The Rights & Wrongs Of Retinol

Adult acne might feel and look the same as teenage acne but when it comes to nailing an effective, breakout-busting skincare routine, it’s a whole different beast.

As if fine lines, wrinkles and all the other signs of skin aging weren’t enough to contend with, there’s also that crazy little thing called adult acne. Acne ‘should’ be something that you say farewell to as you come to the end of your adolescent years and your hormones settle into adulthood. But that’s not always the case. In fact, adult acne is on the increase and it’s estimated to affect more and more adults as they hit their 50s and older.

What Is Adult Acne?

Acne vlugaris, the proper name for the type of acne we’re dealing with here, is exactly the same at any age. It rears its head when your hair follicles and pores become blocked with excess oil and dead skin cells. Unlike regular teenage acne, however, the adult kind can be split into two different types: persistent acne and late- or adult-onset acne. Persistent acne continues from adolescence, never really giving you a break, whereas late-onset acne is the stuff that appears for the first time later on in life. Just when you thought you’d gotten away with it. Dang!

This all sounds pretty simple, but things get a little more complicated from here on in. How so? Because acne can take on many forms. If the plug bulges out above the surface of your skin it creates a whitehead, for example. If the plug opens up, it oxidizes with the air, turns dark and creates a blackhead. And if bacteria gets involved and infects the blockage? Then it becomes a full blown zit – a papule, pustule, nodule or cyst, if you will.

So, Why Do Some People Get Adult Acne While Others Don’t?

As a rule, acne is genetic, so if you’re predisposed, thanks to your parents, there’s not much you can do about that. What you can do, however, is to understand what’s triggering these breakouts later in life – hint: more often than not, it’s your hormones. During menopause, for example, your hormones are all over the place and if you’re sensitive to these triggers, this creates an imbalance that causes sebum production to go wild and your your skin to completely freak out.

Emotional stress and certain medications can also overstimulate your sebaceous glands, as can pore-blocking or harsh ingredients in your skincare regime.

On that note, here’s how to create a kick-ass skincare routine that cares for your adult skin (aka doesn’t dry it out!) and helps to balance oil production to keep breakouts to a minimum.

The Best Morning Skincare Routine For Adult Acne

1. Gently Cleanse Your Face

For some, a morning cleanse can seem a little OTT when all you’ve done is sleep since your last cleanse. Not so for you. Because your skin is oilier than most you’re going to want to gently remove any sebum that may have built up overnight. Also, your night cream might feel kind of heavy for daywear, so it’s good to start with a clean slate in the AM.

One word of warning: don’t fall into the trap of grabbing the most skin-stripping cleanser you can find. You can just about get away with that when you’re 13 – although it’s never ideal – but when your skin is more mature it’s going to need way more care. Choose something that will help replenish your barrier function, soothe and calm inflammation and cut out any risk of over-cleansing your skin. A product like our Soothing Cleansing Milk is great for morning use.

2. Balance Your Skin With Tea Tree Oil

As you know, we’re massive fans of face serums for targeting skin issues exactly where they’re needed, and when it comes to adult acne, our favorite topical ingredient is tea tree oil.

Unlike other acne-busting favorites like benzoyl peroxide, tea tree oil is less drying and irritating on the skin which makes it a great choice for mature skin. But don’t think that means it’s any less effective because its antifungal, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties combine to give it true superpowers in the fight against bacteria and acne breakouts.

Try applying our Tea Tree Super Serum+  two or three times a week after cleansing and before moisturizing to help balance and calm your skin. We like to alternate it with Niacinamide (B3) Facial Serum which is another winner for regulating oil and reducing inflammation.

3. Lightly Moisturize

Moisturizing oily, acne-prone skin might seem counterintuitive but it’s actually crucial for keeping your barrier function healthy and keeping sebum under control. If you miss this step, your sebaceous glands will think your skin is dry and thus overcompensate with more oil.

Avoid thick creams that are jam-packed with heavy occlusives like cocoa butter, however – these will block your pores and cause no end of problems. Instead, stick with light gel or lotion formulas that incorporate hydrating ingredients like glycerin, aloe and hyaluronic acid. Our Firming Collagen Day Lotion is great for oily skin, plus it helps tackle the visible signs of aging at the same time. Result.

