How do you know what skincare to use??

[lostraspberry]

I'm mid 30's, with sensitive/ pale skin which breaks out in acne quite regularly. Not too many wrinkles at the moment but starting to see a few. I use a Roche Posay facewash, toner (currently trying The Ordinary glycolic acid 7%) and a Simple gel moisturiser.

Seems to work OK, but I feel like I'm just making it up. How do you actually work out what you need without expensive dermatologist appointments - or is that what people do?

I mean what even is retinol? Do I need it? If so which product should I buy, there are so many and such a range of prices, how do you know what's good?

Do I need an SPF - if so do I need a special facial one - they all seem really expensive! Can I just use normal suncream?

I feel if I do everything that is recommended I'll be spending an absolute fortune on lotions and potions. Can someone tell me what's actually important and what I can do without spending a fortune? :)

My job is about chemistry, but I don't deal with living things! I.e., I'm not a biologist, pharmacist, or medical professional. The way I approach it is to believe what I read about ingredients in reputable papers (not tabloids, not the Daily Mail).

Retinol, vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, and maybe certain peptides genuinely work. It sounds like retinol gives the most bang for the money. I use retinol at night and hyaluronic acid and votamin C cream during the day. I occasionally use glycolic acid to get rid of dead skin but find I don't really need it and it often irritates my skin (wondering if that's the case for you with your acne).

Collagen creams are heavily marketed, but from what I've read, they're not effective because the molecules don't make it through the skin. Retinol encourages collagen production anyway. Collagen helps to keep our skin feeling elastic.

As far as choosing a product, it is important to pay attention to the concentration of retinol. You're young, new to retinol, and are dealing with acne, so you don't want to start off with a high concentration or your skin may get irritated. I'd go to a Boots and ask for advice there because they have a good range that's often on sale or part of offers.

Thank you @Antst that's very helpful! Might have a trip to Boots as you suggest! I keep hearing about retinol so sounds like it's worth exploring.

@lostraspberry, yes, I do think there's general agreement now among skincare professionals that retinol is very worthwhile. The key is to figure out what will work for you.

Don't be put off if you get skin irritation at first. Let it heal (i.e., don't use the retinol while that's happening) and then try again with a lower concentration or lower frequency of use. That part of the process took about six months for me and now I use a standard 0.3% (Boots No. 7) concentration.

According to the experts, retinol breaks down in sunlight, so that's why it's recommended for use at night.

I recommended Boots No. 7 because it's a reputable brand and I find it feels comfortable on my skin, which is quite dry and sensitive. I like La Roche Posay too, but the vitamin C lotion is quite sticky and the retinol (although great) is more expensive than the Boots option. However, if you want cheaper options, they're certainly available. It's just a matter of experimenting. Don't feel like you have to go for the most expensive options, but do pay attention to the concentration when you get to a point of wanting a higher concentration. Good luck.

If you already use the ordinary, go onto their website as they can tell you what to use.

If you break out regularly salicylic acid might help you. It's a chemical exfoliant that can decongest pores - The Ordinary do a very reasonable priced one. It makes your skin lovely and shiny.

You don't need a special face spf but body ones are usually shiny and cam ne sticky. I absolutely love the Nivea shine control factor 50 sunscreen. Smells amazing, isn't sticky and is reasonably priced.

The only thing other than botox that will get rid of wrinkles is tretinoin. I had a terrible time with it and it absolutely ruined my skin for a while but other people have had good results.

Asda do a dupe of the body Shop's vitamin c face cream. It's only a couple of quid and isn't too heavy (personally I dislike heavy creams). Soap & Glory also do some very nice face creams. I used to love the body shop but they changed their formulas. You do just have to experiment a bit.

Deffo get some hyaluronic acid though - I prefer the Revolution one to The Ordinary. put it on before your moisturiser.

If your skin is oily, then salicylic is the way to go, not glycolic. Salicylic works by penetrating into the pores and helping the gunk out (non scientific explanation 😂) glycolic doesn't penetrate as deeply and is for ageing and more dry mature skin.

You need to look at ingredients not brands and products. Skin needs to be clean, to be protected and to be hydrated. So you need a cleanser (any will do that you like and fits your price point) an SPF, and a moisturizer (again, any will do)

The other 2 proven ingredients are vitamin C and vitamin A (retinoids) C in the morning, A at night.

Hyaluronic acid is in everything these days, if your skin is very parched then it might be worth using a separate one (Hada Labo Gold is the gold standard, huge bottle on Amazon) it's a cheap ingredient and forms the basis of lots of serums.

I'd ditch the Simple (it's really quite harsh and quite mis-named)

Which LRP wash? Effaclar might suit you as it's salicylic based for oily skin. Toleriane is for sensitive etc.

The one recommended by dermatologists and beauty experts is CeraVe. I'd swap to that if you want a facial wash rather than a cream.

You don't need to spend on sunscreen. I use Garnier SPF 50 for the face. It's about a fiver.

If you want to start a retinol, watch Nadine Baggott's retinoid videos first, lots of stuff markets itself as "retinol" that has such a low dose it's not worth using.
Likewise be wary of "granactive retinoid/retinol" as that needs to be divided by 10 to get the true "active" ingredient.

As pp has said, a good entry grade % is 0.3 and if you look on the inci list decoder websites, you'll see exact %.

Most creams etc that don't specify a % (the purple pot Olay for example) are about 0.3 which is a good starting point. Retinol is a long game though and you'll notice nothing till a few months in someone will say how good your skin is looking. You won't look younger, you'll just look like you have great skin for your age.

Trial and error! I do watch a lot of skincare related stuff on ticktock to get ideas and then Google stuff from there.

I use retinol from the ordinary. In fact most of my skincare is from the ordinary. My skin sounds very similar to yours.

Skin and me subscription is a very affordable way of getting a personalised prescription from a dermatologist- it's all done online so you don't actually see anyone which is why it's so much cheaper. They can work out what specific % of retinol you should use and what other ingredients it should be mixed with. You DEFINITELY need a proper sunscreen, factor 50 all year round. The Korean ones are good for acne- prone skin. Lovely light non- clogging formulations