what we'll be discussing a few things including what is retinol how to use retinol including my favorite tips and tricks as well as advice and we'll give you some pearls towards the end so what
is retinol retinol is the most powerful molecule in dermatology this has been
with us for well over four decades this
ingredient is what most dermatologists
will start you off firstly to treat acne
but also your anti-aging skin care
routine so guys this is why retinol is
super important in learning how to use
it and understanding the tips and tricks
which I'll go through later on is super
important so that your whole skincare
journey is not only effective but also
will be trouble free so retinol is a
vitamin a derivative other vitamin A's
includes things like retinol and
palmitate retinaldehyde and a whole heap
of other drugs that we're using
Dermatology called retinoids and they
include adapaline triferatine tazaritin
and all those big names so retinol
itself how does it work in the skin
basically it reduces the amount of sun
damage that your skin may receive over
many decades of photoaging so it does so
by increasing the amount of turnover
that your cells have so it speeds up
your turnover in turn reducing dull skin
it can also reduce sebum production and
sebum as you guys know is the number one
cause of acne it also helps with
collagen stimulation and this is super
important because retinol stimulates
your fibroblasts to produce natural
collagen additionally dermatologists use
this to reduce the amount of
pigmentation in your skin as it also
suppresses the cells called melanocyte
so what's my experience with retinol as
a dermatologist we get given a lot of
products like a lot and I'll tell you
this not all cheap products are bad and
not all expensive products are good so
my experience with this find the
formulation that suits your skin type so
something like this if you have dry skin
head towards something like a retinol
formulation in the cream base so Murad
makes an excellent retinol formulations
because they actually suit dry skin or
more sensitive skin the flip side with
retinol is that if you have more
resistant skin you can use something
like a serum which is basically less
occlusive but it has a lot higher
concentration of retinol in a smaller
volume so how do we use retinol retinol
if you've never used it before start low
so start something like 0.5 percent and
increase as tolerated one of the best
tips I can give you is to buy a
formulation that you can afford that you
actually will like using so cheap
doesn't mean is bad but expensive
doesn't mean it's good so you've got to
try and basically find something that's
in the middle of the road so I can give
you some recommendations down below so
guys start every second night or even
every third night and then increase as
tolerated use it after a bath or shower
apply a tiny amount like a pea-sized
amount to the areas that you want to
treat so this could include the face
neck and chest
from there you build up very slowly so
retinol itself can be used with certain
other skincare ingredients in certain
skincare ingredients should not be used
as retinol so what can you use with
retinol retinol pairs well with
something called niacidamide or vitamin
B3 vitamin B3 can be used at the same
time or even an hour before or an hour
after retinol application another good
Agent you can use if you have
inflammatory acne or sensitive skin such as rosacea is azalic acid so azalic acid
can be applied once again an hour before or an hour after retinol another frequent ingredient that we add is
simple vitamin E vitamin E itself is
known as tocophalol and vitamin E can
help improve your Skin Barrier function
but it's also a very important
antioxidant what this means is that it
helps protect your skin against
environmental and UV damage so we talked
about what can be paired with retinol we
what should not be used as retinol the
most important thing is not to use other
potential irritants so one of the most
common irritants that we see as
dermatologists is vitamin C vitamin C as
the name suggests it's ascorbic acid
with the word acid means that most
formulations of vitamin C have a very
low PH so somewhere in between
ph3 and 3.5 so what that means is that
it has a lower pH in your skin and hence
it can irritate the Skin So when you're
applying vitamin C together with retinol
all you're doing is compounding the
potential irritation so what you should
do in that situation is to use vitamin C
in the morning because vitamin C is an
antioxidant and can contribute to your
collagen production now you can use your
retinol at night but once again start
very slowly and increase from there now
the other ingredient you should not be
using is Alpha hydroxy acids so things
like lactic acid glycolic acid mandelic
acid citric acid all these skincare
acids much like ascorbic acid are
formulated with a very low PH so if you
apply both it's going to cause you some
skin irritation the same applies to
something called benzyl peroxide or BPO
which is very frequently used to treat
acne so guys those are my top hints in
regards to how to use retinol so in
summary buy the best retinol that you
can afford that slowly and increase is
tolerated think about how you're going
to use retinol with your current skin
care routine and how to integrate it
with other
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