“Sometimes the only way out is through.”
Obagi’s Tretinoin is part of skinBe’s ABC-Glow routine, a daily skincare routine that is the foundation of healthy and radiant skin. It is a derivative of Vitamin A, and offered in three different strengths.
When we put you on tretinoin, we typically start you at the lightest strength, and as your skin adjusts to this miracle-worker, we move you up to the next level.
Tretinoin is a very rewarding product to use in your PM routine. It was originally created to target acne, but soon after observing its effects during regular use in skincare routines, people started to see tremendous anti-aging effects, too. This is because tretinoin stimulates cellular turnover, where your skin is refreshed with new skin cells rising to the surface, replacing the dead surface cells.
Here’s the cool part about it:
As adults, our cellular turnover can average around 40 days. While this isn’t too long of a wait to see a fresh face, we have found a way to stimulate cellular turnover to as fast as 24 hours– that is the time it takes for the natural cycle of a baby’s cellular turnover! By using tretinoin in your daily PM skincare routine, every 24 hours, you are mimicking the natural cycle of cellular turnover of a baby’s, giving you fresh and bright skin every time you wake up.
Now, this is the challenge:
When we start to use tretinoin for the first time, or when we level up to the next strength, our skin purges. Skin purging is common when implementing medical-grade skincare into your everyday routine, and it is expected- it actually means it’s working! Some signs of skin purging are redness, dryness, itchiness, or breakouts. Although it feels and looks like you took two steps back, the product is working with your skin. The only way to get out of the purge is to go through it with patience and consistency. If you start to experience skin purging while using tretinoin, it is okay to change your PM usage from every 24 hours to up to every 72 hours; but once you don’t use it at least every 72 hours, your skin will fall out of the routine to adjust to the tretinoin and you will experience the purging over again.
Our tips:
As much as possible, keep tretinoin in your PM skincare routine every 24 hours (and no longer than every 72 hours).
Only use tretinoin in your PM routine and always remember to apply SPF in your AM routine and throughout the day to protect your skin, especially during daily cellular turnover.
Follow through with supportive medical-grade skincare in your ABC-Glow routine (SPF, glowBe pads, Vitamin C Serum) + the products your provider recommends to customize your skincare needs.
Stay hydrated inside and out with water and a face moisturizer!