The Skin Nerd: How to overcome the ‘retinol scaries’

The lowdown on skin purging and why it’s a perfectly normal stage of using vitamin A.

The Skin Nerd: The lowdown on skin purging and why it’s a perfectly normal stage of using vitamin A.

Coined as ‘retinol scaries’ on TikTok, skin purging is an extremely common but slightly unpleasant side effect of using retinol – but does it mean that we need to stop using retinol altogether? Not typically...

Although this depends on your individual situation and the status of your skin purging, this stage of acclimatation is expected and whilst it seems wrong to suggest that you get comfortable with discomfort, what matters here is the level of discomfort and severity of any irritation.