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Vitamin C and pro-retinol

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Vitamin C and pro-retinol: keep them apart

Keep them apart

Use vitamin C in the morning and pro-retinol at night, because combining them causes too much skin irritation. Using both at the same time can cause your skin to become red and irritated, and it stops the products from working well. You can try a gentler strength or space them out by using them at different times of the day.

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Vitamin C products

Questions and answers

Can you use vitamin C and pro-retinol together?

Keep vitamin C and pro-retinol apart because using them together increases irritation, and instead alternate them by using vitamin C in the morning and retinol at night.

Which goes first, vitamin C or pro-retinol?

Keep vitamin C and pro-retinol apart by using vitamin C in the morning and pro-retinol at night, because combining them increases irritation and instability. You should also avoid using them in the same routine.

Are vitamin C and pro-retinol good for sensitive skin?

Using vitamin C and pro-retinol together is not recommended because combined use increases irritation and instability. You can use them safely by alternating times, such as vitamin C in the morning and pro-retinol at night. Products like L'Oreal Paris Revitalift contain both ingredients.

Research on vitamin C and pro-retinol

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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