The Cica Family in the Serum: Centella, Madecassoside and Asiaticoside

Cica covers centella asiatica and the compounds inside it, including madecassoside and asiaticoside. Here is why the 2PY Serum carries all three as the calming half of its formula.

Back label of the Parang Blue 2PY Serum bottle

Madecassoside is one of the active compounds found in centella asiatica, the plant behind the ingredient family known in Korean skincare as cica. Asiaticoside is another. The 2PY Serum contains all three, the plant extract and both compounds, and together they form the calming half of the formula, alongside allantoin and aloe.

The exfoliating half of the 2PY Serum gets most of the attention: PHA, papain and yuzu. This post is about the other half, the part that makes a twice-daily exfoliating serum possible for skin that reacts.

What "cica" actually means

Cica is a shorthand used widely in Korean skincare for centella asiatica and the ingredients derived from it. The plant is sometimes called tiger grass or gotu kola. On a label, the family usually shows up in a few forms:

Name on the label	What it is
Centella asiatica extract	An extract of the whole plant
Madecassoside	A specific compound isolated from the plant
Asiaticoside	Another specific compound isolated from the plant

A product can call itself "cica" with only one of these on the label. The 2PY Serum contains the extract and the two compounds, so the cica group is present in three forms rather than one.

Why the calming half matters in an exfoliating serum

An exfoliating serum asks something of your skin. Even a gentle one, built on PHA rather than a faster acid, is doing work at the surface. For skin that reacts easily, the question is not only how strong the exfoliant is but what sits next to it.

In the 2PY Serum, the answer is a full soothing group:

Centella asiatica, the plant extract
Madecassoside and asiaticoside, two compounds from it
Allantoin, a standard, reliable soothing and conditioning ingredient
Aloe, long used in calming formulas

That group is the reason the serum was formulated for morning and night use rather than once or twice a week. The exfoliating side and the calming side were designed together, in the same bottle, rather than leaving the calming to a separate product.

We covered the exfoliating side in What PHA Is and Papain and Yuzu.

Why use the compounds and not just the plant

A plant extract is a mixture. Its makeup can vary with how and where the plant was grown and how the extract was made. Isolated compounds like madecassoside and asiaticoside are specific, named ingredients.

Including both the extract and the two compounds is a way of making sure the cica group is a real part of the formula rather than a name on the front of the box. We are careful not to promise more than that. These are soothing ingredients, there to help skin feel comfortable while the exfoliating ingredients do their work.

Where the cica group fits in the routine

The serum is not the only place calming ingredients appear. The Hydrasnow Cream, step two of the routine, carries its own soothing group: allantoin and aloe, the same two that sit alongside the cica group in the serum. The cream has no exfoliants at all, so the strongest step in the routine is followed by the quietest one.

That overlap is deliberate. The routine keeps a consistent calming thread from the first step to the second, rather than putting all the soothing work in one product.

Here is how the soothing ingredients are spread across the two products:

Soothing ingredient	2PY Serum	Hydrasnow Cream
Centella asiatica	Yes	No
Madecassoside	Yes	No
Asiaticoside	Yes	No
Allantoin	Yes	Yes
Aloe	Yes	Yes

The cica group lives in the serum because that is where the exfoliating work happens, and that is where a calming counterweight is most useful.

Using a cica serum day to day. There is nothing special to do. The 2PY Serum goes on clean skin, two or three drops pressed in, morning and night, followed by a moisturizer while the serum is still slightly damp. The calming group works alongside the exfoliating group in the same step, so there is no separate cica product to fit in.

What cica is not. It is not a fix for a skin condition, and we do not describe it as one. If your skin stays red, sore or irritated for more than a few days, whatever you are using, that is a question for a dermatologist rather than for any serum. Cica's role in this formula is narrower and more honest: helping skin feel comfortable while a gentle exfoliant does its work.

What else supports the cica group

The 2PY Serum also carries a moisturizing group:

Panthenol, pro-vitamin B5, a hydrating ingredient common in formulas for easily irritated skin
Five peptides: copper tripeptide-1, acetyl hexapeptide-8, palmitoyl pentapeptide-4, palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7 and palmitoyl tripeptide-1

Peptides are short chains of amino acids. They are conditioning ingredients, there for the feel and condition of the skin surface, not for anything dramatic.

Not in the bottle: added fragrance, parabens, silicones, mineral oils, dyes and PEG.

Quick answers

What is madecassoside?

Madecassoside is a compound found in centella asiatica, the plant behind the cica family of skincare ingredients. It is used as a soothing ingredient. In the 2PY Serum it appears alongside centella extract and asiaticoside as part of the formula's calming half.

Is cica the same as centella asiatica?

Close. Centella asiatica is the plant. Cica is the broader shorthand for the plant and the ingredients derived from it, including madecassoside and asiaticoside.

Can I use a cica serum if my skin is very reactive?

Start carefully with any new product. Try the 2PY Serum on a small area first, and if your skin has been reactive lately, use it every other night for the first week. It scored 0.00 in a primary skin irritation patch test (Cert. HM-IR0084-76), but that is a result on a test panel, not a prediction about your skin.