IS RETINAL THE NEW RETINOL?

Every few months, a new product arises on the market and claims to be the answer to all your skincare concerns. As a skincare platform, we understand how confusing it can be when a new ingredient receives a lot of hype. Today we are going to tackle a few questions that we receive frequently about retinal in order to help you make science-backed decisions about your skincare routine.

Retinal is a step along the pathway that retinoids (or vitamin A) take once applied to the skin. It starts out as retinol, then it becomes retinal, and finally becomes the active ingredient retinoic acid which delivers the anti-ageing properties of vitamin A to skin. So simply put, retinal is just one step closer to the active form of vitamin A than retinol.

Retinoids (or vitamin A) and its derivatives (retinol and retinal) help stimulate collagen production and skin cell regeneration, thereby keeping your skin youthful and radiant.

Retinol vs. Retinal, which is more potent?

While both have anti-ageing effects on the skin, retinal is believed to be more potent as it acts faster than retinol. It also could be more effective in combating wrinkles and signs of sun damage.

While retinal is showing impressive results, it is an unstable ingredient that needs meticulous and innovative product development in order to be fully potent and deliver the promised results. Also, because retinol has been the leading anti-ageing ingredient for years, it has a lot of supporting research data, whereas retinal is still gaining popularity. Rest assured that there is plenty of research involving retinal in order to fully understand this emerging and promising ingredient.

If you are in search of an anti-ageing skin product that is suited for sensitive, acne/blemish-prone skin, then retinal could be the ingredient you’re looking for.

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