My experience with retinol

I was a bit nervous to start using retinol products to be honest. Every time I start using something different I’m a bit worried how my skin will react and adjust to new ingredients in skin care. I have quite sensitive skin that is prone to breakouts, so testing new ingredients and skin care products can be a challenge. My skin definitely reacted strongly to my first use of retinol. I decided to start with the lowest concentration of retinol that I could find in serum and that was Nacomi Retinol 0.25%. For the first month of use I used serum twice a week. After a month of use, I decided to include it three times a week. My skin definitely had a strong reaction. First my skin broke out really badly. I got blemishes everywhere, my forehead was really bad. I also got blemishes on my cheeks which I rarely do.

First thing that I noticed about retinol is that my skin had a slight burning sensation when I applied it. My skin would get red and I would feel like my skin is burning a bit, it wasn’t strong, but I definitely felt it. After a few uses that calmed down. I guess my skin needed to adjust to retinol as it is sensitive. I also noticed that my skin would peel and look really dry. I first thought that was due to winter weather and that my skin was in general dry. But I noticed as I started using retinol again in summer that it gave me the same look on skin. My skin would look dry and it would peel. I have to say that I definitely took good care of my skin, like I would moisturise it well after using retinol serum and my morning skin care routine was pretty intense as well. In my morning skin care routine I would use hyaluronic acid serum, moisturising day cream and SPF 50.

I definitely think that you need patience and a good routine while using products with retinol. I have to admit I couldn’t keep my routine for long, as I couldn’t bare the breakouts and the mess that my skin was in. After I sorted that out, I slowly started using retinol again. This time I did get breakouts, but it wasn’t as bad as the first time. I do enjoy using retinol, I definitely see why people love it. It really helps skin regenerate faster and heal quicker. I had a bad rash around my mouth due to kissing my husband when he had a 2 day beard. That irritates my skin always, but 2-3 times it was really bad. I noticed that when I used retinol serum in my night time skin care routine it healed a lot faster than before. If you are just starting with retinol I would recommend using something like Delia Cosmetics retinol sleeping mask. I used that after I got a lot of blemishes from using retinol serum and realised that it might be a bit too intense for me. I think that Delia retinol sleeping mask really made my skin adjust to retinol gently with time, so when I went back to using serum I didn’t get breakouts everywhere on my face.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my retinol experience. Please keep in mind that everyone’s skin is different and you might not experience any bad issues when starting with retinol in your skin care routine. When my friend first started using retinol, she started with higher concentration and didn’t have any issues. So, retinol definitely might be just great for you from the beginning. For me it definitely took time to adjust my skin to it, but it is worth the trouble for sure. That is all for me today. I hope you enjoyed this blog post. Do you use retinol in your skincare routine? What is your experience with retinol? Did you have issues with retinol at the beginning or was it simple and easy for you? What is your favourite retinol product? Thank you for reading. Have a nice day! xx