Summer skincare secrets retinol will transform your skin, but
can you use it in the summertime?
Keep in mind, for many people it's summer all year long, so how do they
do it if they're exposed to the sun?
Can you use your retinol in the summer in the sun?
Will it harm your fat pads and kill your fat?
And will it prematurely aid you?
Yes, no, and no.
You can use it, but I need you to know three things before you use
it in the sunlight or the summer.
What can we learn from those people who use it year round because it
is age defying when used correctly.
So when I first started aesthetic practice over 20 years ago, I had a
couple sisters come in and one looked 15 years younger than the other.
And they were almost the same age, and I kept asking, what are you doing?
What are you doing?
One said, well, I go to Mexico every year and I buy this cream.
Come to find out I had to bring it in one day.
It was retinol cream, and it was very common.
To get this from Mexico, cuz it was inexpensive but it was much more
expensive in the US The other sister wasn't using it goes to show you,
and this rings through today as well.
We know how important retinols are, so we want you to be consistent with using them.
The first thing you have to know when using them in the sun is
that there's no magical reaction.
It's not like the sun will.
Change the product.
It's not like the sun combines with the product, changes it into
another isomer and damages your skin.
The damage to your skin comes from the sun damage of inflammation.
So what do you do about that?
You wear your spf.
You use a wide brim hat and you wear your sunglasses, you only need 20
to 30 minutes of sunshine a day to get good vitamin D for most people.
And it's easily measured cuz I know many of you're gonna say, well, if I
get no sun, I won't get any vitamin D.
And that's correct to an extent.
Understand, when you wear sunscreen, you're still getting.
50% of the sun's raised with your sunscreen on.
So sun avoidance as much as possible is key because the sun makes your skin
more sensitive to that photo damage.
So that's the first thing.
Protect yourself as much as possible against suns raise Number two, when
it comes to applying your retinol in sunny areas, less is more Always.
Air on the side of using too little, not too much.
You do not want that wind burn, tight, inflamed feeling that is going
to cause sensitivity to the skin.
Photo damage and then the sun's rays will in fact create potential fat
loss damage to the skin and ruin the skin barrier so that the collagen and
elastin hyaluronic acid production, that machinery collapses or something
called MMPs matrix metallo proteins.
We're studying these more and more, but you do not want
inflammation because it ups.
Those negative factors for your skin.
So less is more.
Number three, you want to be consistent with the juice.
You don't wanna cycle it or come off of it because you're getting some
exposure, because what's going to happen, let's say you stop it for
a month or so and you start it back up, you're gonna get purging again.
There's a little more inflammation associated with that.
You're going to lose the benefit of the of the retinol because the retinol
increases the turnover of the cells.
So it doesn't.
Exfoliate per se, but it increases that cell turnover and that
causes that purging effect.
So you don't want to go through that cycle again.
That inflammation accompanied by cell exposure can then damage your skin.
So be consistent with its use throughout the summer.
If you come off it for a couple weeks here and there, or you're getting
inflammation from one of any reason.
Sun exposure.
You've used too much of a product that damaged your skin barrier.
You've went up on your retinol a little bit.
You got aggressive, you added a night or two per week.
That's when you want to pull down on your dose, but I want you to use it throughout.
Don't cycle that cycling can create problems when you do get some exposure.
And remember a fun fact.
Retinols retinoic acid was invented or founded to treat acne.
A side effect was that it made people look younger, it decreased the photo
damage, it helped the skin look younger.
It had a more youthful glow and it decreased wrinkles, and
that was back in the 1960s.
It was starting to be used.
So it was not meant initially as a wrinkle reducer, but we know.
Through clinical practice like I do every day and through the
studies, how important it is.
So I tell my patients, and I'm giving you this information, continue
it through the summer months.
You can safely use it.
If you take those precautions.
Let me know.
Do you use it?
How do you use it?
There's a complete playlist up here on retinols.
Keep your skin and body beautiful, healthy and vibrant.