Retinol cream recommendations for 20s
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Tue Mar 26, 2013 7:45 pm

Hello everyone, I am new to retinol cream, never used it before. So, I'm here for recommendations as well as for more information.

I'm in my early 20s, I know some people may think its too young to start on retinol creams, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I should start with a very mild (maybe 0.2%?) retinol cream before I have any sagging or wrinkles occuring rather than start using it when wrinkles already appeared.

As I said, I'm new to this, I did some research online, and it says air-tight bottles are the best kinds.

So I am looking for a mild (I'm in my early 20s), air-tight bottle retinol cream.

It would be great if its just a retinol cream, rather than a night cream, or moisturizer, because I would like to use the retinol cream, then apply other moisturizer/night cream.

Thanks in advance for all the advices!

free skin care · Tue Mar 26, 2013 8:23 pm

I wouldn't recommend it until you're in your late 20's. I can't remember the myriad of reasons why I came to that conclusion, but part of it is that your skin is in its prime, and you should be gently encouraging it to take care of itself for as long as possible. When it slows down and there starts to be deterioration due to age (or ill health, or pollution, or too many treatments!) etc, that's when you should probably think about giving it a boost with these types of products.

If you want to start with anything, make sure that its sunscreen. Next, maybe a mild vitamin c, but even then, I wouldn't recommend acids until your skin really starts losing that youthful glow, because acids can actually kill it.

There are loads of success stories, but there are also people whose skin has been ravaged by using these (sometimes harsh) products before there was any need to.

If your skin has already been compromised by serious acne, experimentation with treatments, or other problems, it probably won't matter, but if not, I'd hold off.

Maybe look into something like facial massage to ward off sagging etc. If you feel you need exfoliation, maybe a gentle microfibre cloth every week?

Just my 2 cents. yup.

Tue Mar 26, 2013 8:33 pm

LoriA wrote:

I wouldn't recommend it until you're in your late 20's. I can't remember the myriad of reasons why I came to that conclusion, but part of it is that your skin is in its prime, and you should be gently encouraging it to take care of itself for as long as possible. When it slows down and there starts to be deterioration due to age (or ill health, or pollution, or too many treatments!) etc, that's when you should probably think about giving it a boost with these types of products.

If you want to start with anything, make sure that its sunscreen. Next, maybe a mild vitamin c, but even then, I wouldn't recommend acids until your skin really starts losing that youthful glow, because acids can actually kill it.

There are loads of success stories, but there are also people whose skin has been ravaged by using these (sometimes harsh) products before there was any need to.

If your skin has already been compromised by serious acne, experimentation with treatments, or other problems, it probably won't matter, but if not, I'd hold off.

Maybe look into something like facial massage to ward off sagging etc. If you feel you need exfoliation, maybe a gentle microfibre cloth every week?

Just my 2 cents. yup.

thanks!! it helped alot. I use sunscreen everyday through out the year, i have a hate/love relationship with the sun...haha

I didn't know I could be too young to start on Retinol creams.

I just ordered the Juice Beauty Antioxident Serum (haven't arrived yet), do you think I should return it, am I too young for it? or should I start using it?

free skin care · Tue Mar 26, 2013 9:13 pm

Well, mine is one opinion. There are others who may not agree, but given that retin-a also makes us more sensitive to the sun, I stand by what I wrote.

I actually don't know much about the serum.

Do you even have any skin issues you're trying to address? If you're young and healthy you should be able to take care of things via proper nutrition, maybe natural fruit or yogurt masks or manual exfoliation if you feel your skin isn't shedding well enough.

You need to keep in mind that there's a very powerful industry trying to sell you products. Try to determine for yourself whether you actually need them.
Otherwise you may get caught up in a complicated cycle, where you try one product, then need another to counteract the side effects of the first, then more to deal with the anxiety about it all, and then big pharma wins.

Lol, I'm kidding, but I hope you get the gist of what I'm saying. Think of a child's skin.. how far off is yours, really?

Tue Mar 26, 2013 9:37 pm

LoriA wrote:

Well, mine is one opinion. There are others who may not agree, but given that retin-a also makes us more sensitive to the sun, I stand by what I wrote.

I actually don't know much about the serum.

Do you even have any skin issues you're trying to address? If you're young and healthy you should be able to take care of things via proper nutrition, maybe natural fruit or yogurt masks or manual exfoliation if you feel your skin isn't shedding well enough.

You need to keep in mind that there's a very powerful industry trying to sell you products. Try to determine for yourself whether you actually need them.
Otherwise you may get caught up in a complicated cycle, where you try one product, then need another to counteract the side effects of the first, then more to deal with the anxiety about it all, and then big pharma wins.

Lol, I'm kidding, but I hope you get the gist of what I'm saying. Think of a child's skin.. how far off is yours, really?

Yeah, I got where you coming from.

Actually I'm trying to cut down on my skincare routine, actually I did cut down alot this year lol.

If you ask me what I want to improve on my skin, I have alot, like smaller pore, blackheads, toooo many, but if you ask me what's my skin's problem? My skin doesn't have much problem.

