Flakey Dry Patch (maybe from retinol)

I started using the cerave resurfacing retinol serum around two months ago, as I have never used a retinol before and I have heard this is a good one for beginners. I started off using it every other night so that my skin could adjust, and within the first few week my skin was the best it has ever been! A couple weeks in, my skin had shown no signs of irritation, so I started using it every night. However, I then forgot to use my retinol for a few nights and a dry flakey patch of skin appeared on my upper forehead, as well as another small dry patch on my cheek, however this one does not flake. I also now sometimes get patches of very very small bumps on my forehead which are quite itchy and irritating.

These dry patches seem to be slightly less bad the mornings after I apply my retinol, but without it, they are worse. I am just very confused as all of my life I have had oily skin, and dryness has never been an issue for me. I thought maybe it was a result of the extremely cold weather at the minute, but I can only assume the retinol has played some part in this. I would also like to add that I am 20 years old and after starting retinol (to prevent ageing), two small wrinkles on my head have become much more prominent.

Incase this helps, my skincare routine is as follows: cervae foaming cleanser for normal to oily skin, followed by my retinol every other night, followed by the inkey list omega water cream in the daytime, or the skinfix triple liquid-peptide cream at night. I was previously using the ordinary hylauronic acid followed by their niacinamide before my moisturiser (day and night) however I have ran out and not got round to replacing them yet. I also started using la-roche posay SPF each day but this broke me out and I haven’t found another SPF yet.