4. Apply Sunscreen

UV radiation will make acne (and any potential scarring) worse. Not to mention all the other dastardly deeds it gets up to as the sun beats down on your skin on a daily basis.

Wear sunscreen every day, without fail, and always choose a broad-spectrum formula with SPF 30 or above. And if you really can’t bear the thought of applying moisturizer AND sunscreen? Try our SPF 20 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C. It’s packed with hydrating and moisturizing ingredients which are probably just right for your oily skin.

The Best Nighttime Skincare Routine For Adult Acne

1. Remove Makeup & Cleanse Your Face

Before bed is when a more thorough (but still not too full-on) cleanse comes into play. Your evening cleanse is way more important than the morning one because this is when your skin has been subjected to at least 15 hours worth of makeup, sunscreen, dirt, oil and pollution. And if you don’t whisk that away it can, and will, build up on your skin where it will combine with dead skin cells and sit in your pores waiting for the worst to happen.

We recommend our Charcoal Clarifying Cleanser or Tea Tree Super Cleanser+ which both work hard to whisk away debris from the surface of your skin while balancing, detoxifying and refreshing your complexion.

You should also exfoliate once or twice a week to gently boost cellular turnover and minimize any risk of dead skin cells hanging around for too long. Try our Vitamin C Gentle Face Scrub after cleansing.

2. Treat Your Skin With Retinol

Retinol might be the gold standard of aging treatments, but it’s also right up there in the fight against adult acne. A derivative of vitamin A, retinol helps to increase cell turnover. It’s a little bit like exfoliation, although it works in a very different way. Instead of removing dead skin cells at a surface level, retinol goes deeper into the skin and activates certain genes to accelerate cell turnover down below. It’s very clever and a great way to keep dead skin cells moving along so they don’t clog up your pores. This is music to the ears of mature, acne-prone skin – especially when you add in all the other age-defying benefits retinol brings to the table.

Just remember, retinol is very powerful, so start slowly by applying Retinol Facial Serum just once or twice a week to clean, dry skin. Then, as you build tolerance, you can build up to every night.

3. Hydrate & Moisturize

Allow your serum to sink in for a minute or two, then finish with moisturizer. Of course, you can double up with the same product you used in the morning, but you might find your skin needs a little more moisturization at night.

Our fabulous Retinol Moisturizer is a great product to apply before bed as it combines retinol with hydrating hyaluronic acid, soothing vitamin E and plumping panthenol. If the combination of this and the retinol serum is too much for your skin, however, try our Longevity duo: Rejuvenating Longevity Serum followed by Renewing Longevity Moisturizing Cream. Both of these formulations are incredible for aging skin that gets a little, shall we say, problematic. They harness the powers of bakuchiol, which is nature’s kinder alternative to retinol.

Not a fan of those vertical lines that extend from your nose down to the sides of your mouth? Then read on for five ways to help minimize their appearance.

Smile lines might sound rather lovely and, in all honesty, most of us have some kind of fold – however tiny or etched in –  down the sides of our mouth. Do us a favor and dig out a picture of yourself smiling or laughing 20 or so years ago. Chances are, even then, they were apparent. But the thing is, smile lines, aka laughter lines, marionette lines or nasolabial folds come and go with your facial expression when you’re young and your skin is full of delicious collagen. Not so much as time ticks on. In fact, smile lines get progressively deeper as you age, often to the point where they’re always visible around the lips, even when you’re not smiling.

Many people can totally live with their smile lines. Some of you may even find that they’re an essential part of who you are. And we love that. However, that’s not the case for everyone. Smile lines, like crow’s feet and elevens (frown lines) can be a pesky annoyance for many of us. Sounds familiar? Then keep scrolling for some simple skincare tricks and lifestyle habits for helping to reduce the appearance of your smile lines. Just one thing, though. Don’t stop actually smiling in a bid to soften those lines. That’s just miserable.

