Help!! Spent £150 on face products and they burn my skin

[Palease]

As advised from my local skin care lady, u purchased the Obagi 360 system which is exfoliator, spf moisturiser and retinol for night. My skin has felt glorious for a week and now, every time I use either one of them my skin burns round the bone under my eyes. It stays like that all day. I’m going to have to throw it away aren’t I?

any other skin care regime recommendations for someone in their mid 40s?

Exfoliate once per week at first. Ease the retinol in, once a week for 2 weeks, then twice per week etc. You have to build up with skincare and not go all in at once. Sounds like you have damaged your skin barrier.
You need a separate spf to be able to use enough that actually provides adequate protection.

Scale back to basic cleanser and moisturiser and once akin has calmed reintroduce things very slowly

I agree, you shouldn’t be going straight in every night with retinol.

What strength is the retinol? Lots of good advice online about how to build up. Not every night as others have said above and you can also mix to reduce strength. Also make sure you are not using other active ingredients at the same time.

The exfoliator says on it to use twice a day. Is my skin particular sensitive then would you say?

It’s 0.5%

What type of exfoliator is it? 0.2% would be more typical for beginner. Mix it down to half strength and go every other night (once your skin has healed)

This is the exfoliator

https://www.skinstation.co.uk/obagi360-exfoliating-cleanser-150ml

Do you think it’s the retinol that’s burned my skin then and the spf and exfoliator are just irritating the burned bits?

This is the 3 products

https://www.skinstation.co.uk/obagi360-system-kit

Exfoliate twice per day?!? That's odd. Twice a week would be more usual.
Retinol you should start with every 3/4 days for two weeks, then every 2/3 days for a couple of weeks until your skin can tolerate it daily.
However you've probably compromised your skin barrier now so lay off it all completely and use something gentle like cera ve or La rocks posay tolerien until your skin is repaired.

Yes I would guess that but am not a dermatologist and haven’t seen your skin! I’d stop everything and introduce each individually and gradually to be sure.

Exfoliators often say to use daily. It's madness and ruins alot of people's skin.

The retinol strength may be quite high too. These active ingredients are great but used incorrectly can cause damage.

Slow and steady is the way to go

Thanks for the advice ladies. I don’t have to throw it away brilliant!

You’ve probably temporarily damaged your skin barrier. I think you should use all the products less frequently, maybe once a week and then build up slowly to twice a week

Please tell me about the skin barrier. I’ve never heard of this.

Have you heard of Caroline Hirons?

she’s a straight talking skin care expert. She has a blog and a book. The book is really good and talks about the skin barrier in more detail.

also the brand you’ve bought is really really good - don’t throw it away. If you really find after a while you don’t get on with it, then sell it on Vinted.

(I used to work in the beauty industry)

Don't throw it all away. Just scale it back and let your skin calm down.

No I’ve not heard of her. I’m new to this skin care thing. I’ll look her up thank you.

Good to hear it’s a good brand. I got botox and the lady who did it said she used it and it was great.

The Obagi instructions are pretty inconsistent aren't they?

That’s weird as I’ve just read the back of it and it says to use daily, morning and evening. I’ll switch to weekly for now.

Caroline Hirons has a skincare group on Facebook called Caroline Hirons skincare freaks. You'll get really knowledgeable advice on there and Ms Hirons might kick Obagi's arse into next week for having crap instructions.

@Palease

It says so on the link you posted too. Just above where it said to exfoliate 2-3 times a week!

Maybe they’re referring to the kit you’ve bought overall rather than every item in it?

Eek definitely don’t just straight in to retinol every night if you’re not used to it!!
Any that I’ve used are also very clear that it’s absolutely not to be used around the eyes or nose or mouth (the creasey bits especially).
Your skin barrier has taken an absolute battering, it needs gently handling and I’d steer clear of anything active for a while. La Roche posay - anything nourishing and calming while you wait for this to subside. It will, and you might get horribly flakey, but just ease off everything that’s antagonised you and reintroduce it all SLOWLY.
It took my skin barrier a few months to fully
repair when I did this a few years ago, don’t fuck about with your skin!

Sounds like I’ve had really bad advice from Obagi then

I know!! So bad. My skin is red and burning. I had no idea this could happen.