Which actives complement retinoids?
If you go for aggressive retinoids, like RetinA, you will need to make up for a disrupted skin barrier, with occlusive ingredients like petrolatum or mineral oil.
For all other retinoids that do not visibly disrupt the skin barrier, think about what the cell needs to follow the instructions given by the retinoid. Nutrition like that provided by SAS collagen serum and Every Lipid Serum will help you get the best results out of retinoids.
What does a retinoid do? Go and divide!
After retinoic acid enters the cell, it binds to specific nuclear receptors. These “activated” nuclear receptors, in turn, bind to specific regulatory sequences (called retinoic acid response elements) in the DNA inside the nucleus and directly change gene expression of specific genes. Such changes in gene expression translate into changes in the production of proteins, and are responsible for the biological and therapeutic effects of retinoids.
Retinoids will help you with very common problems that everybody will have at one time or another: acne(by preventing the clogging of pores) and skin aging (wrinkles, etc.).
Retinoids tend to normalize cellular proliferation and differentiation. In human epidermis, low concentrations of retinoids generally increase keratinocyte division.
Protect your skin stem cells with apocynin
And remember to avoid the following if you are using a vitamin A product.
- The sun. and wear sunscreen
- Exfoliation, physical or chemical. Vitamin A is already working at skin renewal, if you add ascorbic acid or other alpha hydroxy acids you should expect trouble.
- Drying products, anything containing alcohol (like ethanol)
DISCLAIMER: These claims have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease.
Please see also my other blog posts
Plants and the chemicals they make. Retinoids can be both gentle and effective.
Retinol, retinoic acid, retinyl ester, retin-A…… why so many retinoids?