How To Avoid Retinol Purge – 17 Tips For Starting Retinol

If you’re a skincare junkie, or even if you’re not, it would have been hard to have missed the buzz about retinol. They are arguably the gold standard in anti-ageing, but still, weirdly, something that the majority of us get quite confused about. How to avoid a retinol purge is always high on everyone’s question list for this product.

Myths abound, stories of faces falling off heads from retinol purging and a whole plethora of scary nicknames for this product all add to many of us choosing to bypass something that could take our skin back to when we were a teen! Such a shame….

I started using retinol a good 6 years ago now, and my goal was always to start using prescription strength Tretinoin should it become available to get hold of in the UK without seeing a dermatologist.

A little bit of recent searching led me to Dermatica, where those in the UK can now obtain Tretinoin following an online assessment and private prescription from their dermatologists.

I was excited to get started with this form of retinoid, but despite being a retinol aficionado, I was eager to ensure I did not end up looking like that baddie from Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark (yeah, you know the one….the man with the meting face!).

Retinol purging is actually one type of side effect we can get from starting any form of retinol. This post is every bit of information I could glean from skincare experts, dermatologists, retinol manufacturers and my own, and others, real-life experience, on how to avoid retinol purge, and all types of retinol side effects.

These tips will work whether you are using OTC retinol or prescription-strength retinoids…..after all our skin reacts in different ways.

I have written a post all about what retinol purging is here and what the other side effects are, the cause, and the dangers of them all in this post. It is essentially a part 1 of this post so I advise you to read it alongside this one, but let’s plunge into the many ways on how to avoid retinol purge.

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What are Retinols?

Before delving into how to avoid retinol purge, I figured it’s best for you to get a quick background reminder on retinol, aka retinoids, but also what the side effects are.

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What are Retinols and What Do They Do for Us?

Retinoids are a form of Vitamin A that works by penetrating the deeper dermis layer of our skin where it converts into retinoic acid. This promotes cell turnover that encourages new cell growth to produce collagen and elastin that reduce fine lines and wrinkles and promote elasticity.

This also produces new blood vessels that improve the colour of the skin. It also inhibits tyrosinase activity, the melanin-producing enzyme, therefore reducing hyperpigmentation which means uneven skin tone is improved and age spots fade. 

The turnover of surface cells results in dead skin cells being removed faster resulting in brighter skin, but it also prevents the dead skin cells from clogging pores thereby reducing spots, blackheads etc and improving the appearance of blemishes. 

The outer layer of skin (epidermis) is thickened which minimises the effects of free radicals like UV exposure and pollution. This limits the visible signs of sun damage. There also is now evidence that it can actually inhibit some of the processes of damage that happen to our skin when it is exposed to UV.

Here is a post I wrote all about starting retinol if you are a beginner – it will give you way more information on where to start and how to apply it. While on the subject, here is a post on the best age to start retinol – in case you’re wondering!

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What Side Effects Do They Cause?

As discussed earlier, the whole purpose of retinoids is to make the skin cell turnover faster. More dead skin cells are removed at a faster rate, so the new healthy cells, your new skin, are exposed before they are ready.

This temporarily thins our protective skin barrier resulting in redness, irritation and sensitivity and this reaction is generally known as Retinol Irritation.

If the redness, irritation and sensitivity we can get with irritation become more severe, that is when it becomes a Retinol Burn. Side effects of this include pain and peeling skin and a more intolerable amount of redness, irritation and sensitivity. 

A Retinol Purge is a slightly different type of side effect. As the new, healthy skin cells go through their turnover process they push up oil and debris trapped under the surface. This debris was ultimately going to form spots, but as it all gets pushed up in one go, the breakout occurs – known as purging. 

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17 Tips: How to Avoid Retinol Purge, Irritation and Burn

It’s important to note at this stage, that all these side effects are completely normal, and some experts would say to be expected. They are essentially a sign that the products are doing their job and cell turnover is occurring.

There is, however, an argument that cell turnover would occur with or without retinol purging and the other side effects, so why not do your best to enjoy the benefits of retinol without having the embarrassment of a red and flaky face for a few weeks?

1. Prepare Your Skin

Purging and irritation occur when the skin barrier is compromised. Limit these side effects by prepping this skin barrier function a good month prior to starting retinol, by ensuring your skin is not dehydrated.

When it is fully moisturised this barrier function works at its best, so get a really strict moisturising routine in place both morning and evening.

You should also avoid any type of cleanser that strips your skin like a gel or a foam – use micellar water or a cream-based cleanser instead. During the day, every day, wear a broad spectrum mineral-based SPF. 

Oh, and give your skin a rest from all forms of exfoliation……it’s got a fair bit of work to come!

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2. Don’t Start With Such a High Strength Retinol

If you truly are a retinol virgin, or even if you’ve gently dabbled, don’t even consider prescription-strength retinoids like Tretinoin – you will be vacuuming your face off the floor! Stick with Over The Counter (OTC) retinol.

