How to use retinol?Updated a year ago
How you apply your retinol serum or cream can make all the difference in how effective and gentle it ends up being.
Learning to follow the steps is not too complicated, and you're going to love how your skin looks after a few weeks with a proper retinol serum!
Tips for using retinol
Before we get into the step-by-step guide, here are a few important tips on using retinol:
- Retinol is best used at night. Active forms of retinol are sensitive to light, so it's best to use retinol serums or creams at night.
- If you’re new to retinol or nervous about starting, it’s totally ok to start slow! Many of our clients start by applying retinol every other day or two to see how their skin responds. Your skin needs time to acclimate to any new ingredient and so taking a few weeks to ease in can help make that transition seamless.
- Prep with niacinamide. Niacinamide is a great ingredient to help smooth the transition period when starting retinol. That’s why our clinical-grade moisturizer is PACKED full of it.
- One active at a time. In general, we recommend using just one leave-on “active” per skincare session, along with a cleanser and moisturizer on either end. If you’re using proper, full-potency ingredients in your routine, you don’t want to dilute them with anything else. Many of our clients find that simply dropping steps from their routine puts their skin in a better state.
How to use retinol in your routine: step-by-step
And without further ado, here’s how to incorporate retinol into your nighttime routine.
Step 1: Cleanse
Remove your makeup and cleanse your face. It's important to use a gentle, purifying cleanser to prepare your skin to absorb all of the retinol. (Our cleanser with green tea extract and aloe was designed to pair perfectly with retinol serum.)
Step 2: Apply retinol
Next, you're ready to apply the retinol.
We recommend leaving your skin damp after washing your face, as this helps the retinol absorb into your skin. Spread the retinol evenly onto your skin, making sure to cover your forehead, nose, cheeks, and chin. You can also spread some onto your neck, and rub any leftovers into your hands.
Step 3: WAIT
For best results, don't moisturize immediately after applying retinol.
The best thing you can do is wait 30 minutes for it to fully absorb into your skin. However, if you're pressed for time, you should at least wait until the retinol is dry.
If you’re worried about irritation and want to intentionally reduce some of retinol’s effects, you can skip the wait-time and immediately layer your go-to moisturizer on top. This will help dilute it.
Step 4: Moisturize
Don't skip this step! It's important to moisturize with a high-quality moisturizer after you've let the retinol soak into your skin.