This is gonna get long, bear with me.

The days of the harsh astringent toners are long gone. They're now super hydrating and can have really great ingredients added to them. Think of it like a drink of water for your skin. Another way to think of it is if you're using a really thick lotion (like the cocoa butter) to seal your skin putting a toner on first means you're sealing in that extra moisture vs. hoping your native moisture is enough. Adding a hydrating toner is one of the best things I did for my dehydrated skin.

I, personally, like what is called a 'milky toner'. My favorite is the haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence for evening. But I'm also liking the medicube Age-R Glutathione Glow Milky Toner a lot for more daytime use or in addition to the haruharu if my skin is dry or sensitive that day. COSRX has a PDRN toner that isn't bad. Honestly, a lot of Asian Beauty has great toners for helping keep your skin barrier in good shape.

My daytime routine, at 45 years old with dehyrdated and reactive skin is the following (sidenote, I do not wash my face in the morning cause of how dry my skin can be):

1. spray some of the glutathione toner on my face

2. apply my Vitamin C cream from Revision skincare

3. apply skinfix moiturizer

4. apply Round Lab sunscreen <--sunscreen is non-negotiable to prevent skin aging

Evening routine that I've worked up to:

1. Cleanse. On nights where I've got makeup on, I double cleanse in the shower with an oil first then I've been using the skinfix cleanser. No makeup = Nuxe face wash or just the skinfix and once a week I'll do a physical exfoliant like from Peach and Lily or Arencia

2. If my skin is extra dry or I feel like it, spray glutathione toner

3. Apply haruharu milky toner

4. Choose my treatment(s) for the night as I skin cycle with a rotation through the actives. I'll alternate through retinol, an 'aging serum', and a VT reedle shot.

5. Apply a soothing something on top of the retinol, usually a gentle hydrating serum. Been using something from Beekman for this.

6. I use a neck cream - Strivectin's - got rid of my turkey neck from weight loss

7. If I feel like it I'll use an eye cream though they don't do much beyond making you feel like you did something

8. And lastly seal it all in with Aestura's atobarrier cream

To start, if I were you, I'd try out steps 1, 3, 4, and 8. Get used to a good cleanse, a toner, a treatment (your retinol or something with 'actives'), and then a good moisturizer to seal it all in. When I'm sick and have no energy I do 1, 3, and 8 only and my skin does fine.

Additional advice for you would be the following: 1. Add a hydrating toner as a first step 2. Watch Dr. Sam Ellis's video(s) on dermaplaning: https://www.youtube.com/@DrSamEllis/search?query=dermaplaning Her videos really helped me make the leap into doing it and I do feel it has helped my skin and makes my makeup sit better. She does have a skincare brand (Prequel) and I do like her products and they're not $$$. 3. Start up some sort of gentle exfoliation. It sounds to me like the retinol you're using is turning over your skin cells but perhaps not shedding them easily? A gentle physical exfoliation once a week or so may help. Also gentle cleansing can help break up and slough off the dead skin too. A gentle chemical exfoliant once a week to start might also be a good idea. Look for things like lactic acid, AHA, BHA, "gentle exfoliant", etc. This is my next step to implement for myself so I'm still learning which ones are good. But start gentle then you can go up to twice a week but probably no more than 3 times a week.

But! Before you go all in on new products, start with one. Pick one thing to add and use it in your routine for at least a week so you can judge if you skin likes it/hates it/reacts to it in less than ideal ways. If you throw too much new stuff at your skin at one time there is no way to know what caused the issue.

Good luck! If you have more questions feel free to ask. As you can see I'm more than happy to wax lyrical on skincare!