The number-one reason people quit retinal is they go in too strong, too soon. Buffering lets you keep using it while your skin catches up — and the cushion comes from the moisturiser, not from anything watery.
How a retinal lands depends entirely on what's underneath it. Bare skin is the most direct — and the most likely to bite. Each layer you add slows it down. You work from cushioned toward bare as your skin earns it.
What to buffer with: reach for your night ceramide barrier cream — ceramides with cholesterol and fatty acids, ideally a physiological ~3:1:1 ratio — so the layer cushioning the retinal is repairing your barrier at the same time. Its richer texture is also what does the slowing; a thin gel-cream won't cushion the same way.
It feels intuitive that a hydrating toner under your retinal would "soften" it. It does the opposite. The moisturiser is the real cushion: its richer, oilier texture is a layer the retinal has to diffuse through, which genuinely slows how fast and how hard it lands. A watery toner can't do that — and worse, hydration actually helps an active penetrate. That's the very reason retinoids go on dry, not damp, skin.
So the toner is hydration, not a bufferThis is why, in The Routine Bible, your Beginner retinoid nights stay toner-free and lean on a moisturiser buffer instead. The hydrating toner only joins your nights later, at Intermediate — once you've weaned the buffer off — and it's there for comfort and hydration, not cushioning. If anything, it nudges the retinal in a touch faster, which is exactly why you add it only once your skin can take the retinal bare.
The retinal still reaches your skin through the cream; the moisturiser just slows how fast it gets there, so you get the smoothing and renewal with far less of the sting, flaking and redness. You're not getting a weaker result — you're getting the same active at a pace your barrier can handle. As your skin acclimatises you simply use less buffer, then drop it altogether. Buffering is a bridge, not a permanent crutch.
Bare, buffered, or — later — over a hydrating toner you've let dry: whatever's underneath, it should be dry, never wet. Damp skin drives the retinal in faster and harder, the opposite of what you want while building tolerance.
Like vitamin C and acids, retinal can go straight onto bone-dry skin after cleansing for the most direct effect. That's the goal you build toward — not where a beginner starts.
Two layers cushion more. Buffer below and seal above, give it a few comfortable weeks, then thin things out again. If the retinal still bites, that's your cue to go slower, not push on.
Drop the buffer on one retinoid night, then the other a week later, then both. The moisturiser still seals at the end every night. If a stronger strength stings later, reach for the buffer again — it's a tool, not a step backward.
If a low-strength retinal with a buffer still leaves you stinging, flaking or pink past the next morning, you can swap the retinal for bakuchiol — a gentler, non-retinoid alternative that gives retinal-like results without the bite. More on it just below.
If the sandwich still stings or your skin stays red the next morning, drop a retinal night, go gentler, and give your barrier time. Slower always wins.
Some skin simply won't settle on a retinal, even low and buffered — and that's not a failure, it's just your skin. Bakuchiol is the gentler route. It's a plant-derived ingredient (from the babchi seed) that isn't a retinoid at all, yet works along similar pathways in the skin — so it delivers retinal-like smoothing, firmness and a more even tone, with far less of the stinging and flaking. It's well tolerated where retinoids aren't, and because it isn't photosensitising you can use it morning or night.
Use it in place of the retinal on your retinoid nights, and build it the same careful way — start low, a couple of nights a week, and rise slowly. You can always trial a low retinal again down the track, once your barrier is stronger.
One honest noteGentler doesn't mean a free pass in pregnancy or breastfeeding — bakuchiol's safety there isn't established, so it's not a proven swap for that situation. The same rule holds as for any active: check with your doctor.
The Glow Educator · Skin School
A companion to The Routine Bible. This isn't personal medical advice — patch test, go slow, and adapt to your own skin.