Why You Need To Start Using Retinol On Your Body

Source: Karwai Tang/WireImage/Getty Images

If somehow you’re yet to hear about the magical powers of retinol, we’ll give you a little recap: Retinol is basically the number one derm-recommended skincare product (after suncream, obvs). Retinol is a form of vitamin A which “promotes collagen production and lots of other healthy processes in different layers of the skin to help your skin look and feel healthy, smooth and even in tone.” Dr. Doris Day, dermatologist and author of Beyond Beautiful, told us.

In short, retinol helps speed up the maturation of skin cells and is used to treat a ton of skin issues; whether it’s improving pigmentation, scarring, fine lines or helping with acne. Retinol does the absolute most, and there’s no reason you need to stop at your jawline.

Until recently, we never even thought about applying it to our bodies, until we came across the Dr. Doris Day Retinol Body Serum, $105. Naturally, we got our hands on it asap; and besties, we were blown away. This is not just any old body moisturizer, this is an anti-aging skin treatment, and with 0.1% of Hydroxypinacolone retinoate, it’s potent but non-irritating – retinol is known for being irritating and needs to be carefully added into your skincare regime.

At $105, we use this sparingly, but we’ve also found a little goes a very long way. We like to use this every other day on the areas that matter the most, like our shoulders, neck, and chest. The formula helps soften the appearance of fine lines, sun spots, and crepey skin, so applying it to your chest is really the best place to put it. Finally, we massage any leftover formula on our palms onto the backs of our hands, because that’s another area that shows signs of aging early on.

Halfway through using the bottle, we can already see our skin is looking better and better; we’ve even noticed an improvement in some pigmentation, and bacne and ingrown hair scars. The formula feels so smooth and silky, and unlike a lot of moisturizers, it’s not sticky and doesn’t leave a tacky feeling on the skin. We LOVE using this!

To perfect the formula, Dr. Day said “I’ve combined [retinoate] with a gentle salicylate ester and then added Vitamin C ester, Vitamin E ester, Ferulic acid ester and barrier enhancing lipids.” So in addition to containing retinol, it boasts powerful antioxidants like vitamin C and Ferulic Acid, which help protect against damaging free radicals.

Dr. Day told us she uses a specific type of silicon (there are tons, and some are better than others) that’s less likely to cause irritation; “My anhydrous silicone vehicles don’t support microbial growth and thus don’t require preservatives. They help with smoothness and evenness of application and they evaporate from the skin after application. I was very careful and deliberate in my selection here to make it a soft, smooth application that feels great on the skin and to avoid the need for preservatives that could cause irritation.” All we can say is, we look forward to applying this every time!

Would you guys consider using retinol on your body? Let us know in the comments below.