Thoughts on retinol, retinal and retinoids?

[locarly]

Hey guys! 

I’m new to the community and was wondering what everyone thinks about retinols, retinoids and retinals. What works best for you and which products do you recommend for a beginner? 

Thank you :))

[WinglessOne]

Welcome to BIC, @locarly ! I’ve used vitamin A (the retinoid family, which includes retinol, retinaldehyde/retinal, tretinoin/retinoic acid, adapalene, hydroxypinacolone retinoate aka HPR or granactive retinoid, etc.) since 2019, mostly to even out my skin tone and texture. I have mostly-dry combo skin that’s fairly sensitive and quite reactive/inflammation-prone; that fussiness definitely drives my retinoid choices. 

First, a quick explanation of retinol vs. retinal vs. other retinoids like tretinoin: 

Spoiler

All of these are effective. They just work at different paces, and some people’s skin tolerates one better than the others. 

Tretinoin is basically retinoic acid. It’s already in the fully active state needed to work on our skin. Our bodies don’t need to convert it before it can do its thing. This is the most studied form of vitamin A for skincare. 

Retinaldehyde, aka retinal, is one step away from retinoic acid. Our bodies must convert it to an active state. Retinal works slower than tretinoin because it needs that conversion step. Fun fact: retinal can be converted forward one step to retinoic acid or back one step to retinol. For skin as fussy reactive as mine, that’s actually a good thing. 

Retinol needs a two-step conversion forward to become fully active retinoic acid. That’s why retinol works slower than both retinal and tretinoin. It’s still effective, just slower. And you don’t need to start with a high % of retinol: 0.25% can work well. 


There are other retinoids like adapalene (often recommended for acne) and hydroxypinacolone retinoate (HPR/granactive retinoid, an esther that needs no conversion to an active state but hasn’t been studied much), but I’ll leave those out of this comparison.

I started with a very gentle First Aid Beauty retinol serum, just to see if my skin would tolerate retinol at all. Back then that serum was 0.25% retinol, but now it’s First Aid Beauty 0.3% Retinol Complex Serum with Peptides 1 oz / 30 mL; I can’t speak for the latest version, but it’s an option to consider if you decide to go the retinol route.

Another good beginner option is The INKEY List Retinol Fine Lines and Wrinkles Serum 1 oz/ 30 mL; that one contains granactive retinoid and retinyl acetate. I switched from the FAB serum to this (eh, back then it was an older formula) and stuck with it for quite a while. This is the product a friend said gave me pregnancy glow. 😂 It also worked well for my skin texture issues; slowly, but well. The Inkey List also sells a stronger serum now: The INKEY List SuperSolutions 1% Retinol Serum 1 oz / 30 mL. I haven’t tried that one and don’t recommend you start with it, but you could keep it in mind as a step-up later. 

From there, I used a couple other retinol serums Sephora no longer sells. The last one was faster at lifting hyperpigmentation, but it was too irritating for me to use consistently. I talked with my dermatologist about it and finally took his advice to try retinaldehyde instead; he thought it’d be gentler on my skin. Here are the retinal products I’ve used: 

• Avène RetrinAL 0.1 Intensive Cream (has been reformulated since I last used it) - a 0.1% retinal serum my skin loved, partly because it contained evening primrose oil. 
  
  
• Youth To The People Retinal + Niacinamide Youth Serum 1 oz/ 30 mL - 0.15% retinal that wasn’t bad. I used a whole bottle and went back to Avène’s serum. 
  
  
• The Ordinary Retinal 0.2% Emulsion High-Strength Retinoid Nighttime Treatment 0.5 oz / 15 ml - another step up for me. I was surprised it didn’t irritate the heck outta my skin. 😅 I used about 1.75 tubes before switching to the next product.
  
  
• Medik8 Crystal Retinal 10 - back to 0.1% retinal, just to see how “concentrated” Medik8’s serum really was (they market it as if it’s the fastest-working serum around). Used a whole tube, then stepped up to…
  
  
• Medik8 Crystal Retinal 20 - 0.2% retinal; this is the serum I still use today. It doesn’t beat my skin up (probably because my skin’s plenty used to retinal by now) and the hyperpigmentation results I get are impressive. I mean, all these retinoid products have contributed to that over the years, but this one’s really moved the needle. 

If you want to start with retinaldehyde, consider Avène 0.05% Multi-Corrective Cream. That should be very gentle. Or you could start with Avène Retrinal 0.1% Intensive Multi-Corrective Cream; that’s the reformulated version of 0.1 Intensive Cream. I can’t speak for this new version because I’ve never used it, but you might find it’s easy on your skin. Maybe patch test it if you decide to try it. If you’re in the US: I think both these creams are available at Ulta now. Or, you could try a Medik8 low strength retinal serum—they start as low as 0.01% and go as high as 0.24%—but they’re more expensive than Avène. 

Caveat: just because a product works well for me, doesn’t mean it will for you. It all depends on what you wanna get out of a retinoid, how your particular skin behaves in general, and how much money you’re willing to spend. I mean, you could always see a dermatologist and get a tretinoin Rx. I don’t use tret because my derm and I agreed my skin probably wouldn’t tolerate it, at least not right away. My plan was to use retinal long enough to build up more retinoid tolerance and then move to tret. But really, retinal’s doing what I need vitamin A to do without shoving my skin into a locker and stealing its lunch money, so I’ll probably stick with it going forward. 

[locarly]

Oh my gosh thank you so much your response is soo in depth and so helpful!!! Thank you so much I really appreciate it

[SportyGirly125]

@locarly Welcome to BIC!  I have only tried retinol and retinoid

I haven’t noticed a difference between the 2 for me but I use Leahlani aqua a reintoid serum. I have also tried Strivectin retinol. It really depends on what works for you. 

Bakuchiol (is a plant-derived retinol alternative that is good for people who can’t tolerate retinol). If you have sensitive skin this is an option for you. 

[locarly]

Thank you so much! I’ve never heard of Bakuchiol before so this was super helpful 🙂