First off, thank you for always taken the time to answer questions faithfully.
In the last couple of years I have ordered from your site, I have always been impressed with Cassia and your other staff, very professional!


Question:

For some reason it feels weird to me to put the cream retoinoids and the cream alpha hydroxy exfoliators on first and then put the super cp serum on top of that. I feel like the serums might not penetrate the skin through the creamy texture.

Therefore, I prefer to put the serums on first, wait and then put on my retin a or my hydroxy cream. What is the ideal wait time to ensure that the exfoliators or at the proper PH to be effective?

I put on skin signals in the am and super cp serum in the pm.

The oily creams will push in the watery serums. But not the other way around.

I usually recommend using the hydroxys alone but many clients use them with CPs and report good results.

Olivia, You actually have 2 different things going on here: Creams vs Serums & Low PH Exfoliators vs CPs & everything else.

I think this is the "grey area of all grey areas" when it comes to exfoliators & CPs.

It makes sense to apply Serums 1st then Creams, but I think you have to consider the product. That is why I think applying the exfoliator 1st (cream/ serum or gel) then wait 1/2 - 2 hrs (the longer the better) in the PM before applying CPs (cream -or- serum) on top.

If applying CP Serum, then Emu -or- Squalane on top will help to push it in.

I think the actual product should dictate when it is applied...like I think an exfoliator will probably work best on clean, dry skin as opposed to applying on top solely to help push CPs in.

This is ONLY in theory, so maybe the reverse will work too?...I dunno???