Are you a Retinol Expert? Please assist me!

[NYStateofMine]

I have been using Satin Naturel Organic 3% Retinol Serum for the past 2 years. The ingredients are lovely and it also contains argon oil and vitamin c so it feels lovely on my skin. Can't say I look any younger but thought I was doing my best. However, I just read an article that said you can't get 3% retinol over the counter in the UK, which made me suspicious. I went online to check over the ingredients of my serum and saw that it says "3% retinol delivery system". Now I'm pretty sure that sounds like a clever bit of waffle, and that's it's not actually 3% retinol after all?!!

Are there any retinol experts who can confirm?

Second question, what is the highest percentage retinol I can buy over the counter and what serums do you recommend? There are a great many vlogs and Top 10 lists online but they rarely mention the actual % strength of retinol / Vit A.

Im not an expert by any means but ive used various retinol products, Ordinary, Face Theory, Dermatica and currently using A313 which is the strongest Ive used at 2%. Ive never seen anything as strong as 3%. I have also noticed that products will use creative wording and concepts to display a figure alongside a percentage sign on packaging to suggest a stronger formula. Always read the ingredients on retinol products

Yeah that's not 3% retinol... No 7 do the same BS with their new 1.5% retinol serum. If you check ingredients it's actually 0.3% retinol and the rest is the delivery oil (think like a capsule).

Ordinary 1% retinol, Drunk Elephant's A Passioni and Paulas choice are the highest OTC I've seen with 1%. The Ordinary 2% retinoid is good too but a retinoid rather than retinol which is a concentration of retinol - as effective but less irritating.

I know she’s not popular on here but if you go to Caroline Hirons website she actually does a video about the Ordinary‘s retinol products. I found it well explained and it helped me a lot, especially as I’m not wanting to spend a fortune

1% retinol is the highest you can get. If you look at the fantastic skincare threads here, you'll find on the first page a link to a fact sheet that the OP, botemp, has very kindly done. Basically there are several forms of Vitamin A and your skin converts them to the form that improves things. The number of steps it takes to convert measures how effective it is. Usually if it has fewer steps it's more irritating (exception is the really expensive Medik8 one).

I did try The Ordinary retinoids but I had no results from them. I also tried Garden of Wisdom Retistar which I didn't notice much with, though I might have had some slight softening of lines. Indeed Labs Retinol Resurface (not sure I've got the name right) definitely softened lines. However it contains peptides which don't suit me, and also there is no step up to a stronger product. I think it's about 0.3% retinol. Boots is around that too, so is La Roche Posay Redermic.

I'm currently using Medik8 6TR having worked my way up from 3TR. I am seeing improvement in my skin, but it's definitely more irritating. I'll probably get the Medik8 crystal retinal next.

I don't think that A313 cream mentioned above has retinol in it, I was reading about it the other day.

Thanks all. @Apileofballyhoo what's the difference between the Medic8 TR ones vs the Crystal ones please?

@Arschgeige I had never heard of Caroline Hirons until yesterday when I was reading up about this. I didn't know she wasn't popular on here. I heard a podcast where she was talking about how her teenage daughter was a "psycho bitch" and about how she regularly screams at her daughter to "F off or she'll punch her in the face"... I must say I didn't warm to her!

Her skin looks great though!

I have A313 does not have 2% retinol in if you have a look below it shows you how to calculate it's 0.12%
My dermatica prescription tretinoin is 0.05 at that is strong I get much better results with that than A313 but everyone is different.

Apologies, did not mean to give misleading info re A313. As I said, not an expert. There is conflicting info out there, apparently it has 0.12 % of retinol esters.
I have had better results with it than Dermatica etc but definitely not a beginner product.

Just get a prescription from Dermatica. Proper prescription products that actually make a difference.

@Tillytess not at all
did you find it really stung? I felt like it didn't agree with my skin at all I know some stinging can be normal but this felt horrible.. maybe my skin just wasn't ready for it.

Yes, like I said, she’s an accustomed taste BUT she knows her stuff about skin. I think she has a slot on This Morning.

Nadine Baggott also has a YT video where she explains how come these naughty companies get away with making you think you have 10x more active product than you really do. It's important to check if you've got retinol palmitate/retinol/retinal/retinoid/retistar/ granactive etc.
The Ordinary were buggers for this.

@troppibambini6 Yes, stung horribly after 1st use and i immediately abandoned it. Did Dermatica for about 6 months, gradually increasing strength, had no noticeable difference. Tried A313 again, no stinging this time ( hence clearly not a beginner product) and seeing results so have stuck with it. Only using 3 times per week at the moment.

Aah ok that's interesting I did exactly the same although gave it a few tries. I'm now using dermatica will hang on to it and have another go.

The retinol is retinol and the crystal is retinaldehyde. Retinol has to convert to retinaldehyde so you're skipping a conversion step making it more effective and possibly less irritating. Avene uses retinal in their anti-aging serum too.

@Popsy321

Just get a prescription from Dermatica. Proper prescription products that actually make a difference.

How does this work @Popsy321?

@Popsy321 just googled the company. Are they legit? And is it retinol? It doesn't say much on their homepage.

It's definitely legit.

[quote NYStateofMine]@Popsy321 just googled the company. Are they legit? And is it retinol? It doesn't say much on their homepage. [/quote]
It's 100% legit. It's an online dermatologist who prescribes retinol etc. You have to upload your pics and answer questions about your skin. Google reviews of it.....on here and elsewhere. It's hugely popular.

I've used dermatica before, there's also skin and me which is the company I now use. Fantastic results

The only retinol what really works is prescription one, which can cost lots, when we are allowed to travel you can buy it over the counter at a chemist in Spain for around 15 euros its called retirides, I started with the ordinary the 1% one , you have to start slowly as you can peel with it, as I did, then I went on the retinol from spain, I still can only use it four times a week and its been two years, but make a mistake of going from .0.5% to a 1% which is really strong, look up a Dr dray on YouTube she gives great advice.

Lindyloo that's what dermatica do. Prescription tretinoin.
First month is free and the about £20 per month. For my first month they started me on 0.25 and then moved me up the next month.

I've been using it since March. It's good I let it slide a bit over Xmas and have just restarted again.

Oh and you can amend your order whenever so if I've still got cream left (one tube lasts me longer than a month) I just postpone my next delivery online.

I used to buy tret over the counter in Spain and also bought it from some online EU pharmacies. But I guess that's just become a whole lot more expensive. Three tubes of 0.05 would do me for a year.

So I'll have to go with Skin and Me now, although it will be much more expensive than my old method.

Interesting, thanks all. The Dermatica website names lots of substances I don't recognise... do they just do retinol? Can you request this or do they just prescribe what they want to?