Prioritize Regular Exfoliation

Exfoliation is one of the simplest ways to stimulate cellular turnover, remove dead skin cells and help improve the appearance of wrinkles by refining the tone and texture of your skin. Of course, in-office treatments like microdermabrasion offer the deepest type of exfoliation so they're always an option, but if you prefer to deal with your skin at home, our 6% AHA, BHA + PHA Liquid Exfoliant is a fabulous choice.

A leave-on liquid that’s best applied to freshly cleansed skin (but before serum), this lightweight treatment contains a super smart blend of exfoliating ingredients to do all the hard work without any kind of scrubbing action. The main ingredients in question are glycolic acid, salicylic acid and gluconolactone which are different types of exfoliating acids. Together, they work like clockwork to encourage collagen production, hydrate the skin and say a big, fat ‘ciao’ to dead skin cells.

It’s gentle enough to use daily but we always recommend starting slowly, then building up to frequent use as your skin acclimates.

Build Collagen With Retinol Or Bakuchiol

Collagen is extremely important for the health of your skin, giving it structure, support, strength and volume. You’re born with tons of fabulous collagen in your skin which is why baby’s skin is so soft and plump. However, as you age, your production of collagen gets slower and thus your levels get lower, making your skin become drier, thinner and less elastic. This happens from around your mid-to-late 20s onwards. Yes, that early!

Sadly, you can’t stop this inevitable natural aging process, but there are many ways to help keep your collagen from disappearing quicker than nature intended.

Two of the most important topical ingredients for collagen are retinol, or nature’s gentler alternative to retinol, bakuchiol. Both of these work at a cellular level to kickstart collagen and encourage a more efficient barrier function to help keep your skin hydrated and healthy. Our Retinol Facial Serum is an incredible nightly treatment for improving smile (and indeed all!) lines, or try our fabulous Longevity Regimen Bundle if retinol’s not your thing.

Stimulate Blood Flow With A Facial Workout

Daily massage around your mouth can be a super effective way to work out the muscles and help improve the skin’s texture in this area. Of course, it won’t miraculously make your smile lines disappear but if you practice it regularly you should see an improvement over time.

Here are three great exercises to try:

1. Create a fist with both hands and place them at the corners of your mouth. Apply gentle pressure, then smooth your fists up the cheekbones to your temples. Repeat 10 times.

2. Part your lips slightly and use the pads of your fingers to pull the corners of your mouth back towards your face while keeping your lips parallel. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times.

3. Hook the corners of your mouth with your index fingers and pull your fingers apart about a quarter of inch while tightening the corners of your mouth towards each other. Hold the resistance for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times.

Shield Your Skin From Sun Damage

If want to choose just one wrinkle-reducing trick for preserving your collagen and therefore improving wrinkles, lines, folds and creases on your skin, sun protection is unquestionably it. Granted, it won’t get rid of anything that’s already formed, but it will prevent further issues from rearing their heads and will help stop your smile lines from getting any worse.

We understand that applying sunscreen every morning can be a real pain in the butt, which is why we formulated our SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C to be a real joy to use. It’s non-sticky, totally lightweight, blends into your skin like a dream and doesn’t leave any annoying white marks. What’s more, it contains a cheeky boost of vitamin C to further protect your skin and add a little extra glow factor. Seems rude not to, right?

Practice Good Lifestyle Habits

Finally, the classic, skin-loving lifestyle habits must never be forgotten about if you want to hold on to young-looking skin for as long as possible. We’re talking, of course, about getting plenty of regular, quality sleep; staying hydrated with lots of sugar-free, caffeine-free drinks and water-rich foods (watermelon, anyone?); drinking booze in moderation; eating a fruit and veggie-forward diet; getting your fill of omega-3s and trying to keep your stress levels to a minimum.

Surely that’s not too much to ask, is it?

Love the idea of including retinol in your skincare routine but not sure where to begin? Then try our incredible Retinol Facial Serum, the focus of this week’s September Spotlight.

Retinol, as any beauty fan knows, is one of the absolute pinnacles of skincare ingredients. With an innate ability to ‘communicate’ with your skin at a cellular level to encourage skin turnover, boost collagen production and protect your skin from environmental damage, retinol is widely seen as the gold standard. And it truly deserves every inch of praise it receives. Use it consistently and your skin will be brighter, clearer, stronger and smoother. That's a strong statement, we know, but decades of research prove it.

