I just turned 28 this past weekend, which made me reflect much more on my skincare. I would describe my previous skincare routine as passively anti-aging. But as every new year passes, I up the intensity. So for this year, I use retinoids 2 times a week, as compared to just using it once a week. I am also using a stronger form of retinoids as well. All of the products that I have used in the past are over the counter, so there is no prescription needed. Of course, if you have strong acne or want the biggest results, it is best to talk to a healthcare professional to actually get that prescription for tretinoin or something similar to that. So let’s walk through some product and some of the biology & chemistry behind these products — the industry’s most well-studied compound!
RETINOIDS
How birthdays should all be spent, right?
A retinoid is the general family of the structures that look like retinol/al compounds. So what that means is that the backbone is pretty much conserved throughout the structures. However, the individual compounds will have different active groups at the terminal ends, which are responsible for the specific nomenclature.
RETINOL
Whenever a chemical ends in -ol, it is going to be an alcohol (having an -OH group attached to it). The alcohol group is typically at the end of the molecule, but that is not always true because it can be named for various different chemical groups that take precedence over the alcohol. YEP, this is going to be a lot of organic chemistry / orgo / o-chem. And YES, I am a bit rusty on it because it has been 8(??) years since I took organic chemistry. Wow, I am really dating myself here. YIKES. But at least the biology is a little bit fresher for me! Under normal cellular conditions, retinol is going to be circulating around the cells and will enter via a retinol-binding protein. So that’s how your topical retinol gets into your skin cells, where they can actually have an effect.
So most products that are retinoids are going to offer the compound in the retinol form, also known as Vitamin A. This means that it likely won’t be as efficacious as the following compounds later on in this list. However, it is usually much more easily accessible. And like all things, it depends on what the concentration is. A product with a high concentration of retinol is likely going to be more efficacious than a product that has a low concentration of retinal. It all depends on different factors like: how well your skin absorbs the retinoid, how efficiently your cells can convert the retinoids to the useful forms, and how responsive your cells are to actually bind the products. And of course, all of these things are pretty much tied to your genetics and not something that your products can do for you. So it is essential for you to try out a lot of different products until you find what is getting you the results that you need. Otherwise, you are just going to be wasting money on products that are not helping you look any younger!
RETINAL
Retinal is the aldehyde version of the alcohol, which means that the oxygen that used to be there has now turned into a double bond, rather than a single bond. However, if you look at the structure of it (below!), it is getting much closer to the retinoic acid, right? All that’s missing is that extra alcohol (-OH) group at the end. But since it is so much more similar, this means that it has less chemical steps that need to be done to it to actually become effective inside your skin cells. And that means the product is going to be much more efficient when you put it on.
RETINOIC ACID
So if we think about chemistry like Pokemon (because I am a nerd), think of Retinoic Acid as your final evolution form: Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur. You know the deal (again, I only know the older Pokemon because I am too old to keep up with the youths). So retinoic acid is going to actually bind to the receptors [aptly named the Retinoic Acid Receptors] and it is the major bioactive component. Once bound to the Retinoic Acid Receptor, it makes a protein complex that can now activate the expression of genes. Once these genes (little functional pieces of DNA) are activated, they instruct the cell to produce the components that we want: collagen, which will help reduce the fine lines and wrinkles.
And if you were following along closely, I mentioned before that retinol physiologically is absorbed by Retinol-Binding Protein. But what about when you apply retinal and retinoic acid?? Then what!??! Well, they actually have other retinoid binding proteins or specific proteins that bind these forms as well, to allow them to enter into the cell. So don’t fret — they will still get into your skin, and they are not just fake products that you’re buying!
How the retinoids are interrelated
So there you have it! And if this was a lot of science / chemistry for you, the science QUEEN Michelle (@labmuffinbeautyscience) has also made an amazing IGTV that covers how to read these chemical structures. It is definitely worth checking out and it is an awesome way to understand more about chemistry in general!
PRODUCTS I AM LOVING
So let’s get into the retinoid products that I love. I use a mix of retinol and retinal products. I don’t have any retinoic acids because I don’t think that my skin needs it right now.
Allies of Skin - Retinal & Peptides Overnight Mask
I’ve been using this one for over a month, once a week. And I love the results. I think that it really has helped me get rid of this PERSISTENT forehead wrinkle that I have had. My skin looks super smooth the morning after I put this on. It also has a bunch of other good things that I look for in basically any product: peptides & antioxidants. And this is packed with it! The retinal is encapsulated, which means that it is protected from the solution and will go straight into the cells, rather than be chemically manipulated while it is in the bottle. This allows the retinal to stay retinal for much longer.
Kate Somerville +Retinol Vita C Power Serum
This is definitely a luxury type product. The packaging is gold! GOLD! Fancy af. I like this one because it has the addition of Vitamin C, which will help with skin brightening and fixing discoloration. I also really always reach for products that have Vitamin C in them because of the antioxidant properties that help with neutralizing free radicals. So it is awesome that they made a formulation that combines the two — especially since many people are of the school of thought that these two compounds should never be mixed together. But they are formulated together, so it is clearly meant to be used together in this case!
Anthony Skincare High Performance Vitamin A Facial Treatment
I think I really like this branding of the packaging, much more than any of the other Anthony Skincare products. It definitely feels the most premium. This comes out more as a moisturizer than as a serum: it is pretty creamy. I’ll usually use this as a moisturizer after I use an AHA. I like to use it in that combination because that way I still get the benefits of a retinol, but I know that the concentration won’t be nearly as irritating as the Allies of Skin Retinal Overnight Mask, since that is much more heavy duty. This would be good as a daily type of treatment if you want more consistency in your routine rather than having to count the days out to remember when you need treatment x versus treatment y.
What are your favorite retinoid products? Do we have any in common? Let me know in the comments below. And as always, thank you for reading this post!