What is all this retinol hype? and should you get amongst it?
Most of us have heard of Retinol, its claimed to be a absolute skincare hero but it comes with unwanted side effects apparently…
If you’re anything like me, you want to see actual results from your skincare products, but, you don’t want to aggravate your skin in the process.
In this short article I’m going to tell you why there is so much hype when it comes to retinol and if you can avoid the negative side effects when using it.
Why the retinol hype?
The hype is real because Retinol works (and it gets a lot of marketing…)
Originally retinol (Vitamin A) was used to treat acne, but a side effect was noticed…It was affecting other skin concerns too i.e. pigmentation, fine lines and wrinkles and that all important glow!
Very simply retinol is a ‘active’ ingredient, which means it can get deeper into the skin than most other ingredients.
This means it can actually make changes to the skin, whereas a lot products only sit on the surface and do very little (yes, I’m looking at you pretty-packaged, over-priced moisturisers!). Strong retinols have been used in Dermatology for many years, and now weaker over-the-counter versions are available everywhere in beauty products.
What does Retinol do?
The main function of retinol is to encourage cell-turnover, which is basically like our skins natural exfoliating process, without a good cell turnover our dead skin builds up making our skin look dull, aaand our skin becomes sluggish and cannot work efficiently. In comes the hero retinol and smooths all the dead skin away! Yay!
The other exciting thing retinol does is to increase the production of collagen, not many ingredients can do that either!
Where’s the proof it actually works?
Retinol has been scientifically proven to make a difference to many skin concerns, there have been many studies and tests, plus (and whats important to me) is i’ve seen it work with my own eyes; on my own skin AND on many of my clients too.
What about side effects?
Just like the hype, the negative side effects are real too, but only if you don’t follow the instructions. If you use retinol too frequently you’ll get redness, dryness and irritation, and may never want to use it again (which would be a real shame and such a waste) similarly, if you use a retinol thats too-strong.
How to easily avoid the unwanted side effects of retinol:
Go slow, theres no rush with retinol.
If used incorrectly you are highly likely to get unwanted side effects that you’ll have to take time to recover from – this is unnecessary. Simply follow the directions carefully and take advice from a skin expert. We want our skin to get used to retinol gradually…
I advise my clients to start off using it just twice a week (at night) for a couple of weeks and then depending on how your skin responds you can either continue with this, or increase to three times a week…
So there you have it, there IS good reason for the ‘retinol-hype’ and in my opinion you should definitely get involved, especially as you can easily avoid the unwanted side effects.
What next? You’ve got a few options…
You can buy a great starter retinol product here
You can join the waitlist for my upcoming Retinol mini course here.
or…If you’re still unsure about retinol or maybe you’d like to learn more about your skin you can book a ‘Skin-Fix’ with me; a 1:2:1 bespoke skin consultation.
See you soon
BW
Louise