At a glance
Texture — Cream
Key Active — Ammonium lactate 15%
Best For — See below — buy Intensive Healing instead
Price Tier — $$
What stands out
The acid was real. 15% ammonium lactate is a strong, effective keratolytic, and it worked for the same things every other AmLactin works for — rough, dry, bumpy skin.
It was cheap and widely stocked.
That is the honest case, and we will not stretch it, because AmLactin themselves have stopped making it.
Watch out for
It appears to be discontinued. It is gone from AmLactin's current lineup. What is on shelves is old stock.
And you should not chase it, because it was their worst formula. Set side by side with Intensive Healing 15% — the same acid, the same strength:
- Ultra Smoothing: 12 ingredients. No ceramides. Contains methylparaben and propylene glycol. A plain mineral-oil and petrolatum base.
- Intensive Healing: 21 ingredients. Three ceramides, phytosphingosine, cholesterol. Paraben-free.
Same acid. One of them repairs the barrier that acid damages; the other does not.
If you liked this, buy Intensive Healing 15%. It is the same strength, and it is better.
It makes you burn more easily — and the label says for longer than you think. The alpha hydroxy acid warning tells you to use sunscreen and protective clothing while using it "and for a week afterwards." Almost nobody reads that far.
Key ingredients
💧 Glycerin — deep hydration
🧪 Lactic Acid (15%) — powerful exfoliation
Formulation Notes
Two products, one active, one strength — and a completely different result.
This is the clearest illustration on the site of a point we keep making: the active is rarely the whole product.
Ultra Smoothing and Intensive Healing both delivered 15% ammonium lactate. One did it in a bare mineral-oil base. The other did it alongside the exact lipids the acid strips out.
The molecule was identical. The experience was not.