Daily my DM’s are full of skincare questions.
What do I think of this brand? What do I think of that brand?
I understand different products do different things but for a lot of the results these women are looking for I can’t help but think, “….a medical-grade retinoid would REALLY help you with that.”
The Benefits Of Retinoids
I am SO PROUDLY working with Dear Brightly to speak about the first company EVER to make it so that you can have access to a medical-grade retinoid without stepping foot inside a doctor’s office. That saves soooo much time and money. Their product, tretinoin (a medical-grade retinoid), the powerhouse ingredient made accessible by their service, is the same stuff I have been using and LOVING since 22! It’s been my skin-saving grace for a magnitude of reasons. You use it at least 3X a week at night. After 4-6 weeks, you will start seeing incredible results!
So let’s get INTO THIS! (Read the ins and outs of how to use retinoids HERE)
5 Reasons To Use A Medical Grade Retinoid
1. It Is Boosts Collagen And Helps With Fine Lines/Wrinkles
It sucks that the harsh reality is our skin loses 1% of our collagen every year after 30. (Some say this starts to happen even earlier- as early as our early 20s!) A loss of collagen is what causes skin to start sagging- I know, NOOOOOOO. But there are things we can do! Besides diet, retinoids are great at boosting collagen because they are constantly turning over the cells in our skin. They boost production– so if you have this in your routine as a constant, then you can rest knowing you are being proactive in keeping your skin firm and tight. As for fine lines and wrinkles, I am 32 and only have a few fine lines around my eyes and that’s just because I’m a big smiler. But my forehead looks the exact same as when I was in my early 20s. I firmly believe retinoids are helping me to age gracefully. If you were to start retinoids now, within a few months you’d totally start seeing differences in your own fine lines/wrinkles.
2. It Helps With Pigmentation
Retinoids do a fantastic job at evening out skin tone. You know when grass gets overgrown and starts to look all kinds of greens and browns? I like to think of retinoids as a lawnmower that comes through and scrapes off the top leaving behind clean, one color GREEN cut grass. Only… for our skin. 😛 Is that a poor analogy? My bad! My point is that because it’s constantly turning over dead skin cells and stimulating new blood vessels to the skin, we are left with a more “even” color. I like manual exfoliation, but nothing compares to chemical exfoliation- which is what a retinoid does.
3. It Makes Your Skin Softer
When you are constantly turning over new skin cells with a retinoid, you’re not going to have that top of “crust” (as I like to call it) that you’ve gotten use to. Below that layer of crust sits baby soft skin! My boyfriend always talks about how my cheeks and forehead are like a pillow– so so soft. I have retinoids in part to thank for this! I once went a good month without using retinoids and I couldn’t believe how much the texture of my skin changed. It was noticeably rougher- even with manual exfoliation! Right when I went back to my beloved retinoids, SOFT SKIN.
4. It Helps With Acne
Did you know that medical-grade retinoids were originally created FOR acne? The other benefits were just secondary! I rarely break out because I use retinoids on a consistent basis. The cool thing about retinoids is that it UNBLOCKS pores. So when you have acne and use retinoids, you may have a “purging” in the beginning as it cleans out all the bad stuff lurking in your skin. Once your skin is purged and you get past that stage, retinoids are preventative as they prevent future dead skin cells from clogging your pores.
5. Retinoids Help With Scarring
As we talked about in point one, retinoids help boost collagen. This is very beneficial for scars because what we want is new, healthy skin to form. We need help in the production of that- which is where retinoids come into play. For existing scars, retinoids do a great job at softening the skin (point 3!) and thus improving the texture of the scar.
….So you see! I’m not just blowing smoke. 😉 Medical grade retinoids are the REAL DEAL and Dear Brightly is a company that cares, is attentive, makes it accessible and more than anything- this ingredient is EFFECTIVE.
Feel free to DM me on Instagram if you ever have any questions! My handle is @TheVioletFog
Also be sure to read my article on what to know about using retinoids!
Photos by the master in Austin: @EatMyMedia xx
