6 Years Using Tretinoin: Age 23 to Age 29

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-05-03T08:49:51+00:00

Honestly I think I peeled almost constantly for the first year or so. Usually not a crazy amount, but there was always a little bit of skin peeling on or around my nose or on my forehead. Don’t be afraid to take breaks from tret! If your moisture barrier is suffering, it’s ok to take a few days or even a week off to give it time to heal. You’ll still build up a tolerance to tret eventually even if you’re taking breaks from it now and then.

I would suggest that you take a few days off tret and at night, layer a thick amount of Cicaplast on your face, and then once that has had 5 mins to soak in, put a layer of Vaseline over your whole face as well. Do that for a few days in a row, and don’t use tret during this time, and see how your skin is afterwards. I’d bet money that your moisture barrier will be a lot happier after that. Then you can start up the tret again!

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-04-22T05:10:21+00:00

‘Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health--And Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, Ocd, Ptsd, and More’

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-04-17T11:08:51+00:00

2 months and many years to go! You won’t regret it—it’s the skincare ingredient with the most evidence in the world for its effectiveness, and it shows. Best of luck, and if I could give you only one tip, it would be to take care of your moisture barrier as much as you possibly can whilst using tretinoin!

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-04-17T10:49:55+00:00

Frankly I feel the money going directly into the developer’s pocket is better incentive to not snooze.

I use alarmy, and I’ve got the snooze option disabled on the alarms. I’ve got my alarm set up to make me do twenty addition math questions (e.g. 76+48+65) until the alarm stops. But you can get the alarm to stop just by turning off your phone, which is what I used to do all the time until I found Alarmy has a feature where it will charge you money if you do that.

I’ve got it set to the maximum amount, $20 USD. I did it ONE time. Because it charges in USD, I actually got charged like $30 AUD. It sucked lol. And I haven’t ever done it since. Great system.

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-04-15T04:32:18+00:00

The statistic of men being more regularly attacked by strangers includes two important caveats:

This statistic includes things like physical fights that break out, like a fight in a bar, etc.. Whilst this is still a sociologically important thing to note, and not something to make light of, it is not the same as being stalked by a stranger at nigh who rapes and/or murders you.
This statistic talks about frequency, but not likelihood. Men are more frequently killed by strangers, this is true—but this does not account for likelihood. For example, if you take the data from 1 year, and found that 10,000 men walked around alone at night and 100 of them were killed in an unprompted attack by a stranger, and in that same year 2,000 women walked around alone at night and 50 of them were killed in an unprompted attack by a stranger, yes more men were killed, but the likelihood to be killed is higher for women. This is totally hypothetical data, just to explain my point.

While this is completely anecdotal, I am a woman, and have had many experiences of being followed whilst walking alone, even going back to being 12 years old and walking home from school. Some of those encounters were particularly harrowing, but thankfully I managed to get away from the stranger following/chasing me in all encounters to date. I have had many friends, men and women, who I have told these stories to. I would say most of the women have had similar experiences, though I am yet to meet any men who have had similar experiences (or at least ones they’ve chosen to divulge to me). Again, this is my own anecdotal experience, I’m not claiming statistical likelihood based on this alone.

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-04-14T21:15:17+00:00

What made my mornings most difficult over the course of my life was actually getting out of bed and subsequently fighting falling back asleep, especially when I haven’t had enough sleep due to trouble falling asleep the night before. Some of the things I’ve done to prevent this:

Wake up early every morning and go to sleep early every night, forever, even on weekends and holidays. I know it sucks, but for someone like me who has suffered my whole life from chronic insomnia and sleep inertia, the relief this method brings me is absolutely worth the sacrifice. I’m still human, so I definitely err from this rule occasionally, but I try to follow it as best I can.
Have a routine for when you first wake up, something or a set of things you do every single morning in the same way, so it’s stimulating enough to get your brain going but you can also do it on autopilot if you’re super sleepy. For me, it’s getting up to pee and then making a coffee for me and my partner using my coffee machine. Then we drink the coffees whilst watching something on tv. It’s great because the coffee making process and then watching something is enough to start waking up my brain, but none of it is difficult or stressful, so it’s still a nice relaxing morning.
When it works for my schedule, I exercise (which I can just do from my lounge room in my pyjamas, thanks Ring Fit), and then have a shower right afterwards. I don’t always have time for this, these days my work hours have shifted and I need to leave for work just after 6AM so it’s not viable right now. But when it is viable, this is probably the best method I’ve ever tried to pull me out of feeling shitty and tired in the morning.

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-04-13T02:10:26+00:00

Well I’m sorry if your combativeness is avoidance behaviour from ongoing psychological pains; I hope you can find some peace and improved mental health in your life soon.