I would then advise finding a brand that clearly lets you know what strength retinol each of their products is – Paula’s Choice, Medik8 and Skinceuticals are my favourites for this. 0.01% – 0.03% are the lowest dose and considered best for beginners (with 0.04% – 0.1% for intermediate and 0.5% – 2% for advanced).

There is certainly less chance of having any retinol purging or irritation with this dose and if you find there are no problems whatsoever, just move on up to the intermediate stage once finished the product.

Of course, this is generally the advice no matter the strength you’re on – just move up to the next strength once the skin has settled with the current strength.

There are many ways to avoid retinol purge, but quite honestly this has to be the top one.

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3. Forget About the Other Retinoid Based Names

I’m feeling a tad controversial here, but when I started out on retinol, I wanted it to be the least confusing as possible, and sticking with the brands that clearly named their products with the numeral strengths was the easiest for me.

Yes, there are other forms of retinol that have different strengths like Retinyl Palmitate, Retinaldehyde and Retinol Esters, but that was just WAY too confusing for me, and I felt at risk of getting it wrong and picking too strong a dose.

Life is just too short to work out where these other forms of retinol are on the strength scale to prevent a mistake!

The percentage-based numeral scale, while not entirely user-friendly, is at least an obvious scale and means you can clearly tell which products are beginner, intermediate and advanced…..it also means you know what you’re getting if you switch brands when ready to increase strengths.

4. Space the Applications Out

So you’ve got your brand new box of retinol, and if you’re anything like me, you excitedly read every word in the instructions (even if you’re not like me you should still read instructions for products!).

Before you diligently go ahead and apply the product daily, you should know that this is one instruction you should ignore. You can, and certainly should consider, taking it slowly. 

There are many different paths for this: you could start 2 times a week on non-consecutive nights for 2 weeks and see how you get on. If there are no issues, increase up to 3 times, wait, and then increase again if desired. Keep going gradually like this till you get to every night if that’s your goal.

One other method you could try is the opposite way around to what I used for decreasing topical steroids with patients: x1 for 1 week, x2 for 2 weeks, x3 for 3 weeks….and so on.

Do whatever method works as long as you do it slowly. How to avoid a retinol purge? This one works really well!

5. Consider the Type of Product You Use

In nursing, whenever we used topical steroids, the rule of thumb was to use ointment-based if the patient had sensitive skin, otherwise, we could use cream-based. The idea is that a cream-based steroid formulation has more ingredients for the patient to have a reaction to. 

From what I can gather it is the same concept with retinol, however, if you have sensitive skin you WANT to hunt out the cream-based formulas. Why?

Well, because there are fewer ingredients in serum/gel-based retinol formulas, they are absorbed and penetrate the skin much quicker and efficiently, thereby increasing sensitivity. 

Cream-based formulas with more ingredients act as a buffer. The ingredients used, such as antioxidants, ceramides and hyaluronic acids, are designed to soothe and hydrate the skin at the same time.

You could also hunt out products that buffer further by drip-feeding the ingredient into your skin over time by using encapsulated, drone or time-release technology. Anything that slows the absorption down will help the skin to adapt gradually.

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6. Don’t Apply Too Much Retinol

In the case of retinol, a lot of the product is not better even though a small amount does good – I hope that makes sense!! The more the product gets on your skin, the more your cells are kicked into overdrive. 

If you read the product instructions, which again….you should, you will see that the amount of product it advises you to use is equivalent to a pea-size amount.

If you wanted to be extra careful, that could be a petits pois size pea, before increasing up to a normal size pea! This is the amount the company knows is the right amount to do the job purchased for. 

Side bonus: you save on the pennies!

7. Read the Packaging

I know I said earlier that you don’t have to follow the instructions on applying the product every day. Well, that is where that advice on ignoring instructions ends! 

All products are designed in a specific way and the instructions they provide are specifically written for that design. If you do your own thing you may well not get the results you are using the product for, or worse, can cause yourself damage.

Granted this is unlikely to be the case with your shampoo, but both of these scenarios are a possibility with retinol.

8. Ensure Skin is Dry Before Applying Retinol

After you have washed your face with cleanser, ensure your face is fully dry before applying retinol. Don’t rub your face with a towel….pat your face, but better still wait about 10 minutes to ensure it is completely dry.

You may have seen, in relation to other skincare products, that they are more effective when you apply them to damp skin – well, the same applies to retinol. Damp skin allows retinol to penetrate deeper and more efficiently, thereby (you guessed it!) giving you more of those side effects in the early days.

I say the early days, as there may well come a time when you want the retinol to work more efficiently, and therefore can apply it to damp skin, but when starting out it’s best to be avoided.

9. Try the Short Contact Method

If you have particularly sensitive skin and/or are quite anxious about retinol purging and irritation, you could try the short contact method, also known as the flash contact method.

With this, you apply the retinol as normal, but instead of keeping it on all night, you wash it off after a certain length of time. Entirely up to you how long you leave it on – you could start at 30 minutes and gradually increase it by increments of 15 minutes until you are washing it off just before bed. 

Obviously, this method means you can’t apply it just before you go to bed, and you may well have to do your evening skincare routine earlier and earlier to be able to lengthen the time the retinol is on your skin.

