I use retinol in a winter time and I am faced with the problem of a broken barrier and dry skin. Moisturizer and soothing cream do not help at all, in fact, not every cream that promises to restore barrier works for me. I have not tried all of them, but i found that some do.
The skin barrier is a layer of skin cells glued together by natural lipids. A “Broken”barrier looks like dry, dehydrated, sensitive and even flaky skin. To restore it the skin produces several substances such as cholesterol, fatty acids, ceramides. If this production is not enough, a cream is needed. So, what should i look for in a cream to restore the skin barrier? Ceramides, phoshpolipids, cholesterol, fatty acids (linoleic, arachidonic), pantenol and bisabolol work well, last two are especially good after UV and frost. But i have found that all of this is not enough after retinol or acids, my magic potion is MLE.
MLE is a lammelar emulsion that acts in the same way as the skin’s natural lipid complex. I have tried two MLE creams* long enough to say that they work. Both creams are korean and available locally in Europe. Atopalm and Real Barrier.
Real Barrier works perfectly for me on the already demaged skin. I would say it is stronger than Atopalm. Atopalm I use to lock in the retinol in myevening routine, Atopalm is good for preventing damage from retinol. i definitely know that breaking of skin barrier occurs if I use only retinol solution (0,5%), if i only top it with moisturizer, or when I start using retinol for the first time in a season. For the past few weeks I’ve been combining MLE and Ordinary Barrier solution on the recovery day, which is after one week of retinol. Ordinary Barrier solution also works well with the ceramide cream that i use every day.
* -my choice based on availability, i prefer to use cosmetics that are easy to buy and not require long delivery.
Sveta Liisto MUA 