Retinoids, are genuine anti-ageing miracle ingredients. Although they are not exactly alike, they are members of the same family. What are the distinctions, though?
Retinol and tretinoin:
Our skin cells have “retinoid receptors” that interact with tretinoin directly but not with retinol, which is why tretinoin is more effective. Retinol is not active by itself; it needs to be changed into retinoic acid to be useful.
The two-step conversion from retinol to retinaldehyde and then to retinoic acid is (theoretically) made possible by the metabolic machinery in our skin.
Retinol — > retinaldehyde (The ingredient we use) –> retinoic acid.
Retinol becomes tretinoin when the conversion is finished, which has the same capabilities. As a result, during the conversion, retinol becomes much less effective than tretinoin.
Now Retinal (retinaldehyde) is the intermediate step between retinoic acid and retinol. That means it needs only one conversion to become active in the skin and performs the same functions as tretinoin. It provides all the anti-ageing benefits you would expect, such as fewer wrinkles and smoother, firmer, and more elastic skin.
Bottom line: Tretinoin is administrated only with a medical prescription. Retinol is not the same as retinoic acid or tretinoin. It’s less potent but still works great. The closest to retinoic acid is Retinal (retinaldehyde) which makes it more potent.
For this reason, we have created the RETINOID BOOSTER SERUM (concentrated)
