That one Tuesday where three clients all had the same weird reaction to retinol

I'm still shaking my head about this. Last Tuesday, I had three different clients come in for follow-ups and all of them had this angry red peeling around their nose and mouth. Not like normal retinol purge either. It looked like they all used the same cheap drugstore brand or something. Turns out they all bought that new Retinol Renewal cream from the grocery store aisle because a TikTok girl swore it was a dupe. One of them even said "I thought peeling meant it was working." I spent my whole lunch break writing up a little handout about proper retinol layering and buffer creams. Has anyone else seen a wave of these DIY retinol disasters lately?

2 comments

2 Comments

evan_wilson186d ago

A buddy of mine tried that same trick after seeing it on TikTok and ended up looking like a sunburned raccoon for a week. She's still scared to touch retinol again.

lauras836d ago

Sunburned raccoon" is the perfect way to describe it, honestly. It's like people forget that our skin isn't a science experiment you can just dump stuff on and hope for the best. I've noticed this bigger pattern where everyone wants a quick fix from a 30-second video, but real skincare is about patience and knowing your own skin, not copying someone else's routine. That TikTok trend culture just sets people up to fail, especially with stuff as strong as retinol. Why do we always expect our skin to look like a filtered photo after one try?