10. Ensure All Your Skincare Products are Suitable

Your journey on how to avoid retinol purge isn’t just about the retinol product itself. While your skin is going through this tough time, it’s a good idea to evaluate all the other skincare products you are using.

Some you should cut out for the time being…more of that later, but for the remaining products they should be gentle and nourishing.

Remember that gentle cleanser you were using when prepping the skin? Well, you should still be using that. When it comes to your moisturiser, again look for products with hydrating and skin-strengthening ingredients like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and ceramides.

That’s it though. No other active ingredients and no fragrance.

When it comes to sunscreen, mineral sunscreens are a lot less irritating on your skin than chemical sunscreens, so switch to that if you haven’t already.

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11. Use Moisturiser as a Buffer

There are a few options here as well depending on how much effort you need to put in to avoid a retinol purge.

Firstly you could apply your moisturiser straight after you apply the retinol. This obviously gives the retinol less time sitting on its own to do its thing.

Secondly, you could apply the moisturiser just before the retinol to act as a sort of barrier.

Thirdly, do both! Sandwich the retinol by putting moisturiser on before and after the retinol.

Lastly, create a buffer by mixing the retinol with the moisturiser. 

So many options, and while this does dilute the retinol a bit, it does add an extra layer of protection.

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12. Don’t Over Exfoliate

Even though retinol is not considered an exfoliator it is sort of naturally doing that job, so you’ll want to cut out all other forms of exfoliation from your skincare regime. Doubling up this exfoliating effect really will damage the skin barrier.

AHAs, BHAs, peels, exfoliating masks – all chemical exfoliators should be stopped, and absolutely no physical exfoliator. You really should go as far as to avoid using a flannel to wash your face.

Incidentally, you don’t have to stop all these forms of exfoliation for a good while on retinol – just when you’re starting out and your skin is adjusting. Once things have settled, you can introduce exfoliators back into your regime, but it’s then advised to skip the retinol dose on those days.

13. Be Extra Careful With Other Beauty Treatments

Watch out for other active products during this period like Vitamin C. This is something that should be used in the morning at a separate time from your evening retinol dose anyway, but it’s best to cut it out entirely while you’re in the early stages of the retinol.

As it happens this was my downfall when I started Tretinoin – I’d been using Vit C in the morning for years before starting retinol so thought it would be okay to continue using it as my skin was used to it. Once I temporarily stopped it, the irritation I was experiencing instantly stopped!

Don’t even entertain the idea of getting any facial waxing or dermaplaning for this adjustment period either. In fact, just avoid any facial beauty treatments for this period of time – your skin is working hard and just doesn’t need anything else to confuse it. 

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Final Few Tips

These last few tips don’t necessarily lower the chances of having a retinol purge or irritation, but they certainly are worth mentioning

14. Keep Those Fingers Away From Your Face

With all those extra zits you may be getting from the retinol purge, don’t be tempted to squeeze them. Just remember that retinol is doing its job, and so is your skin. It’s also a delicate time for your face with new skin cells being created, so popping them can create scarring. 

The good news is these spots will fade faster due to the faster cell turnover, so just be patient!

15. Keep Photographic Evidence

Now is a good time to take photos of your face. It’s a great way to remind you of what your skin was like and how much it has improved later down the line. It will show you just how worth it all of this was.

Remember though…..the photos should be without makeup! EEK!

16. Think About Your Clothing

Sounds daft I know, but clothing can be really irritating on your retinol-sensitive skin at this time. Wool can be a real struggle (well we know it can at the best of times!), but so can any clothing that is high-neck.

I love my cosy roll necks during winter and can remember constantly having to pull them away from my face……and don’t even go there with scarves!

And finally my favourite…….

17. Watch Out For Beards

Be careful kissing someone with a rough beard or prickly facial hair. Not much more to say with this one as I think it speaks for itself! Good luck with this one…..

So, let’s boil all of this down to what are essentially 4 things to bear in mind on how to avoid retinol purge. No matter what the form of side effects take, the underlying causes are the same:

• The product is too high a strength
• The product being used too frequently 
• Not applying the product correctly or efficiently
• The skin is sensitive, for example with rosacea or eczema. With these disorders, the moisture barrier is compromised therefore allowing the retinoids to penetrate more than they should. The dose here is essentially increased and so are the side effects.

If you can work out which one (or combination) of these 4 things you are doing, you might just have an easy fix. These 17 tips will guide you in determining which mistake you may be making.

Retinol purge, retinol uglies, retinol burn – the names alone coined for these side effects can really put someone off using this product (thankfully no, your face has not literally been set alight and there is no exorcism taking place).

If you manage to follow as many of these tips in combination with each other, you will sail through the retinisation period with no problems at all.

Remember to head on over to this post which gives you a background on the side effects of retinol – it really does complement this post perfectly.

So tell me……which one of these tips do you think could solve your retinol woes? Let me know in the comments below, and please do tell me if you have any other tips I have missed. Every little helps! Also, please sign up for my monthly newsletter to get updates on all things skincare and beauty.

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