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Pro-retinol and citric acid

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Pro-retinol and citric acid: keep them apart

Keep them apart

Use pro-retinol and citric acid on alternate nights to prevent skin irritation. Both ingredients speed up skin renewal and can dry or irritate your skin if used at the same time. You can alternate nights, use a gentler strength, or wait longer between applications.

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Pro-retinol products

Citric acid products

Questions and answers

Can you use pro-retinol and citric acid together?

Keep pro-retinol and citric acid apart in your routine because combining them may cause irritation or barrier disruption. Instead, alternate their use by applying citric acid in the morning or on separate nights from your retinoid.

Which goes first, pro-retinol or citric acid?

Keep pro-retinol and citric acid apart by alternating them, using citric acid in the morning or on separate nights and pro-retinol on alternate evenings to help prevent irritation.

Are pro-retinol and citric acid good for sensitive skin?

Keep pro-retinol and citric acid apart in your routine because combining them may cause irritation and barrier disruption. Instead, use citric acid in the morning and pro-retinol on alternate evenings.

Research on pro-retinol and citric acid

Behind this pairing advice

Lovi checks every pairing with brand-independent rules our dermatologists and cosmetic chemists build and review, and personalizes every pick with AI trained on the real results of millions of users. Lovi trains its fit score models on a proprietary dataset built from more than 10,000 expert-labeled products and more than 100,000 simulated examples, following an internally consistent methodology presented at Cosmoprof, AMWC, and Skin of Color Update.

  • Nadia Kapleva, MS

    Nadia Kapleva, MS

    Co-founder, Medical Director

    Cosmetic chemist, cosmetologist, aesthetic products developer

  • Alexey Shagraev, PhD

    Alexey Shagraev, PhD

    Co-founder, CEO and CTO

    PhD in computer science, 3x US patent holder, ex-Google, ex-Yandex

  • Dr. Sof铆a Perea P茅rez, MD, MSc

    Dr. Sof铆a Perea P茅rez, MD, MSc

    Medical Board

    Aesthetic medicine practitioner, MSc in Longevity and Anti-Aging Medicine

  • Aishani Shah, MD

    Aishani Shah, MD

    Medical Board

    Specialist dermatologist, MBBS, MD, IFAAD

  • Asya Zubkova, MS

    Asya Zubkova, MS

    Medical Board

    Cosmetic chemist, SCS, IFSCC member

  • Hanna Kurets, MD

    Hanna Kurets, MD

    Medical Board, Medical Advisor

    Dermatology MD

  • Elina Nazarenko, MD

    Elina Nazarenko, MD

    Medical Board

    Dermatology and diagnostic consultant

  • Victoria Derkova, MS

    Victoria Derkova, MS

    Medical Board

    Cosmetic chemist, cosmetic development technologist

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