Beauty

[DukeBlueNan]

Ladies, is your retin-a prescription? I'm really interested in getting some but don't know who/what/where etc. Thank you for any help.

[Love2Laugh]

Hi Writer With Flair,

It is a common misperception that retinol stops working. I used to think this myself until I did some more research about it. There are so many factors that can contribute to lines and wrinkles on our face.

It would be great if we could all do a side by side comparison of our faces with retinol and without it. We would see that the retinol is indeed doing its job of rebuilding collagen in our skin, and you would probably be surprised at how well it really is working.

It is possible that your are experiencing some aging of your skin, and that isn't something we like, but remember retinol just rebuilds collagen and stops further wrinkles. It can soften ones that are already developed, but it won't cause them to disappear. The wrinkle that has already shown up, is unfortunately, ours to keep.

You could try increasing to a .3% retinol. The only reason to suggest this is because .15%, which Alpha Hydroxy is a .15% retinol, is a quite a low dose of retinol. It is a very effective treatment for just starting out with retinol, but you could increase your dosage to allow the skin to gain even more benefit without going overboard on your skin.

There are some excellent choices on the market (Green Cream Level 3, Topix Replenix 3X, Afirm 3X, Biomedic 30). These are all good choices and at various prices and they are all .3% retinol.

Another issue you may want to address instead of changing your retinol strength is changing the type of moisturizer you use. Sometimes because of the already existent wrinkles on our face we can soften them with the right ingredients in our moisturizer - hyaluronic acid, for example, helps to plump up the skin's surface while helping to hold in the needed hydration of the skin which in turn helps to soften wrinkles.

[Dharma_Initiative]

L2L, Afirm 3X is .6%. The 2X is .3%. :-)

[Love2Laugh]

On 6/24/2014 Dharma_Initiative said: L2L, Afirm 3X is .6%. The 2X is .3%. :-)

Dharma, yep, you are right! It is the 2X that is .3%. The 3X is .6%. Thanks so much for pointing that out. My hands were typing faster than my brain.

[Dharma_Initiative]

L2L I think it's confusing actually. Replenix 3x is .3% but Afirm 3x (which I notice is discontinued at skinstore and dermstore) is .6%! Biomedic 30 is also discontinued on most sites I looked at too. I wonder why, they both had good reviews.

[Love2Laugh]

On 6/24/2014 Dharma_Initiative said: L2L I think it's confusing actually. Replenix 3x is .3% but Afirm 3x (which I notice is discontinued at skinstore and dermstore) is .6%! Biomedic 30 is also discontinued on most sites I looked at too. I wonder why, they both had good reviews.

Dharma, honestly, I do too. Yes, those products are only available on a few smaller, less unknown sites now that I found. I

I think that there are just too many products on the market that have taken their place and because those companies (Afirm and Biomedic) never did much advertising simply because I think they were targeted to be sold at dermatologists offices, they have gotten pushed out by the lastest and greatest.

I used both the Afirm, which is a REALLY excellent product as it was one of the first products to use microsponge technology which is basically microencapsulation to help lessen the affects of irritation, and the Biomedic which was just another decent retinol.

[Dharma_Initiative]

L2L do you still use Afirm? I tried it years ago and don't even remember why I never repurchased. Have you ever used Topix Replenix? I was just about to make the decision to finally try that one (3X) but if you still think Afirm is so good... (I know...everyone's different...). But I'd still appreciate your reviews and comparison of the 2 if you've used them both. Thanks!

[JeanLouiseFinch]

On 6/24/2014 Jazzgrl said: Ladies, is your retin-a prescription? I'm really interested in getting some but don't know who/what/where etc. Thank you for any help.

Mine is. You need to see a dermatologist to get your prescription. There's a huge difference between prescription Retin-A/Tretinoin and Retinol. Retinol is much weaker. Adding Retin-A to one's routine must be done slowly over a period of weeks.
I know you can get Retin-A from foreign online pharmacies w/o a prescription but you really need to know the appropriate strength and delivery system that right for you first. I'm sometimes tempted to order that way because it's much cheaper that way and my medical insurance won't cover it. Many people have been successful ordering that way, but I'm still a little reluctant. Maybe one day.

[Love2Laugh]

On 6/24/2014 Dharma_Initiative said:

L2L do you still use Afirm? I tried it years ago and don't even remember why I never repurchased. Have you ever used Topix Replenix? I was just about to make the decision to finally try that one (3X) but if you still think Afirm is so good... (I know...everyone's different...). But I'd still appreciate your reviews and comparison of the 2 if you've used them both. Thanks!

No, I don't currently use the Afirm. Of the two, I prefer the Replenix. I used the Replenix for a long time until Paula B came out with the Resist retinol, and that is what I have been using. The Replenix has a really nice air-tight container and the green tea polyphenols.

Both the Afirm and the Replenix were non-irritating, so the only reason I didn't continue with the Afirm is I just didn't care for squeezing the product out of the aluminum container when it got to the end of the tube which made it difficult to get out the last bit of product thus having to throw away some of it. I am a "scrape the product to the bottom of the barrel" kind of person, so I wasn't able to do that with the Afirm, and it was just irritating for me.

I was actually thinking of switching back to the Replenix when I found out how low of a dose Paula's Resist retinol is - .1%

[Harpa]

On 6/24/2014 Love2Laugh said:

Another issue you may want to address instead of changing your retinol strength is changing the type of moisturizer you use. Sometimes because of the already existent wrinkles on our face we can soften them with the right ingredients in our moisturizer - hyaluronic acid, for example, helps to plump up the skin's surface while helping to hold in the needed hydration of the skin which in turn helps to soften wrinkles.

This is good advice, L2L!