Every September the same question comes up in the salon. Clients who spent winter carefully building up to retinol want to know whether they should stop now the days are stretching out.
Short answer: no. Longer answer: what happens around the retinol needs to change, even though the retinol itself does not.
Why spring brings this up every year
Retinol speeds up cell turnover. The skin sitting on the surface is newer and less weathered than it was, which is exactly why it looks smoother, and also why it burns more easily.
Through June and July that trade-off is easy to manage. From September it gets harder. New Zealand's UV index climbs fast once spring arrives, and by October we are regularly seeing levels most people mentally file under midsummer. The air is still cool, the wind still has a bite to it, and none of that tells you anything useful about how much UV is reaching your face.
That mismatch is the real problem. People stop thinking about sun protection when they are still wearing a jumper.
What we suggest changing
Not the product. The rhythm around it.
If you have been using the Delay Infinity Retinol Face Serum four or five evenings a week through winter, hold it there rather than pushing higher. Spring is a poor time to increase frequency. If your skin has been borderline, flaking slightly at the sides of the nose or feeling tight by morning, drop back a night and let it settle.
Keep it in the evening. It belongs after cleansing and before your night cream, which is how the rest of the Vagheggi Delay Infinity anti-wrinkle range is designed to layer around it. The 1% retinol in that serum is encapsulated and housed in an airless bottle, so it stays stable between applications and releases in a controlled way. That does a lot of the work for you. It does not change the fact that the skin underneath is more exposed than it was in July.
If you have a week of gardening ahead, a long weekend away, or anything else that means real hours outside, skip a couple of nights beforehand. We would rather clients pause for three days than come back in with irritation they then blame on the serum.
The other thing worth easing off is exfoliation. Scrubs and acid toners stack on top of retinol, and skin that copes with both in July can tip over in October. If you want a weekly treatment through spring, choose something hydrating instead.
Sun protection is the part that decides this
Daily SPF is what makes retinol worth continuing through spring and summer. Without it you are speeding up renewal and undoing the result at the same rate.
Broad spectrum sun protection, if applied properly, allows you to not only prevent sun damage but also protect the benefits of retinol you’ve worked so hard to build. The vagheggi sun care collection offers some ways to gain this protection such as their transparent sun stick that sits well over skincare as well as their tinted SPF 50+ cream for anyone who wants a little colour. If your morning routine finishes with makeup, our mineral SPF makeup options give you additional protection throughout the day, including a powder that makes topping up over makeup straightforward.
One thing worth being honest about, SPF in makeup alone rarely gets applied thickly enough to deliver the number on the label. It’s often best to treat it as a top-up, not as your only layer.
If you have not started retinol yet
Wait until autumn.
This isn’t us trying to talk you out of a purchase. The Delay Infinity protocol recommends beginning retinol in the cooler months precisely because tolerance builds better when UV is low. Starting in October means fighting the ingredient and the season at the same time. Two evenings a week, building slowly, works far better in April than it does now.
In the meantime, spring is a good stretch to focus on hydration and barrier strength so your skin is in better shape when you do start. Vagheggi Rehydra hydrating skincare is where we usually point people, particularly the hyaluronic acid ampoules if skin has come out of winter feeling tight and dull.
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Keep using it. Do not increase it. Wear sunscreen every day without exception, and give yourself a break beforehand if you know you have big days outdoors coming. Retinol and a New Zealand spring get along fine, as long as you respect what the UV is doing while the temperature is still telling you it is cold.