So, what’s the catch? Because there's always at least one, right? Otherwise we’d all be dousing our skin with vats of retinol every minute of the day. Well, while retinol helps sweep away dead skin cells, clogged pores and dull, patchy skin, simultaneously softening fine lines, wrinkles and dark spots, it can be a pesky little ingredient to master, often causing unwanted side effects like redness, dryness and irritation. The problem is it’s just too good.

Thankfully, today’s retinol treatments have been carefully formulated to minimize unwanted repercussions. By combining this powerhouse with other skin-soothing and calming ingredients, it’s no longer impossible to work a retinol serum into your skincare routine – no matter your skin type.

Take our Retinol Facial Serum, for example which is one of our best-selling and most popular treatment serums here at TruSkin.

What Is Retinol Facial Serum?

A true gem for skin that needs a little assistance looking its best (and frankly, whose doesn’t?), our Retinol Facial Serum is a veritable go-to for enhancing your skin’s youthful appearance.

It gets to work on everything from fine lines and wrinkles through to dehydration, dullness, rough texture and uneven skin tone. And if you’re thinking all this comes at a price, you couldn’t be more wrong. Retinol Facial Serum is kind to both your skin and your wallet.

So, What Makes Retinol Facial Serum Different From The Rest

1. Our retinol is at just the right concentration for results, minus irritation

We truly wanted to create a retinol serum that offered the best of both worlds – great benefits, but minimal irritation. And while we could have gone down the easy route of using a retinol derivative like retinyl palmitate to make our serum extremely gentle on the skin we knew, deep down, that this wouldn’t have offered the same awesome results. And that’s just annoying all round. Therefore, we spent a long time (like, months!) formulating our serum to contain the ideal amount of retinol (yes, pure retinol) to deliver effective results, without making it impossible to use should you have anything less than super strong, will-take-anything skin. And the reviews speak for themselves…

“I love this product. I’ve been using it for years and at 73 have few wrinkles. I use the product daily and it does not irritate my skin,” explains Kathy from New Hampshire.

Big cheers all round.

2. Still worried about sensitivities? Vitamin E to the rescue!

Vitamin E is a great addition to any facial serum, but alongside retinol it’s crucial. How so? Well, as explained, retinol can be a tad drying so you have to make sure you're replacing all that lost moisture. And vitamin E is just what the skin doctor ordered.

Vitamin E has fabulous emollient properties, meaning that it helps fill in, repair and smooth the tiny cracks in your skin that appear when it’s dry and/or dehydrated. Sealing these cracks strengthens your skin’s barrier function, thus reducing transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and helping your skin to retain vital moisture. That’s extremely important if you want your skin to stay soft, hydrated and irritation-free.

3. Retinol Facial Serum offers a three-pronged approach to hydration

While vitamin E soothes, calms and strengthens your skin’s important barrier protection, hyaluronic acid (HA), glycerin and aloe have also been included for extra hydration.

Known as humectants in the business, these ingredients work like water magnets, maximizing moisture in the air and pulling it into the skin, or even drawing it up from deeper layers of your skin to hydrate at a more surface level. And when you’re applying retinol on a regular basis, your skin is going to want and need as much surface hydration as you can give it.

HA is seen as the king of hydration but glycerin is just as good (some say it’s even better but we don’t like to play favorites!). And aloe? Well that’s a given for soothing, calming and hydrating the skin.

4. Organic green tea helps reduce redness and inflammation

Besides being the brew of choice for a bold caffeine fix, green tea makes for a fabulous skincare ingredient.

Thanks to its abundance of EGCG, green tea is a super effective antioxidant (just like vitamin e, HA and retinol), working hard to combat environmental stress. Furthermore, it’s thought to help reduce sebum production, soothe the skin and reduce inflammation. So if you’re using Retinol Facial Serum to help minimize acne breakouts, this will be music to your ears.

