This last year has seen an ongoing trend of incorporating retinols into our daily routines. Creams, serums and cleansers seem to frequently boast their ingredient that ignites results, but are retinols really our friend? It is hard to argue that retinols provide visible results. My first night of using Sunday Riley’s Luna serum had me waking up to what I felt was a noticeable difference. Amazed by the immediate results, I continued using retinols every night hoping that I would see a compounding effect. I tried several different kinds of retinols and what did I see? I experienced a bell curve of sorts, where the first few nights of using it I saw improvement but the second half of the week I noticed a few blemishes. No big deal, I thought, retinol should take care of that with ease. That was not the case. In fact, overall it seemed the continued use of retinols actually made my skin worse.
I saw a huge decline in the quality of my skin and being as how I had made no other changes to my lifestyle, diet or routine, it had to be the retinols. Using an ingredient that is meant to increase the cellular turnover, it made sense that the increased turnover was causing more congestion than usual and therefore my skin was seeing a negative result due to the extended use. Moreover, once I stopped using retinols, my skin took on a quality of having a higher probability of looking overtly oily. Even after a simple wash and my usual moisturizer it seemed as if the texture of my skin had changed so much so that it felt off balanced. Any moisturizer at all made my skin feel slick but if I skipped the moisturizer my skin was very dry. What’s more, I had never experienced more blemishes in my entire life – no exaggeration. Discontinuing the retinols in my routine did not reverse or stop the effect my skin had started. Despite trying what felt like every product available, my skin was just not returning to normal.
Instagram must have known my woes because I began getting targeted ads for online skin prescription remedies. Skeptical but hopeful, I tried Curology and Apostrophe with the hopes at least one would be effective. Curology sent me a cleanser, moisturizer and topical which had reset my skin in a matter of days. DAYS. Apostrophe’s shipping took a little longer – but they sent me a topical (similar to the one from Curology but a bit stronger) and two oral prescriptions. One was an antibacterial and the other was actually a diuretic that had a side effect of improving skin when combined with the antibacterial. I only took the diuretic once because I do not think it is a good idea to be taking anything that isn’t directly meant for what you are needing. AKA I do not need to be on a diuretic. The topical and antibacterial worked wonders also and I use those for maintenance as needed. I will say the print does rub off of the Curology bottles over time which is a little annoying because it gets on my hands but other than that I am happy that I found something to reverse the retinol dilemma. Don’t get me wrong, I still keep a few retinols in my arsenal for emergencies but I haven’t used them in a long time. Sunday Riley Luna and YSL Night Reboot made the cut – Lancer was a definite no after the first try.