I rarely get any pimples, no scars, but everybody is looking for "flawless" skin...lol

I guess i'm just not satisfying at maintaining it Sad

too greedy... haha

free skin care · Wed Mar 27, 2013 9:40 am

There's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting your skin to be the very best it can be!

I've already overtaken this thread, but I'm sure there are gentle ways of treating your blackheads.
A monthly or weekly treatment (maybe a diluted lactic acid spot treatment?) shouldn't be anything your skin couldn't bounce back from, for instance.

Regularly (daily, twice weekly) applying longterm treatments without giving skin a chance to recover is what I'm recommending you hold off from. I believe its unecessary at such a young age. Cheers!

free skin care · Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:03 am

I agree that using retinol for anti aging when you are so young is perhaps overkill. Proper cleansing, using sunscreen and avoiding bad habits like smoking, drinking too much, lack of sleep and poor diet are better prevention than any cream. However you do mention that you have blackheads and large pores so if you have an oily T Zone then perhaps using a topical retiniod like Differin would be helpful. I believe you can get it both from a doctor and online. I'd stick to using it on your t-zone but be sure to be gentle with your skin and don't cleanse too harshly.

Wed Mar 27, 2013 2:37 pm

LoriA wrote:

There's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting your skin to be the very best it can be!

I've already overtaken this thread, but I'm sure there are gentle ways of treating your blackheads.
A monthly or weekly treatment (maybe a diluted lactic acid spot treatment?) shouldn't be anything your skin couldn't bounce back from, for instance.

Regularly (daily, twice weekly) applying longterm treatments without giving skin a chance to recover is what I'm recommending you hold off from. I believe its unecessary at such a young age. Cheers!

I know, I think i'm gonna hold off on Retinol cream, and i'm planning to switch my skincare to natural or homemade products little by little.

UGRR, so many products out there haha... so hard to find the right ones!!

Wed Mar 27, 2013 2:38 pm

pandora77 wrote:

I agree that using retinol for anti aging when you are so young is perhaps overkill. Proper cleansing, using sunscreen and avoiding bad habits like smoking, drinking too much, lack of sleep and poor diet are better prevention than any cream. However you do mention that you have blackheads and large pores so if you have an oily T Zone then perhaps using a topical retiniod like Differin would be helpful. I believe you can get it both from a doctor and online. I'd stick to using it on your t-zone but be sure to be gentle with your skin and don't cleanse too harshly.

Thank you! Retinol works for blackhead and large pores?

free skin care · Wed Mar 27, 2013 3:41 pm

I'm going against the grain and gonna say that's never too early to treat your skin with a bit of vitamin A and/or other antioxidants. All the antioxidant reserves inside your skin (especially retinoids and ascorbate) get destroyed by UV rays no matter how young you are and no sunscreen protects from 100% of those pesky rays. Still, a good sunscreen and reasonable sun avoidance are worth considering early in life.
Having started early with anti age stuff myself I say it's so worth it! It doesn't ruin skin and doesn't make it lazy or dependent on skin potions. Although, lately I'm suffering a horrible side-effect: at work strangers tend to mistake me for some intern because apparently I don't look old enough to be filling the position. Strangely enough, I can live with that. Laughing

As far actual recommendations go, I'd suggest finding the gentlest cleanser possible that gets skin perfectly clean without being drying. Cleansing is so overlooked yet vital for great skin! The most effective thing against blackheads is not some product, but a gadget called ultrasonic scrubber spatula, it's a miracle at getting pores clean and very gentle to skin. eBay has lots of offers and there's quite a price range. I got myself a $ 50 version and it works fine. No sure whether a $ 400 version would be that much more effective to justify the $$. I mention this because no topical treatments has managed to get rid of my blackheads, not even high strength retinoids, OTC and Rx. They are helpful, but alone pretty mediocre against that issue.
A baby version of retinol at night certainly wouldn't hurt either. In my experience, Skinceautcals has the best retinol formula and at least outside US they have a 0.3% baby retinol cream. But there are other brands that may work better, Green Cream Level 1, Replenix Smoothing Serum 2X or 3X, Afirm 1x or even a combination of various retinoids like Skinmedica Tri-Retinol Complex. Have tried pretty much all available retinoids, even the less known like retinyl linoleate and my skin likes pure retinol best. Perhaps it is worth to trial run various products to find out which one makes your skin happiest.

Thu Mar 28, 2013 4:49 am

Hi there,

This thread is full of recommendations for all the chemical products i know retinol a is a vitamin A cream but dear no cream is without chemicals to use.So instead of treating wrinkle before time you will be inviting one before time. In Early 20's you are expecting a Late 50's that's strange. well if you want to prevent use Aloe Vera Thick Gel is a modern product of cosmetology which is made on the basis of the natural components and it does not have analogs by the efficiency and safety. Aloe Vera contains strong antioxidants and is one of few vegetable
sources of vitamin B12. It also contains 20 amino acids out of 22 which are one of the main remedies of building of the muscle tissues and body in general.

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