Better than Retin A

The older I get, the dryer and more sensitive my skin becomes.

I've had melanoma on my leg so I go for a skin cancer check every six months with my dermatologist. Every time I see her, without fail, she gives me samples of  the big guns Retin A to try. She insists the exfoliation will help with little skin keratosis that come up and also soften the wrinkles texture on my face. I take my trusty little bag home with good intentions but after 4 days, I'm so red and flaky I have to stop using it. What's the point of softening my texture if my face is seen through a red haze of flakes?  None to me.

Enter... the little guns.

I try to use only natural, cruelty free, organic products without parabens or synthetic chemicals on my face and body whenever I can. Since our skin is the largest organ of our body, what we put on it must be as important as what we put in it.

I've used Rose Eye Cream from Weleda for years and just noticed it has Rose Seed Hip Oil as one of its major ingrediants. Loaded with antioxidants, its fragrance free and quickly absorbed. Strangely, the directions for use say "do not apply onto the eye itself".  Just wondering who would actually do that...?

I did some checking into natural alternatives for topical Vitamin C and Retin A. What kept popping up were a lot of articles on Rose Hip Oil. So...I started using it on my face several weeks ago. It doesn't have the lovely smell of fresh roses, but is touted to have a lot of beneficial properties for aging skin. 

Rose Hip Seed oil is a pressed seed oil, extracted from the seeds of a wild rose bush which is native to Chile. It's an amber colored liquid with a mild odor. It's extremely rich in vitamin A (retinoids ), vitamin C & E (antioxidants), essential fatty acids (effect cell structure), linolenic and linolenic acids (diminishes scars and age spots).

via

This oil is purported to improve the tone, texture and pigmentation of the skin, helping to the correct sun damage responsible for photo aging. A dry oil, it soaks in quickly, leaving no greasy residue. I apply it to my dry face and neck, morning and night under my moisturizer.

I've noticed an big improvement in my dry patches and no longer have chapped lips. A surprising benefit is that my fingernails have stopped splitting. I may be imagining it but I think the dark spots on my left cheek are also fading. It's so inexpensive, I will now be slathering the backs of my hands with it. 

Rose Hip oil goes bad quickly when it's exposed to light and air. That means you want to purchase a brand sold in an airtight pump bottle with dark glass and use it up quickly.

Here is a link to an article I found this morning from the Huffington Post discussing Rose Hip Seed Oil properties and benefits. Its getting a lot of press lately and promises many things...

Is it better than Retin A? I doubt it can produce the dramatic results of  Retin A, but it's better for me because my skin can tolerate it.  I'll report back after I've been using it for several months.