I Use Retinol. Two Friends Were Told to Stop.

The short version: I have used retinol since March and I am still on it five nights a week. Two friends of mine used it for over a year, until a skincare clinic analyzed their skin and told them to stop and switch to something gentler. Their skin is clearer now. Retinol is one of the most recommended products in skincare, and it was still the wrong product for them. That is the whole point of this article: generally good is not the same as good for you.

Good for most people is not the same as good for you

Retinol has one of the strongest reputations in skincare. It is recommended so often, and so confidently, that it can start to feel like a product everyone is supposed to be using.

I wrote about starting it myself — what it is, how often to use it, how long it takes. That article is still the place to start if you are thinking of trying it.

What it did not cover is the question underneath all of that. Not "how do I use retinol," but "should I be using it at all?" For most people the answer is probably yes. For some people it is not, and those people are not always the ones you would expect.

What happened to my friends

Two friends of mine had their skin analyzed at a skincare clinic in Korea.

Both had been using retinol for over a year. It had been causing them occasional breakouts the whole time — never bad enough to make them stop, but there.

The analysis found that one of them had irregular, enlarged pores. The clinic's advice was to stop the retinol and switch to a gentler routine suited to their skin.

They did. Their skin looks clearer now.

The breakouts they learned to live with

This is the part I think matters most, and it is easy to miss.

They did not have a dramatic reaction. They had low-level breakouts for over a year, and because it was never severe, they put up with it and kept going.

When people talk about retinol causing breakouts, they usually mean the adjustment phase at the start. That phase is commonly described as lasting a few weeks, a couple of months at most. A year of breakouts is not an adjustment phase. It is your skin telling you something, quietly, for a long time.

If a product has been "slightly causing problems" for months, that is not a product you are still getting used to. It is a product to question.

Same problem, opposite advice

Here is what makes this story interesting to me.

I started retinol for my nose: clogged-looking pores and the filaments that come with them. One of my friends was told to stop retinol, and his analysis found enlarged pores.

On paper, we had a similar concern and were given opposite advice. That is not a contradiction. It is the point. A clinic looking at his actual skin decided retinol was not right for it. I have never had a professional look at my skin and weigh in on retinol either way. Two faces with similar-sounding problems can need different things.

That is also why I would be careful with any advice, including mine, that tells you a product is right for "people with your problem." It might be. Your skin gets the final say.

My own honest verdict

I promised in the original article that I would tell you which brand I moved to after the cheap one I was using at the time. The honest answer is that I went back to the first one: Some By Mi.

I am still on it Monday to Friday.

And here is the part I would rather say plainly than dress up. Eight months in, I am mostly using it out of habit. I cannot say definitively that it has made a noticeable difference. As I said when I started, my whole routine is aimed at the same problem, and my serum had a six-month head start. So I cannot hand retinol the credit, and I am not going to.

I have had no irritation, so nothing has pushed me to stop. That is a different situation from my friends'. Their retinol was causing a problem. Mine is just not obviously solving one.

So should you use it?

There is no yes or no that fits everyone. But here is what I would look for.

• If you get occasional breakouts that never quite go away, and they started or carried on after you added retinol, question the retinol rather than learning to live with it.
• If it stings, burns or keeps your skin red, back off. My original article covers how.
• If you cannot tell whether it is doing anything, like me, that is not a reason to panic. But it is also not a reason to add it if you are just starting out.
• If you do not have the basics running yet, it is not the next thing to buy. Start with the three products first.

Your routine should fit your skin

I have argued before that switching products constantly is a mistake, and I still believe that. Stopping something that is not working for you is different. Switching is chasing the next thing. Stopping is listening to your skin.

My own routine works for my face. It is not a template. Nothing on this site is meant to be copied product for product. The aim is a routine that fits your skin, not one that matches somebody else's list, mine included.

My friends found that out by having their skin looked at properly. You do not need a clinic to start paying attention, though. Notice what your skin does over weeks, not days. Notice the problems you have quietly accepted. If something everyone recommends is giving you trouble, it may simply be the wrong thing for you.

Where to start

• Treat any product as a test, including retinol. Run it for long enough to judge, then judge it honestly.
• Do not live with low-level breakouts. A few weeks of adjustment is normal. Months of it is not.
• Remember that similar problems can need different fixes. Your skin is not anyone else's.
• Be honest about habit. If you cannot see what a product is doing, say so, at least to yourself.
• If your skin keeps reacting and you cannot work out why, get it looked at properly rather than guessing.

Retinol works for a lot of people. It might work for you. But "it works for most people" was never a promise about your face.