Not Seeing Results with Retin-A (TRETINOIN)? Watch This Before You Quit & Avoid My Biggest Mistake

one of the most common questions i get in any of my tretinoin topic videos is how did i first start using it exactly what i did so i would just like to explain step by step exactly how i used tretinoin in the very beginning 18 plus years ago now so a long time ago but i do remember clearly because it was such an eventful occasion for me embarking on that journey and what it did to my skin especially in the beginning months it was quite horrendous and i don't want to scare anyone off from using it because it's a glorious product but i will say that i think the number one deterrent that i hear from people is that they often start trying it and then the side effects are such that they are unable to continue the treatment long enough to even see any results because of the side effects for me i wanted i wanted the glass skin so badly and i was dead set on it and i will tell you that i there were nights when my skin was peeling off of my face at nighttime i was laying in bed my skin was rough and scaly and it was red inflamed and it was all along my chin and it was peeling off in sheets that's how bad it was so i'm going to explain why that happened so aggressively and maybe you can learn from my mistake and not do that the very first thing i did i remember was that i started application once a week and i did that for about two months so at night time on a clean dry skin face i would dab a pea size amount on the planes of my face which is to say the cheeks the top of my forehead and the chin and then i would massage it in and then i would follow it with a moisturizer and at the time i was using just cetaphil plain moisturizer you hear me so often speak of the serra vpn this would be a good moisturizer to use so i used a pea size amount once a week only and i did that for two months after two months time i increased it to every third night and i did that for about two and a half weeks i would say three weeks after that i gradually increased it to every other night stayed with that for two more weeks and so on and so forth until i built it up to a nightly regimen however like i said in the beginning i was really gung-ho about wanting certain results and so i will say that my desire to get those results uh was counterproductive for me because what ended up happening was that i thought well more is better and more means faster results but in actuality more just meant more irritation and more inflammation and the irritation and the peeling got worse i had to then discontinue it for a while before i resumed treatment again because i had gotten so aggressive with my treatment doing that especially in the beginning will not bring you faster results it will only bring you more irritation and worse feeling in the interim so don't do that be very modest and patient you have to be patient and that includes being protective of your skin so i never left the house without wearing spf and a hat and i did that religiously throughout well i still do that today these days i religiously wear my hat and i wear spf on a daily basis 365 days a year in the first year especially of your treatment with retin-a tretinoin really any topical retinoid but i'm speaking specifically about prescription strength tretinoin you must be diligent about protection because if you are treating your skin with that chemical that makes your skin so much more vulnerable to skin damage so you should be wearing spf daily anyway regardless everyone should be but people who are treating their skin with topical retinoid and specifically prescription grade topical retinoid it is a must that you have to wear sunscreen and wear enough of it so that's a half a teaspoon worth for your face and your neck and don't skimp you have to cover and you have to be serious about it because that's what gives the results is protecting that vulnerable skin so as it starts to peel and the layers of your face come off what's underneath and gets revealed is that virgin new skin fresh skin cells and that is what we're after so another question i get asked is how long did it take before i saw results and i'll be very honest with you that for me everyone is different by the way but for me it took at least 12 months for me to see real results so i had to wait about a year which is a long time however in the grand scheme of my life 12 months for me was nothing and then to have that just be a maintenance habit i have for the rest of my life and i don't even have to use it every night now i can i can actually use it once every three nights once a week my skin is in such good condition now that i don't even need to use it every single night it's not necessary my uncle is always saying that the skin has the longest memory so the skin will remember and i've taken two weeks off i've taken a month off of retin-a with no change so my point is is when you can get to the stage where you're using it in a maintenance mode it's very satisfying to get to that point where you've gotten the results you put the work in so to speak and then your complexion uh changes my skin even changed from i used to have combination oily skin and now my skin is normalized i no longer experience breakouts retin-a helps with all of that it helps with tone texture collagen production it really changes the chemistry of your skin so especially the longer you use it look into the research it's very interesting the longer you use retin-a the better your results get over time and i was actually speaking to my mother about that today because she's a user of retin-a as well she's been using it for 30-plus years and i was speaking to her about it and i said you know mommy my skin is in better shape now at 39 than it was when i was 25 and she said that's what happens and i said it's unbelievable because it just seems to keep getting better and better so i want to encourage you watching this if you are starting on your retin-a journey and you're using known in the beginning stages and it's a nightmare and your skin is purging or peeling or it's irritated number one dial back and just you know dial back and you can always reintroduce it when your skin calms down but stay with it be patient and just give it time give it that time because it's so often that people quit right on the cusp of when the results are right around the corner and i always think oh if they only just stuck with it for six more months or seven more months and they would get the results that they're desiring that would be my main takeaway is that you have to have patience and you have to protect your skin that's the biggest thing and oh on that note i wanted to add that another thing i would use especially overnight when i was sleeping because it would get so uncomfortable the peeling and the tightness that's another thing the retin-a makes your skin very tight so that if you make any large movements the skin cracks and i have a small mouth already so i remember eating like i had like a little bunny rabbit with the mouth because i couldn't even open my mouth wide because it was just peeling and cracking here so i would use well this wasn't around back then but i love this product it's petrolatum based and this is excellent for any areas of dryness or cracking you can slather this on generously it will just help you this is a lifesaver but the good old thing that i would use tried and true is vaseline and i use this on my lips i'm wearing this on my lips right now just good old vaseline petroleum jelly i love this product and i use it on my lips my skin all over my body this is a wonderful barrier product and it's occlusive so especially overnight when you put this on you can layer this on again generously all over and it gives soothing relief and it also protects while you're sleeping and then in the morning you can do your skin care and cleanse but what i want to do mostly is encourage you if you're starting out your tretinoin journey stay with it be modest with your application don't overdo it more is not better more is worse and be mindful of the sun wearing hats and while you're at it wear gloves to protect your hands but yes spf and we're enough spf that's the main thing too it's not just wearing spf but wearing enough of it because so many people don't put enough of it you need a half a teaspoon at least for your face and neck so i'll shut up now and leave questions down below if you have any questions i will do my best to answer them accordingly and in the meantime good luck with your tretinoin and leave a comment down below if you're using tretinoin and how it's working out for you so far i love to read your comments as always i wish you well thank you as always for being here and thank you for watching bye

Channel: Jennifer Myers

Views: 2,689,487

Keywords: skincareroutine, antiagingskincare, tretinoin, retin-A, tretinoincream, differin, meditation, mindfulness, yoga, over35, morningroutine, bedtimeroutine

Id: Niaox912PwY

Length: 10min 57sec (657 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 16 2021