Sofwave) and monopolar radiofrequency (Everesse), every six months.
• Whole-body support: Daily red and near-infrared light panels, a structured HBOT block, and a sauna routine with moisturizer before and serum plus moisturizer after.
• What has changed: Standalone niacinamide and vitamin C are gone, replaced by the SFC line; Sculptra, Tixel, and microdosed Accutane have given way to newer lasers and Everesse.

Skincare Basics

Before any product, Bryan Johnson’s skincare routine leans on a few habits that cost nothing.

He avoids direct sun between 10am and 4pm, when UV is strongest. When he can’t, he covers up with UV-protective clothing or a mineral sunscreen rather than relying on a chemical filter (source).

The rest is unglamorous:

• Sleep: 7 to 9 hours a night.
• Diet: A whole-foods diet, heavy on plants.
• What he cuts: Junk and processed food.

Daily Skincare Protocol

Bryan Johnson’s daily skincare routine is short. Morning and night he cleanses, applies a serum, then a moisturizer. At night he adds tretinoin. Every product here is from Blueprint’s own skincare line, which is worth keeping in mind: he both uses these products and sells them.

The common thread across the three Blueprint products is SFC (Disodium Succinoyl Farnesylcysteine), an active the brand positions as its headline ingredient. NMN and hyaluronic acid feature too. We’ll take each step in order.

Blueprint Cleanser

The Blueprint Cleanser opens both the morning and evening routine. Cleansing clears the day’s oil, dirt and residue so the products that follow land on clean skin rather than a film. 

Blueprint Serum

Next comes the Blueprint Serum, the most active step. It carries the highest concentration of SFC alongside NMN and hyaluronic acid.

A note on the ingredients:

• SFC: Blueprint says SFC has shown better results than niacinamide for the look of fine lines and wrinkles in its own studies. Independent, peer-reviewed head-to-head comparisons haven’t been published yet, so this is best read as the brand’s characterisation rather than settled fact.
• NMN: Topically, NMN is meant to enhance the skin barrier. Animal studies¹β-Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Enhances Skin Barrier Function and Attenuates UV-B-Induced Photoaging in Mice | Kim et al. | 2025 | Antioxidants found restored hydration, reduced wrinkle formation, and lower inflammatory markers (TNF-alpha, IL-6). Human topical data is still emerging.
• Hyaluronic acid: A well-established humectant that binds water at the skin surface to hold moisture.

Blueprint Moisturizer

The Blueprint Moisturizer closes the routine, sealing in the serum and reinforcing the barrier. 

Tretinoin

At night Johnson adds tretinoin, a prescription-only retinoid. Tretinoin has the strongest independent evidence of anything in his routine, with decades of randomised trial data behind it for fine lines, texture and photodamage. He doesn’t specify a concentration; older accounts of his protocol cited 0.025 to 0.1%. For readers who can’t or don’t want to get a prescription, over-the-counter retinol is the milder, non-prescription cousin.

Because it’s prescription-only and can irritate skin when introduced too fast, tretinoin is something to discuss with a dermatologist rather than source informally.

Diet and Supplementation for Skin

Bryan Johnson treats skin as something fed from the inside as much as treated from the outside. His diet and supplement stack overlap heavily with his broader supplement list.

On the food side, his protocol points to:

• Collagen peptides: 20 to 30g daily.
• Polyphenols: From extra virgin olive oil.
• Flavanols: From cocoa.
• Antioxidants: From berries, vegetables and supplements.
• Plant protein and fiber: Across the diet.

On the supplement side, two Blueprint products do skin-specific work daily:

• Nicotinamide riboside: In Blueprint Essential Capsules.
• Hyaluronic acid: 120mg daily in Blueprint Longevity Mix.

Skin-Focused Therapies

Roughly once every six months, Bryan Johnson runs a set of in-clinic treatments aimed directly at the face. These are clinic-grade procedures, not at-home tools, and the cost and access reflect that. His rationale is that each one works on a different layer or by a different mechanism.

• 1927-nm laser: Works on the skin’s outer layer to improve pigmentation, skin texture, sun-related damage, and small wrinkles.
• 1550-nm laser: Penetrates deeper into the skin to promote collagen and elastin production, helping improve skin tightness and reduce acne scarring.
• Sofwave: Uses focused ultrasound energy in the middle skin layers to boost collagen and elastin formation while leaving the skin surface unharmed.
• Everesse: Employs monopolar radiofrequency to tighten existing collagen immediately and stimulate fibroblasts, supporting gradual lifting, volume enhancement, and no recovery time.

The two lasers split surface versus structural work. Sofwave and Everesse both build collagen but by different routes, with Everesse adding a dual-depth lifting effect the others don’t.

