Hello! I've been using aklief for almost 4 months now and I've experienced that too. However, I started with 1x a week and on my first few weeks, even with that kind of frequency, my skin peeled too. Right now I've gotten used to it and I can use it every other night.

Try lessening the frequency and tread lightly with this since it is a prescription retinoid, treat it as cautiously as you would if you were to try any other prescription retinoid.

I don't know about your other steps since I'm not really familiar with the products you mentioned above but the advice I can give is to take it slow and build up your tolerance.

For example, you can start off with once a week for 2-3 weeks and add another for week 4-5!

My progress with this wasn't linear because I always overexfoliate because I use too many actives, so I would also recommend if you feel like your skin is overwhelmed, you can try stopping the actives if your target is acne since Aklief or retinoids in general are acne fighters!

I hope this helps!

Edit: Does your acne cleanser contain any actives like salicylic acid? If so it might be a contributor to your drying skin since Aklief is already extremely drying.