Can retinol be used for a long time? What are the retinol products?

The recent trend of taking C in the morning and A at night is a trend of using retinol in the skin care industry. Retinol is known to improve fine lines, wrinkles, and photoaging. So can retinol be used for a long time? What are the related products?

What is A-alcohol

Retinol, also known as retinol, is a derivative of vitamin A, including retinol, retinal, retinoic acid, retinol acetate and retinol palmitate. Retinol has the function of promoting the formation of collagen and has great advantages in improving skin photoaging, fine lines, wrinkles and pigmentation.

Retinol is the gold standard for skin care products, but the higher the concentration, the better. Retinol needs to be converted into retinoic acid in cells to work, and retinoic acid has a certain irritation to the skin, such as redness, dryness, burning, peeling, and itching. Therefore, when using retinol products, there is a process of building tolerance, and the principle of concentration from low to high and frequency from low to high needs to be followed.

Retinol enters the skin cells after being digested by the skin, and finally converts into A acid to act: accelerate the shedding of the stratum corneum, increase the skin's metabolism, and speed up the renewal of epidermal cells, thus generally creating smoother skin. Retinol is very effective in promoting the conversion of collagen. It can act on the dermis to accelerate the production of collagen and prevent wrinkles. Acne on the face is best treated with A hydrocarbon ingredients, which are used to treat some skin inflammatory diseases, such as acne, keratosis pilaris and psoriasis.

Recommended concentration of A-alcohol products: 0.05% → 0.1% → 0.2%/0.3% → 0.5% → higher.

When you first start using retinol products, you need to use them at night for at least two weeks. If there is no abnormality on your skin, you can use them every night. After two weeks, if there is no abnormality, you can use them in the morning and evening. It should be noted that retinol is photosensitive, so you must use sunscreen when using it during the day.

A alcohol products

1.ALPHA Hydrox Retinol Anti-Wrinkle Essence: 0.15% retinol with VC derivative ascorbyl palmitate. Vitamin E derivative tocopheryl acetate and antioxidant bisabolol are used to soothe the irritation of retinol, which is slightly insufficient. The emulsifier uses mild PEG-10 soy sterol, and the preservative system uses parabens methylparaben and phenoxyethanol. The cream texture feels refreshing and moisturizing on the skin, and the feeling of use is still good. People with severely sensitive skin should not try it easily.

2. CeraVe Retinol Essence: A typical niche series of big brands. CeraVe is a cosmeceutical brand under L'Oreal, a product strongly recommended by American dermatologists, and is as famous as SkinCeuticals in the cosmeceutical industry. The retinol concentration of CeraVe Retinol Essence is estimated to be around 0.2%, and the irritation is one level higher than the previous one. However, CeraVe is combined with niacinamide and ceramide complex (ceramide 1, ceramide 3, ceramide 6Ⅱ) to play a certain role in alleviating the problem. The higher the concentration of retinol, the less irritating it is.

3. Neutrogena Retinol Anti-wrinkle Repair Night Cream: A brand under Johnson & Johnson, retinol is added under argon protection, and Johnson & Johnson spent a lot of money to build a production line for this. The concentration of this retinol is 0.2%, and prototype VC is added for antioxidant, of course the content is not too high, and there is also a hydrolyzed myrtle leaf extract, which can promote the absorption of retinol and enhance the effect of retinol. You can see the skin brightening after using it for a week.

Long-term use of A-alcohol

Retinol can stimulate collagen production, but don't use it every day. You can use it 3-4 days a week. Because it takes time for retinol to promote collagen production, and the skin needs time to rest because it works twice as hard under the stimulation of strong materials. When you first come into contact with retinol, it is best to use lotion or cream as a base! For example, Cerave's lotion, Eucerin Shuan Repair Cream, Yuze Repair Lotion, Winona Special Cream... After tolerance, you can withdraw it appropriately and choose to apply less and thinner.

If high concentrations of A alcohol are used for a long time, it will easily lead to accelerated keratin shedding. If the skin's barrier function is incomplete, it will further damage the skin barrier, making the skin fragile and prone to redness, dryness, and peeling.

Long-term use of low-concentration retinol can effectively promote the renewal of keratinocytes and the production of collagen, achieving the effects of removing wrinkles, fading spots, and rejuvenating the skin, effectively preventing skin aging. Long-term use of high-concentration retinol can cause the renewal of keratinocytes to be too fast, leading to incomplete skin barrier function, thinning the skin, easy loss of moisture, weakened ability to resist ultraviolet rays, and more and more sensitive skin, prone to redness, dryness, peeling, etc.

In addition, retinol can increase the skin's light absorption rate by 40%. If you don't protect yourself from the sun, ultraviolet rays will accelerate skin aging. Once you choose to use retinol, please be sure to use sunscreen during the day.

Taking C in the morning and A in the evening is good, but it is not suitable for everyone. Retinol is irritating, and so is VC, especially the original VC. When the two irritants meet in the morning and evening, the irritation of them will be more irritating! You can stop taking one of them and replace it with another more gentle and effective ingredient. Taking C in the morning and A in the evening means: early anti-oxidation + late anti-aging repair.