I use Retin A twice a week - any more than that and I start to peel. I’ve been using this product every night for the past year and a half. It’s very different than anything else I’ve tried - leaves my skin hydrated and soft in the morning:
I love Fresh - I also use the lotus eye cream and moisturizer.
I’m a cosmetic product junky. I switch it up all the time. Right now, I’m using organic/natural skin products from a place called Follain. http://shopfollain.com. I think laser resurfacing and also chemical peels made a huge improvement in my skin.
That being said, I think much of how one ages is genetic. I look 10-15 years younger than I am and most folks are surprised when I tell them my age. I went to a plastic surgeon to repair a torn earlobe last winter. He did a double take when he looked at my age–told me I had a very youthful look. My parents always looked younger than they were.
I loved Retin A. It really did minimize wrinkles and every so often the old dead skin would sloth off in the shower and new, rosy, soft skin underneath. I used it for 5 to 6 nights a week. Like someone wrote earlier, you have to take it very slow…even back off a few weeks if it irritates, but typically you can work through it.
I stopped using it though. My hair started shedding more than usual through the years, but nothing terribly alarming. Then in June I started really losing my hair, I bet 40%. The dermatologist doesn’t know why. I stopped taking Retin A after I googled it and there are several cases of hair loss…but probably in the minority. I’ve been off of it 5 months and she started me on Spirolactone. I’d say it’s almost all grown back. Doc thinks Telogen Affluvium…I had a lot of stress this year. But I’m not sure it’s the Retin A. My hair is shedding what it used to now before I was on it.
I miss it! But I’m not taking the chance.
Speaking of hair, I was always one of those who just used whatever cheap shampoo (Suave, Vo5) because it was all the same and my hair looked fine no matter what I used. However, as I’ve gotten older that’s changed. I started using Moroccan Oil weightless hydrating mask (recommended to me by a salesperson at BlueMercury) and it’s awesome – but really expensive, so I can’t use it all the time.
OP here. This is interesting. After reading I mentioned a clarisnic brush as a potential Valentine’s Day present.
I have no intention of having surgery or anything, but maybe laser is what I need. I am going to ask my dermatologist about possible options when I go in March.
Did anyone have the Clairol Skin Machine years ago? I did as a teen with oily skin. I think it’s basically the same thing as the Clarisonic! I don’t think it’s good for my older skin, though - though it would have been good for my younger days in which I had oily skin and breakouts.
@Pizzagirl, I kind of wonder the same thing. Is all that scrubbing good for my 50+ skin. Seems like many here like it though.
I use diaper rash ointment on my skin. Specifically, Badger diaper rash ointment. Almond oil, zinc oxide, a few other things. I like to think I look pretty young.
Wow. I feel like I better get on the stick and start working on my face! Any tips for the stomach while we’re talking beautification? I collect fat in my belly area. I’m too risk adverse to do surgery, but I keep hearing about these new external procedures - cold lasers, etc. Anyone tried any of those?
Retin A. I typed up a long post about why I personally would not use it, but the Internet provider decided to take a break, and my post went into the abyss when I tried to submit it. Anyway, it was too technical and had to do with stability and unpredictability of the API quality. Additionally, one needs to constantly use it because the benefit goes away soon after stopping it. I am also not convinced the skin does not get “addicted” to it, but it is just my personal opinion without very conclusive scientific proof, just reading of some limited studies. Bottom line: if you are going to use it, I do not recommend buying stuff off online “pharmacies” that readily sell it without prescription. Avoid any other retinoid-containing products and watch your Vitamin A consumption. Stay out of the sun while using it and as Dietz said, discontinue immediately if a side effect appears.
That was what I read about why it might cause hair loss in some individuals…having to much Vitamin A build up.
I avoid the sun as much as possible and use sunscreen all the time , but the fact is, in the worst time of the year ( summer ) I work outside and in the sun. I have fallen for every marketing scheme there is from Rodan and Field’s to plain ol’ drug store brands and countless things in between
As a 50+ year old woman, I have recently started using a jar of organic coconut oil that cost me about $8. I use it to wash my face since in the cold weather months , no matter what the cleansers tell me they do, I am a flaky mess or the moisturizer gives me pimples…often time simultaneously. I use it for everything from eye cream, cleanser , chapped lips , dry feet and hands. It is simple, inexpensive and my skin looks and feels better than it has since I can recall.
I have heard it is good for acne, hair and even to consume as food. I don’t have any way to confirm any of those claims , but I just gave some to one of my daughters who suffers from excessively dry , sensitive skin and acne in cold weather months….we shall see how it works for her
I’ve been using Ava Anderson Non-Toxic products for about 4 years now. The best part is knowing that they’re safe for my skin and body. And my skin and hair have never been better. I started DD on them a couple of years ago and her skin is much better also. She loves the product and the message and started selling them herself last summer. So nice to know we’re not putting dangerous chemicals on our skin.
The company is going thru a transition right now but will be going forward as a new entity with its non-toxic products next month. When you start looking into what’s in so many other skin care and cleaning products, it’s really scary!
Well, anything you put on your skin is a chemical!
Okay, I’m gonna go through this thread carefully, when I have time… but I sure hope I hear very little from people who don’t use barely a thing, and their skin looks just great! Because of genetics. That doesn’t help the rest of us wrinkle sufferers at all, so if you’re thinking about saying that…I’ll give you a preemptive shuddup already!
^^I wish I could say that…Sadly, I do think it’s genetics and I’m doomed. I’ve used a bunch of stuff including lasers, chemical peels, Retin A and lotions and potions. Every day I get more depressed how my face is aging. I use sunscreen religiously too. My skin is thin and saggy and has no elasticity. My mother has horrible wrinkles, although she did spend decades in the sun.
I am fairly fortunate in that I have very minimal wrinkling at almost 56 (sorry @busdriver11). But after growing up in the south and spending a LOT of time outside as a kid when no one used sunscreen, it’s no surprise that I have some of those brown sun-damaged pigments peeking through now. So I have done BBL (will provide link below) and it helped a lot with brown spots as well as some of the tiny red veins. But it’s supposed to also help with wrinkles, although that’s not why I did it. So some of you might check it out. My dermatologist actually recommended it to me, but I ended up having it done at a med-spa as opposed to his office. I want to say the technology it is based on was discovered at Stanford University.
I think it’s hard to accept, but the truth, that apart from medical interventions and prescriptions, there’s no cosmetic, expensive or cheap, that will have any real effect on the appearance one’s skin. Of course a moisturizer will plump up the skin temporarily and make wrinkles a bit less noticeable, and sun block will help protect skin from damage over the long term, but as Consumer Reports and other investigative efforts have shown time and again, in both cases the drugstore brands do as good a job at those tasks as the overpriced stuff at the department store cosmetic counters or Sephora. Sure, the pricey stuff will often have a nicer texture and aroma, but it’s a waste of money to buy expensive skin care products with the expectation that they will actually do anything different from the cheap kinds, and delusional to believe either type will make your wrinkles diminish.
I think I agree about expensive vs. cheaper over the counter products. However, I know for a fact Retin A works and builds up the collagen. After 4 years of use, the lines around my eyes diminished. I also had a line right across the bridge of my nose, that plumped out over the years again to where it almost used to be. That stuff does work.
I also started using it on my chest twice a week and after 6 months I could see it was working. I had to deal with a lot of itching and redness at the beginning doing that.
To be honest I am more bothered by my upper chest; that’s starting to have that wrinkley look. And those bands appeared across my neck like overnight! What the heck?!