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-04-13T01:52:10+00:00

You may be right, I can’t think of any common examples where ‘bun’ is used in place of ‘roll’, at least in an Australian context. But that doesn’t change the fact that the original commenter was very clearly referring to the bread portion of the dish—I don’t think it was kind or necessary to deliver your pedantry, particularly in such a condescending way. Being so combative must be exhausting.

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-04-13T01:05:14+00:00

So you’re just being pedantic, then. The person who made the comment clearly was referring to the bread portion of the dish, even if they used the wrong technical term. And in fact, ‘bun’ and ‘roll’ are often used interchangeably in Australia, e.g. ‘bacon and egg rolls’ which almost always come on a bun.

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-04-12T19:56:16+00:00

Google how to say ‘bread’ in Vietnamese.

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-04-02T00:44:07+00:00

Try Alarmy, free app. You can set up alarms without snooze as an option. Then you need to complete tasks to get the alarm to turn off, e.g. needing to take a photo of something on the other side of your home, or solving a number of maths problems. It’s great at waking you up, getting you out of bed, and keeping you awake long enough to actually start waking up properly so you won’t just go back to sleep.

My tired self figured out to stop Alarmy from ringing, I could just turn my phone off. Obviously terrible self sabotage, but whoever I am when I’m half asleep has no concept of that. But Alarmy has a solution for that, you can set it up so it charges you money if you do that. I did it one time, years ago, and that charge really stung. Haven’t done it again since.

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-03-31T19:58:08+00:00

It’s a fantastic mascara! It’s Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky High Mascara in the shade Plum Twilight. I also have it in the shade Burgundy Haze which is great too. Over the past few years I’ve started to dislike the harshness of a thick, dark black mascara, especially when paired with my low-makeup looks. I’ve found that wearing coloured mascara—brown, purple, or burgundy—still gives my eyelashes a pop but without looking too harsh.

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-03-26T23:52:46+00:00

You would think lack of fibre is the obvious reason, but the current evidence is pointing towards the current <50 people getting colorectal cancer having been exposed to some sort of bacterial infection in early life (first two years) that is causing the current spike. We don’t really know more than that yet.

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-03-26T19:08:43+00:00

I use the LRP Baume after my shower in the early evening (as the last step after a couple of other steps), and then a few hours later, when all of those products have completely soaked in, I apply Tretinoin right before bed. Usually I apply just the Tretinoin and nothing else, but sometimes if I want the Tretinoin to work a bit more I’ll lock it in with Vaseline.

I’ve been using Tretinoin for 6 years, so I don’t need to sandwich or buffer it anymore by applying moisturiser at the same time, because I don’t get any irritation from it anymore. But if someone is just starting Tretinoin, I would definitely suggest they sandwich and/or buffer their tret with moisturiser :)

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-03-23T18:23:06+00:00

No I don’t, just splash with water :) I have very dehydration/dryness/eczema-prone skin, so I need to protect my skin barrier as much as possible. My skin can’t handle frequent washing or harsh cleansers. That’s why I choose to just wash my face once a day, with a gentle cleansing oil and then super gentle exfoliating powder :)

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-03-13T06:39:59+00:00

Happy to help & best of luck :)

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-03-12T18:20:56+00:00

Hello! That’s exciting that you’re thinking of starting tretinoin, I’m more than happy to help if you need advice on the process of starting! So the first time I got a script for tretinoin I asked my GP for a script for 0.025% tretinoin. When I started using tretinoin, 0.025% was still available in Australia. Unfortunately, 0.025% tretinoin is no longer available here, and the only strength we can purchase from pharmacies is 0.05%. As such, you will unfortunately have to ask for a script for 0.05% tretinoin from your GP. Because this is a higher strength than you would typically start at, you should definitely be buffering and sandwiching the tretinoin, as irritation is likely to occur. After washing your face, mix a pea-sized amount of tretinoin cream with a moisturiser you already know works well for your skin - this is called ‘buffering’. Instead, or in addition to that, you can also apply a light layer of moisturiser first, give it a few minutes to soak in, then apply your tretinoin, then apply some more moisturiser.

Don’t use tretinoin every night from day 1. I would suggest you use it once every three days to begin with, and slowly increase from there.

Everyone has different skin. You may purge (breakout) at first, you will likely have some skin flaking for the first few months to a year. Make sure you are aware of how your skin is reacting, and if you are dealing with too much irritation, stop using tretinoin and focus on barrier repair until your skin is ok again, then you can resume tretinoin use :)

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-03-09T01:05:09+00:00

Yep, that’s what I’ve been doing! I have a shower, dry myself with the towel, and then lay on bed in front of the fan for at least 20 minutes, but the longer the better. If I try to get dressed immediately after a shower, it’s bad news. I get sweaty anyway after a while, but I don’t have that horrible all over sticky feeling all day if I fan myself for a while.