How To Make Retinol Facial Serum Work For You

Retinol Facial Serum should be applied to cleansed skin before moisturizing. But, to be honest, that’s a given for all types of serum. If you err on the side of sensitive, however, don’t apply Retinol Facial Serum to damp skin – dry skin is generally better for reducing irritation. Start by using it two or three times a week to allow your skin to acclimate, then slowly build up to nightly use. Oh and don’t forget to apply sunscreen EVERY morning.

The most important thing to remember when trying any new retinol serum for the first time is to patch test it on a small area of your skin first. This gives you reassurance that your skin is not going to freak out from any of the ingredients in your formulation. Our Retinol Facial Serum has been carefully curated not to cause issues for most skin types, but there’s always a small chance, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.

To patch test your serum, apply a small amount behind your ear or on the back of your wrist and leave it for 24-48 hours. Fingers crossed you won’t experience any unwanted side effects during this time, and if this is the case you’re good to apply it to your skin as directed. However, if you feel any burning, pain or discomfort then you’d be wise not to continue. Don’t worry, though, as we have just the serum for you: Rejuvenating Longevity Serum which contains nature’s kinder answer to retinol, the mighty bakuchiol. Read all about that here. 

Calling anyone over the age of 30 with sensitive skin. You need to read this.

Mildly sensitive skin isn’t the worst thing in the world. But it can be a real pain as you get older and want to introduce some potent skincare ingredients to your routine. Because wrinkles don’t take care of themselves. Neither do dark spots. Or sagging skin, for that matter. They need help from effective skincare formulations that ward off environmental pollution, boost collagen production, care for your barrier function, hydrate, brighten and basically do everything they can to help counteract the visible signs of skin aging.

Thankfully, these awesome ingredients are tried and trusted to take care of business – without irritating your precious skin.

1. Bakuchiol

Bakuchiol is basically nature’s answer to retinol which, as a skin buff, we’re sure you know a lot about. To recap, retinol is every derm’s dream ingredient. With decades of research under its belt it’s been proven to enhance collagen synthesis and encourage healthy skin turnover. That being said, retinol is a potent little beast and not for everyone – often causing all sorts of irritation if it’s not treated with the respect it deserves.

This is why bakuchiol is such a winner. Extracted from the seeds and leaves of the babchi plant, its anti-inflammatory properties have been used for centuries in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine to treat the skin. More recent clinical studies have shown that, when applied regularly bakuchiol can also improve the surface of the skin by stimulating collagen synthesis and accelerating cellular turnover. Yes, just like retinol. And all without the irritating side effects.

You gotta try it. And we can help out with that because we have an entire range of healthy aging products dedicated to the wonder of bakuchiol. Check out our Longevity range, right here.

2. Ceramides

When it comes to caring for and fortifying your skin’s important barrier function, very few ingredients beat ceramides. Ceramides are important lipids that are found in abundance in your skin’s structure. There are many different types but each one plays a major role in the efficiency of your barrier function by binding the cells together while providing strength and stability, and preventing moisture loss.

Of course, like most of the good stuff in your skin, levels of ceramides drop dramatically as you age which can upset your barrier function and cause things like dryness, redness and dehydration. But if you stack them into your skincare routine you help to combat all this, therefore allowing your barrier function to do its job properly.

Interested? Then try our Collagen range which is jam-packed with ceramides as well as vegan collagen peptides and antioxidant-rich superfruits. We call that an absolute dream team for battling premature aging.

3. Hyaluronic Acid

Hyaluronic acid is no stranger to sensitive skin. And rightly so. As one of the most well tolerated ingredients in skincare, hyaluronic acid is another natural substance found in the human body – and that’s why your risks of developing irritation after application are so low.

We know you’re probably aware of hyaluronic acid and its genius way of hydrating your skin so we won’t bang on about it too much – although if you are interested in the full deets, head here. Instead, all we’ll say is this. One of the biggest issues with irritation and sensitive skin is dehydration. Hyaluronic acid draws moisture in to the top layers of your skin like a veritable water magnet. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to get why the latter is so good for the former.

We recommend our Hyaluronic Acid Facial Serum which also contains vitamins C and E for extra brightening, soothing powers.