Whole-Body Therapies

Some of what Bryan Johnson credits for his skin isn’t applied to the face at all. Three whole-body therapies feature in his current skincare protocol.

Red and Near-Infrared Light

Daily, Johnson uses red and near-infrared light panels at 660-nm and 850-nm. Red/NIR light at these wavelengths has shown improvements in collagen density, wrinkle depth and skin roughness across multiple clinical trials, which makes it one of the better-evidenced items in his routine. 

If you’re looking for an at-home red light therapy solution, Rhonda Patrick’s red light therapy setup covers the at-home face-mask version of the same idea.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)

Bryan Johnson has described Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) as one of the most powerful interventions in his longevity protocol. The treatment involves breathing pure oxygen inside a pressurized chamber, increasing oxygen delivery to tissues throughout the body.

His protocol mirrors a clinical study²The effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on the pathophysiology of skin aging: a prospective clinical trial | Hachmo et al. | 2021 | Aging (Albany NY) that used 60 sessions over 12 weeks, with participants spending 90 minutes per session at 2 ATA. Researchers found improvements in several markers associated with healthier, more resilient skin, including increased collagen density, longer elastic fibers, improved blood vessel formation, and fewer senescent (“aged”) cells.

Study highlights:

• 12.8% increase in collagen density
• 144% increase in elastic fiber length
• 40.9% increase in blood vessel count
• 21% reduction in senescent cells

While these findings are promising, it’s worth noting that the results came from an intensive three-month treatment protocol rather than an occasional wellness session.

Dry Sauna

Bryan Johnson also folds his sauna sessions into skincare with a simple sequencing tip.

• Before entering: He applies Blueprint moisturizer as a barrier.
• After: He reapplies serum and then moisturizer to restore the barrier.

The logic is that heat and sweat strip moisture, so a barrier layer going in and a rebuild coming out limits the loss. It’s also one of the lower-barrier steps in the protocol, and it works with any moisturizer and serum, not just Blueprint’s.

How His Routine Has Changed

The current protocol looks noticeably different from the one he ran in 2023. The shape is the same; the parts have been swapped out. If you want to learn more about his old skincare routine, check out our article on it.

On the daily topicals:

• Then: Standalone niacinamide, vitamin C, and a mix of third-party products (CeraVe, EltaMD and others).
• Now: Blueprint’s own SFC-based cleanser, serum and moisturizer.

On the in-clinic side:

• Then: Sculptra, Tixel and microdosed Accutane (around 40mg weekly).
• Now: 1927-nm and 1550-nm lasers and Everesse RF. Sofwave carries over from the earlier era.

And there are genuinely new additions: a detailed HBOT block, the structured sauna routine, and Everesse all appear in the current protocol but not the old one.

The protocol has shifted from third-party products toward Blueprint’s own line, which makes the commercial context worth holding in mind even as the measured results look real.

Roundup

Bryan Johnson went from the 98th percentile of skin damage at 44 to a measured 9-year reduction by 48. The protocol that got him there is not one thing. It is sun discipline and sleep at the base, a three-step daily topical routine built around SFC and tretinoin, food and supplements working from the inside, twice-yearly clinic procedures targeting different skin layers, and whole-body tools like red light and HBOT on top.

Most of it is replicable in some form. The basics cost nothing. Tretinoin is prescription-only in most countries but widely available through online prescription services. Red light panels are widely available. The laser and HBOT sessions are the expensive end and most people will not go that far.

If you have questions or comments regarding Bryan Johnson’s skincare routine, please leave them below.

Further Reading

If you found this article useful, you might also enjoy these:

• Bryan Johnson’s Peptide List – The peptides he currently uses, the ones he stopped, and his framework for using them safely with biomarker feedback.
• Rhonda Patrick’s Skincare Routine – How another longevity-focused researcher approaches topicals, supplements, and sun protection from the inside out.
• How Rhonda Patrick Uses Red Light Therapy – A closer look at the 660-nm and 850-nm wavelengths Johnson also uses daily, and the clinical evidence behind them.
• Rhonda Patrick’s Sauna Protocol – The heat exposure research and session structure from someone who has studied the data as closely as anyone.

Thumbnail adapted from a photo by Katriece Ray for Kernel via Wikimedia Commons

FAQs

References

• 1
  β-Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Enhances Skin Barrier Function and Attenuates UV-B-Induced Photoaging in Mice | Kim et al. | 2025 | Antioxidants
• 2
  The effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on the pathophysiology of skin aging: a prospective clinical trial | Hachmo et al. | 2021 | Aging (Albany NY)