Retinol is touted as one of the main components needed for any good anti aging cream. Many of the popular brands we hear about such as ROC retinol correxion deep wrinkle night cream and Neutrogena Ageless Intensives Deep Wrinkle Moisture Spf 20 have retinol as the main ingredient. So what exactly is retinol and what does it do?
Retinol is touted as one of the main components needed for any good anti aging cream.
Many of the popular brands we hear about such as ROC retinol correxion deep wrinkle night cream and Neutrogena Ageless Intensives Deep Wrinkle Moisture Spf 20 have retinol as the main ingredient.
So what exactly is retinol and what does it do?
Retinol is one of the forms of vitamin A. It is considered by the Food and Drug administration (FDA) as a safe enough drug for over the counter cream and/or treatment. This is therefore the form of Vitamin A that is used in many antiageing cream.
Retinol,
upon application on your skin, converts to retinoic acid which is the more potent form of Vitamin A. Retinoic acid is actually the one that does all the “magic” when it comes to improving the way skin looks.
You're probably asking right now Why not just use Retinoic acid instead of using retinol which has to be converted first? And the answer is we do actually. In fact, it is the main ingredient in brands like Retin A. However, because Retinoic acid is scientifically proven to be quite strong, it is available only on prescription.
Thus, if you don't want to go that route, you'll have to do with Retinol or retinyl palmitate as the ingredient in your OTC cream.
So what does Retinol do?
In theory, retinol helps the skin in two major defining ways.
First of all, it benefits the upper layer of the skin by rejuvenating it and making it look healthy. It gives you that warm fresh glow. Secondly and most importantly, it penetrates the deeper layers and helps with the production of collagen which is very important in the overall health and structure of the skin.
These two main functions combined eventually leads to a more youthful glow, a less sagging looking skin, and diminished fine lines.
Sounds too good to be true, right? There's one problem though. A considerable number of people do not react very well to retinol. This usually means having a red swollen face after application. So if you are thinking about buying a product with this as a main ingredient, it is best to exercise caution when using it.
What you can do to minimize this effect however, is to get your skin used to it. Health professionals advise that if you're just beginning to use a retinol-based cream, you should apply it sparingly during the first few weeks or so. Also, during this trial period it is best if you don't use it every day but instead use it every 2-3 days at least. Once you don't see any dramatic redness anymore, then start using it as a daily cream.
Also be aware that because of the active ingredient, your skin becomes very sensitive to the sun. So Don't ever forget to use sunscreen. Even better, use retinol only at night. This ensures that during the most time that it's active you are not directly exposed to the sun at all.
Lastly, there are some contentions that Retinol doesn't really work so well because it has to convert to retinoic acid first. This apparently could mean that some of its potency decreases during the conversion process or that not all of the retinol converts to retinoic acid anyway, so its efficacy dramatically decreases.
This is true and could very possibly be the case especially for products that don't go through any rigid testing and packaging. So always make sure you get antiaging products that do come from a reputable company or at the very most receive a lot of great customer reviews.
