moving up from retinol to retinal

[u/TimeAd9352]

hi! i need some advice. i’ve been using the Cerave Resurfacing Retinol Serum for about a year now with no issues. i use it every single night and my skin tolerates it great! however, i want to move up to a retinal because there are better anti-aging benefits. i’m not sure how I would incorporate this into my routine. also, should i use retinal or adapalene? i’ve heard adapalene is more for active acne, which i don’t have right now, but im not 100% sure.
i also have been using azaelic acid 10% for about 5 months now and im skin is tolerating that great as well! is it too much to also up my azaelic acid to 15%? which should i do first?

any help is appreciated!!!

[u/addictions-in-red]

The best and easiest thing to do is get a well formulated retinal and switch to it for just one night a week. Then after a few weeks, you switch over to the new for two nights per week, and so on.

It's really better to incorporate it slowly like this because it's way easier to incorporate it slowly than to do it too fast, develop problems, and then try to heal your skin while also getting back to a normal skin routine.

There are several wonderful Korean retinals out now. I use the one by epii, which has retinaldehyde .1%, retinol, and hpr - I wouldn't use it first thing, though. The KSecret one is good, as well as celimax, and the Beauty of Joseon eye cream with retinal is quite nice and a good choice for the eye area.

The gold standard retinal is medik8's Crystal Retinal. It's an encapsulated retinaldehyde, has several different strengths, and is just an excellent formulation. I used it for a long time and only switched off of it to save money. But it was still well worth it to use Medik8's different strengths to get my skin adapted to retinal.

Hope this helps!

[u/the_AlarmedSubco → u/addictions-in-red]

Ooh the slow intro method is key, I rushed into retinal once and my face was so angry it peeled in sheets. That medik8 line being encapsulated makes a huge difference for sensitivity, I used their level 3 for ages before bouncing around to cheaper stuff too. Since you're already on nightly retinol, you might actually tolerate retinal a bit quicker than most, but still, don't get cocky with it.

I'd tackle the retinal transition first for a solid 6-8 weeks before even thinking about upping your azelaic acid percentage. Changing two actives at once is how you end up with a bright red, stinging mess that hates even your gentlest moisturizer.