Retinol vs tretinoin - advice for a relative newbie?

[TakeItCheesy]

As above really! I'm 34, with the start of fine lines on my forehead/around eyes, combination skin, and hyperpigmentation. Generally ok skin, no acne, but can be a bit sensitive to abrasive exfoliants.

Have used The Ordinary retinol in the past and not had much effect - on the flip side, used Skin + Me for several months as I thought they'd be able to ease me in gently, but had a terrible time with it - endless peeling, raw skin, acne etc, despite sticking with it but at a lower rate as per their advice.

So, having taken some time off from them, looking to get a routine that actually works. Recommendations for where to start (retinol or tret seems to be a minefield all by itself) would be gratefully received, be it another online skincare company, dermatologist, or suggestions for entry level products?

Watch Nadine Baggott's videos on retinoids, she did a new one a couple of weeks ago.

Any "retinol" you can buy in a cream/serum etc that doesn't give you a % is likely to be a 0.3% entry grade. You should still build up and it will still take a good few months to notice a difference.

I'm 3 years in and have gone:
Granactive (before I learned that this is basically an unproven type of retinoid and its % needs dividing by 10 to get the real "active", although it isn't likely to irritate as it's so gentle due to its strength)
Retinol 0.3
Retinol 1%
Tretinoin 0.05

I bought the tret from tretinoin world rather than a subscription service and when I've finished the tube I think I'm going back "down" to a retinal as it's one step up from a retinol but less likely to irritate.

Like the previous poster said, retinaldehyde is a step up from retinol, and should be less irritating than tretinoin.
This is because retinol requires several metabolic processes for your skin to convert it to retinoic acid (which is tretinoin) - which is the active ingredient.
Whereas Retinaldehyde is a precursor to retinoic acid, and only requires one metabolic conversion so gets to work a bit quicker and is slightly more effective.

In terms of strength of retinoids it sort of goes - Retinyl Palmitate <<Retinol << Retinaldehyde <<<< Tretinoin

Geek and gorgeous do a good Retinaldehyde that is relatively cheap, there's a few other brands - I think the Medik8 serum is retinaldehyde, but it's quite expensive.

As long as you use it consistently you should see some results. Also make sure you wear sunscreen daily.