Retin-A 0.25 and 0.5 chooser or looser review

Retin-A
Prices vary from where you get it from normally this is a prescription treatment ( but most of us get it other ways!!)
Advice is buy it on line but from a seller who has good feedback only - otherwise don't buy it!!!
Also don't spend silly money on it anything over £15 is prob to expensive I paid £13 for two tubes of 0.25.

Ok where to start, I bought Retin-A online by a power seller with excellent feedback.
I bought one tube of 0.5 thinking this would be a good starter
WRONG!!
please I cannot state this enough do not get over confident and buy the higher strengh you have one face do not ruin it!!!

Yes I used the 0.5 first so I know what Im talking about.

I ordered the cream, it arrived quickly, the cream is in a tube, always make sure that the cream is a pearlised thick cream.  As advised by the instructions I put a thin layer over my whole face avoiding the really delicate eye area and eyelids, it advises to do this at night before you go to bed this gives a chance for the body to rebuild collagen or so it says.
I did this a few days before Christmas as I thought with being off work for a week it would give my skin a chance to adjust.

The following day my skin looked a bit red almost like either wind burn or a bit of sunburn It was a bit sore to the touch to, but reading on other peoples experiences I thought this is normal for the first week or so.

The second morning of applying this cream my face was really red very sore I applied some E45 cream but it seemed to flare up even more I went out on a Christmas night out with a tomato face (not attractive at all!)

The third morning I was panicking a bit my face was really red again and this time the dryness was terrible so I applied argan oil but by the end of the day my face was dry again and looking awful I looked 10 years older eeeeeeekkkk.

I decided to miss a few days to give my skin a rest, it does advise use every other day if you notice a flare up but this was way to much, you have to know when to stop.

By now the 0.25 had arrived and I decided to change to the lesser strengh as I had never used this product before it really makes sense to start on the lower strengh wish I had done this to start with so please please please use the lower one if your a newbie, try not to be in such a rush for instant results.

On Christmas Day I had a vile red peeling dry face and my family asked me what was wrong as I couldn't wear make up as my face flared up even more with the irritation of it sighhhh!!!

I used the 0.25 for a week and thank god my face has settled the hell down I swear I looked like hell boys sister and older ewwww!


So the results

If you use the higher one straight away then expect a red tomato face for weeks and weeks, if your patient like me (yeah right) then start as you mean to go on "less is best!!"

I use the 0.25 every night I put a thin layer on my face I dont put a buffer underneath or on top you shouldn't need this with 0.25 although I did the first time I used it on my neck.
If you do however need a buffer as you think the 0.25 is making your skin to dry or too red then you can either mix it in with a good moisturiser or apply moisturiser an hour after using your Retin A.

Its early days as its not quite two weeks my wrinkles don't particularly look any better but maybe I need to work my way up to the 0.5, it did do what it was designed to do any spots little white heads etc disappeared completely I have  spot free face so result!!

It does say it could take a month to see real results so I will stick at it.

Downsides

Redness if using a high strengh straight away.
dryness, terrible terrible dryness I tried E45 which is a fab cream but just didn't last all day, I used argan oil something more greasy and that helped a bit more but not enough.
The lack of moisture making your face look old, when your face looks dry all your wrinkles look worse especially round the eyes so don't go slapping to much around them.
Rub this cream in really well, its thick so spend a bit of time blending it in one night i must have not rubbed it all in and had redness and itchiness around the corner of my mouth.

Tips and hints

Again use the lowest strengh ok so its going to be a slower but work your way up
moisturise moisturise moisturise!!!!!
I did a bit of research and this is by far the best cream I could find for the flaky skin
Face- Eucerin replenishing face cream 5% urea this promises to put the moisture back in your skin and it certainly does although if I wasn't using retin a I think it might have been to greasy you can buy it for £11 not cheap but hardly expensive either.

Eye- eucerin Q10 anti wrinkle cream, this promises a lot but if you look it up on makeup alley it has better reviews than most, it certainly hydrates not sure about dark circles and wrinkles but early days its quite expensive nearly £15

Its only been two weeks but I will keep this blog updated as when I was looking for information I couldn't find enough so I will keep this updated as I think this treatment shouldnt be taken likely.

4wks into this now and kind of loosing the will!! my face is a bit red and dry I never had dry skin like this and my eye wrinkles are awful because they look dehydrated im not liking this look at all. The internet says 4 to 8 wks to see major differences but im just not seeing them as its winter I will give it another 4 wks then hand on heart I will beable to say I give it a good try.  Personally seems ideal for girls with greasy skin and who have acne or breakouts and lets face it that after all is what it was designed for in the first place!
I will get back to this.

7 weeks now and not counting lol! Im not sure if its just me but cant see the difference to be honest my skins the same its not better or worse! my wrinkles according to my husband are the same no change so why am I bothering  If I continue does this mean when im 51 I will look 41 soooo confused by this product, every blog or advice page says don't give up keep trying but I'm a bit bored now with the whole regime and I had a huge break out last week and I mean a biggie, I had about 10 nasty spots which is not like me at all. When I first started using Retin-A my skin must have went extra dry so of course 6 weeks into the product my skin must be getting used to it and with my skin not normally being dry when I was using eucerin 5% urea cream along side the Retin-A my face went super sonic greasy with blocked pores this happened so fast it was scary, Ive stopped using the eucerin 5% urea face cream ( still use the eye cream as that's not like the face cream) I purchased Boots own make, simply sensitive night moisturiser (Im sure any simple non perfume face cream will work) This has done the job and a week on my face is back to its normal self phewwwwwwwwwww.  So be careful with Eucerin especially if you have medium skin and a greasy T zone.

So conclusion to this is I have no idea! I know this is a slow process and I prob will continue as I have over half a tube of the retin -A left, but maybe in ten years I will have a better idea!!!!

UNDECIDED!!

After thought !warning! I used this on my neck once and it looked like I had been burnt and this took 2 weeks to clear up this doesnt happen to everyone but do a patch test first.