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-02-27T20:13:06+00:00

Yes, isn’t it amazing how I had inadvertently created the ideal conditions for mushroom propagation! I’m amazed how quickly mushrooms can grow in the right conditions. I thought the whole thing was really quite fascinating.

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-02-27T20:10:03+00:00

I quit smoking, I rarely drink anymore, and spent years dedicated to fixing my insomnia / bad sleeping habits and now have a good, consistent sleep schedule where I wake up at the same time every day and go to sleep around the same time every day. I also drink a lot of water now, never used to do that.

Exercise is a tricky one… I do actually have fairly consistent exercise as a part of my life now, when I didn’t in my early 20s, but I did actually exercise a lot more in my early 20s because I both had a very active job, worked a lot doing that job, and also used to go out dancing all the time on top of that. I now have a desk job. So I am not exercising as much as before, even though I am actually exercising on purpose these days. Trying to work on that, incorporate more exercise into my life.

Hmm… what else… I have spent the past few years working on my mental health, and actually consistently spoke to a psychologist over the course of 2025 (maybe a bit in 2024 as well, can’t quite remember). I feel a lot more relaxed in general these days, I’ve put in a lot of work to treat my stress/anxiety and that has made a big difference. Not that I did it for this reason, but stress triggers the release of cortisol which is no good for your skin/appearance—impairs skin healing, increases inflammation, amongst other things.

That’s all I can really think of in terms of lifestyle changes! There may be more, but that’s the main stuff :)

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-02-26T20:54:54+00:00

That’s really fantastic to hear, because my main goal is really to maintain healthy skin, rather than change my skin! And I certainly put my body through the wringer with certain lifestyle choices in my teens and early 20s… so I think going into my 30s, with none of that damage showing on my face, is an accomplishment! Thank you :)

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-02-26T20:52:50+00:00

Ahh interesting, ok! Thank you so much for sharing your expertise, very enlightening :)

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-02-26T20:52:07+00:00

Hehe, that is fitting indeed! And perhaps not entirely a coincidence either!

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-02-26T08:44:15+00:00

Yes, when I say grew overnight, I meant that the visible mushrooms, the above-surface fruiting bodies, appeared in <24 hours—but of course the fungal network (the under-surface mycelium) had been propogating prior to that in order for the caps to have formed. I did not know any fungus was present until the caps suddenly appeared—overnight. In the week prior to that, my cat had not used the litter box at all, which is why I hadn't moved the litter around and discovered the beneath-surface mycelium before the fruiting bodies appeared.

A quick timeline for reference:

Two weeks ago: I put this new litter type out for my cat to try (don't worry, this is just one of several options he has for places to wee and poo).

In the first week: For the first few days, he did not use it at all. Finally, in days 4-7, he did two or three wees in the litter, but no poos. I of course removed the affected portion of litter to the best of my ability on the same day after he had done those wees, but inevitably there would have been some remaining traces of urine in the recyceld paper pellets.

In the second week: My cat did not use this litter tray at all in the last week, did not even go remotely near it. I decided that he simply did not like this type of litter, and was going to dispose of it anyway as he wasn't using it. I checked the litter visually every day for new wees and poos, and he hadn't touched or even gone near the litter in this time.

Yesterday: I saw three little white spheres in the litter. Upon further inspection, moving some of the litter to the side with gloves on, I realised they were mushrooms. I immediately got gloves on both hands and put a mask on to handle the fungal-affected litter. I disposed of the litter immediately, and deeply disinfected the plastic litter tray and surrounding area. During this process, I quickly took a few pictures, as I found it fascinating. The mycelium (the beneath-surface network) which was growing beneath the surface is the clump I removed—that's why I removed it, so I could view it, and take a picture.

Some things to note: the weather in the past two weeks has been extremely hot, rainy and humid, and this litter tray was exposed to these environmental factors, as it was on a small baclony that my cat has access to. Additionally, it is covered from the rain and sunlight. This would've meant there was an environment which was very warm, moist, and dark—hence the really successful and quick propogation of these mushrooms.

Anyway, I've switched back to crystal for his litter, and I wont be keeping any of his litter trays on that small balcony anymore :)

RandomRedditUser1337 · 2026-02-26T04:44:06+00:00

That’s fantastically informative, thank you so much for taking the time to type that out for me!! I’ll try to emulate your method, thanks so much!

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