4. Niacinamide

A compromised barrier function is a one-way ticket to sensitive skin, so if you want to strengthen your skin and cut down on irritation you have to give it all the love. And one way to do this? By incorporating niacinamide into your daily routine.

A form of vitamin B3 and a very effective antioxidant, niacinamide is a whizz at rebuilding ceramides and lipids at a surface level, thus helping to moisturize and rebalance your skin while reducing excess sebum that can result in enlarged pores, breakouts and facial redness. It’s really great at supporting your skin’s barrier function and significantly reducing inflammation, but the best thing? It’s super gentle on your skin – you can even use it around your eyes. Many eczema or rosacea sufferers that can’t bear to put active ingredients on their skin also find that niacinamide is a god send.

It’s not for everyone (heck, what is?) but it’s worth a go if you’re looking to up your antioxidant protection and help ward off free radical damage. And who doesn’t want to do that?

Try our Niacinamide (B3) Facial Serum each morning before moisturizing.

5. Oat Milk

Most sensitive skin types are plagued with dry, dehydrated skin – they just seem to go hand in hand. Dry skin lacks sebum to keep itself moisturized and protected, you see, and this is a killer on the barrier function, causing it to lose moisture quicker than a leaky faucet.

One of the best ways to reduce irritation before you even get to your serum and moisturizing routine is to take a look at your cleansing game. Of course, there are many ingredients to avoid like harsh sulfates and synthetic fragrance, but one we do recommend is oat milk.

Like colloidal oatmeal which is a regular on the skincare ingredients scene, oat milk has similarly amazing benefits for dry, irritated skin. It’s made from oats and water only and has benefits as long as your arm. Think potent antioxidant powers to ward off premature aging; hydrating effects to reduce irritation and dehydration, and incredible anti-inflammatory properties to calm redness and, well, reduce any forms of inflammation. Like niacinamide, oat milk has also gained many fans with skin conditions like eczema and rosacea. We take that as gospel.

Give our Soothing Cleansing Milk a go which also contains rice milk to help even out your skin tone and give your complexion plenty of much-needed moisturization.

6. Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate

Sure, you’ve heard of vitamin C, but what about its gentler, far superior (IOHO!) cousin, sodium ascorbyl phosphate?

Known to its buddies as SAP, sodium ascorbyl phosphate is a salt form of pure ascorbic acid which means it has a sodium and a phosphate molecule attached to it. So what? Well, this makes it more stable when you apply it topically, allowing it to stay potent for way longer than the pure stuff. It also means that your skin needs to convert it back into ascorbic acid after you apply it in order to gain any benefits from it. That might sound kind of laborious, but in actual fact it’s a great way to reap the benefits of ascorbic acid with fewer of the side effects often associated with this skincare giant.

For your fill of everything SAP has to offer (brightening, free radical damage and collagen boosting to name just a few of its benefits), we have a whole array of fantastic vitamin C products including exfoliants, cleansers, serums and moisturizers. We’re specifically all over the Vitamin C Deep Hydration Night Cream right now. Skincare while we sleep? So down with that.

7. Zinc Oxide

Applying sunscreen to sensitive skin can be a real headache if you choose the wrong kind of product. So don’t. But don’t simply ‘not bother’ either. Sunscreen is the single most important product for minimizing the signs of premature aging – by a country mile! So make sure you apply it every day, but stick with a formula that uses zinc oxide as its sun protection.

Zinc oxide is a mineral sunscreen and one of the gentlest, least irritating sunscreens available. Unlike chemical sunscreens like avobenzone, it’s far less likely to cause any kind of reaction, making it the number one choice for sensitive skin types. That’s why our SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen with Vitamin C uses it to disarm UVA and UVB radiation and protect your skin from harm.

And Before We Leave…

One of the most important things you can do to save your skin from becoming irritated or inflamed from any active skincare ingredient (no matter how well tolerated it is by the skin) is to patch test new products first.

Apply a small amount to a discreet area of skin (behind your ear is a great spot) then wait 24-48 hours for any reaction. Don’t see or feel anything? Then you are good to go. If you experience any kind of burning, stinging, excess redness or itching, however, the product in question is probably best left alone. In your case, anyway.