My Retinol Cream Reviews

by Aiesha
(Washington)

I'd like to contribute my retinol cream reviews. I've experimented with many retinol creams to determine which ones work the best.

At first, I had very little success with the brands I selected from the drugstore beauty section. Then, after some research, I learned that I didn’t know that I needed to read the ingredient label to make sure exactly how much retinol was used as an active anti-aging ingredient.

Well, needless to say, most products either don’t specify the actual percentage of retinol included in the formulation or it is listed way at the end of the ingredient list. In my mind, that means that there is probably just a teeny, tiny amount that isn't going to do any good at all.

So the first thing you need to do when choosing a retinol product is to make sure that it includes a percentage of .25% to 1%. A treatment that includes 1% retinol is the strongest that can be purchased over-the-counter. If the label doesn't include the amount of retinol included, then chances are it is going to be a waste of money! That strategy alone will exclude the majority of "retinol" products in the beauty section of your drug store or department store.

That being said, the choices for selecting an effective retinol treatment are now narrowed down significantly. So here is my review of "real”"retinol treatments.

I do need to give a little background first:
Since I have fair, sensitive skin I have to confess that I really over did it in my enthusiasm because I went out and bought the strongest treatment I could without a prescription. (The more the better, right?)

WRONG!

What a big mistake that was! Although I can say that the Skinceuticals 1% retinol worked amazingly, it was also very irritating to my skin. I developed red, raw patches and my skin peeled like a snake. Clearly, I went overboard in using too much of the retinol cream and also w-a-y too often.

What I learned is that it is very important to select a retinol cream that is suited to your skin type! That stuff is super powerful. . .

I switched to Obagi .50% retinol and only applied it on the dark spots around my lips as well on the larger age spots on my face every other night to give my skin a chance to get used to the treatment.

That strategy was much more successful than my first attempt at slathering on the really potent treatment. This time, my strategy worked much better.

Now that my skin has become accustomed to retinol, I'm back to using the Skinceutical 1% retinol. Though, I now only apply a very thin layer all over my face 3 to 4 times a week and then I put a very small dab on specific dark spots before putting on my nightly moisturizer.

While it took me a few months to figure out how much retinol my skin could tolerate, I am really happy with the results. My age spots are all but gone and the darkening area above my lips has faded to the point where I have to look in a magnifying mirror to see the few areas that still need some further treatment.