Hi @MaddLinds and very belated congrats on your baby! Iโve got a few thoughts on your skincare routine.
You donโt need 2 retinol products for the same part of your face. Kiehlโs claims their serum can be used around the eye. If youโre applying it there (in addition to the rest of your face), then donโt also use the RoC retinol eye cream. Otherwise youโll risk irritating the heck outta that skin by using too much retinol. Plus, more isnโt necessarily better when it comes to skincare: retinolโs been shown to be effective at very low amountsโas low as 0.02%. I donโt know what % is in the Kiehlโs serum, but I assume itโs higher than that.
Donโt jump straight into daily use of that (or any) retinol serum. Retinol (and other forms of vitamin A) can be quite drying and irritating. If youโre new to vitamin A, ease into it: start using that serum just a couple times a weekโnever twice on the same dayโfor 2-3 weeks. Then increase use to 3 times a week for a while. Keep gradually increasing usage til youโre at a comfy-for-you frequency, which could be daily, every other day, or even just 2 or 3 times a week. You might still experience some drying and flaky skin, but youโll be less likely to โburn your face offโ so to speak. If youโre already easing into the Kiehlโs serum, hooray! Keep at it.
No need to let your face dry down for 20 minutes after applying retinol. Doing that increases the chance of water loss from your skin, and you donโt want thatโespecially while using vitamin A. Once the Kiehlโs serum seems to have settled into your skin, which should only take a minute at most, move on to your next skincare step.
Wear a broad spectrum sunscreen during the day whenever your skinโs exposed to sunlight. If you already do this, great! I just feel obligated to mention it. ๐ Contrary to popular belief, retinol doesnโt make your skin more sensitive to the sun. In fact, retinol alone is not the reason to use sunscreen. UV rays cause many โsigns of aging,โ including some wrinkles. Thereโs no point using any skincare products to reduce wrinkles/lines if you donโt also stop the sun from causing more of them. One nice thing about the end of daylight saving time is less sun exposure, thanks to 4 or 5 PM sunsets. ๐ Still apply sunscreen each morning youโll get sun exposure, including time you spend sitting near a window with open blinds/curtains (UVA rays penetrate glass and bounce off surfaces like walls, floors, etc.). But if youโre like me, you appreciate not having to reapply sunscreen as frequently throughout the day vs. long summer days.
Lines around eyes are unavoidable. Theyโre formed mostly by repeated facial expressions, so the only way to fully prevent them is to stop smiling, crying, frowning, sneezing, laughing, etc. I realize some folks are self-conscious of their undereye lines and I wonโt invalidate your concerns and personal preferences. Just know that retinol can reduce the appearance of those lines but wonโt โeraseโ them or stop new ones from appearing. No topically applied skincare product can do that. Iโm in my early 50s and all my visible wrinkles are under my eyes. I usually tell folks I earned those lines through decades of emotional expression. Heck, I had to zoom in on your photos to even see your lines, and Iโm wearing readers right now. I do think retinol will reduce their appearance for you, with consistent use. But yeah, everyone gets those lines and it takes in-office/clinic procedures to truly remove them.
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