Warning: That $10 retinol cream melted my face off

Picked up a tube of some no-name retinol serum at a discount bin near my place for $10 last week. Figured it was a steal since the real stuff runs $50. Put it on my face two nights in a row like a normal serum and woke up with skin peeling off in sheets. My face felt like sandpaper and turned bright red for three days. Had to call my sister who is a nurse and she said it was way too strong for daily use. So yeah, that bargain ended up costing me $25 in aloe vera and a week of hiding indoors. Has anyone else gotten burned by a random skincare find you grabbed on impulse?

2 comments

2 Comments

linda3053d ago

Oh HELL no, that sounds like straight-up chemical warfare in a tube.

lucas_grant834d ago

Man that "melted my face off" part hit too close to home. Same thing happened to me with a $8 hyaluronic acid I grabbed at a flea market, thought I was smart skipping the fancy brands. My face literally bubbled up and got all crusty, looked like a zombie for two weeks. What finally worked was stopping everything cold turkey, just washing with plain cold water and using straight Vaseline at night to lock in moisture. Took about five days before the peeling stopped and the redness went down. I learned the hard way that cheap skincare is usually cheap for a reason, either the concentration is way off or they skip safety testing altogether.