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My toner and cleanser clash with the retinal. What do I do?

Written by Maya Faour, founder and sole writer; not a dermatologistHow we work →Published

Answered from the ingredient base, checked by Maya.

Seven nights, Monday to Sunday. Retinal on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Acid toner on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Cleanser every night. Sunday just your base.MonTueWedThuFriSatSunRetinalAcid tonerCleanserRetinal and the acid toner: never the same night.
One rule, drawn: the retinal and the acid toner never share a night; the cleanser is every night.

The retinal is the one that matters here, and the toner is the one that fights it. An acid toner (salicylic, glycolic, lactic) and a retinoid both speed up how fast your skin sheds, so on the same evening they stack irritation and wear down the barrier. Our data calls this pair a clash: 135 of the 479 pairings we have answered land here.

Building the section…

Use these with care.

Retinoids and exfoliants both speed up cell turnover, so on the same night their irritation adds up, most of all while your skin is new to either.

Retinal and salicylic acid (BHA), on a cross-section of skin

The fix is not to drop the toner. Use them on alternate evenings: retinal one night, the acid toner the next, so your skin only handles one of them at a time. Ease the retinal in slowly, two nights a week for the first fortnight, and build up only while your skin stays comfortable. If it turns tight, flaky or starts to sting, drop back a step for a few days.

The cleanser is a different story. A cleanser only joins the clash if it carries an acid itself, a salicylic or glycolic wash, for example. A plain hydrating cleanser sits on the skin for thirty seconds and rinses off; it does not stack with the retinal, whatever night you use it. Check its label: if there is no acid in it, keep it every night and leave the alternating to the toner.

Spot the acid on a label

If one of these is on your cleanser's list, it counts as an acid; if none is, it is a plain cleanser.

One acid toner, one retinoid, never on the same evening. That is the whole rule.

Bottles like the reader's

Examples from our catalogue, not the reader's bottles.

What the data says

Use with careRetinal and Salicylic acid (BHA)

Use these with care. Retinoids and exfoliants both speed up cell turnover, so on the same night their irritation adds up, most of all while your skin is new to either.

Do this: Use them on alternate nights rather than the same evening; once both are old friends, your skin decides.

Which one goes first? Not on the same night. Use Retinal and Salicylic acid (BHA) on alternate evenings rather than layering them together.

  • Mukherjee et al., "Retinoids in the treatment of skin aging" (Clinical Interventions in Aging, 2006)
  • Kornhauser et al., "Applications of hydroxy acids" (Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology, 2010)

The full answer for this pair →

How much retinal did the trials use?

Dose line for Retinal: the trials worked from 0.05 to 0.1%; ticks at 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.5%, 1% where the named trials worked; the highest dose tested 1% (Saurat 1994): more irritation. Linear scale.0.05%, Creidi 19980.1%, Saurat 19940.5%, Saurat 19941%, the highest dose tested in leave-on use on human skin (Saurat 1994): more irritation0.05%0.1%0.5%1%more irritationCreidi 1998Saurat 1994Saurat 1994highest tested, Saurat 19940%
The rose band is where the vehicle-controlled trials worked; each tick is a concentration a named trial used, with its author and year; the last tick is the highest dose tested in leave-on use on human skin, 1% (Saurat 1994), where the paper reports: more irritation; no product in our catalogue declares a percentage on the name. The scale is linear. The full page for retinal →

How much salicylic acid (BHA) did the trials use?

Dose line for Salicylic acid (BHA): the trials worked from 0.5% with no measured ceiling; ticks at 0.5%, 2% where the named trials worked; the highest dose in the literature is another use, not drawn: 60% on plantar warts, an ointment used with monochloroacetic acid crystals; US monograph at 0.5 to 2%; catalogue labels at 2%. Linear scale.0.5%, Zander 19922%, Zander 19920.5%2%Zander 1992Zander 1992The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution: 2%The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Solution: 2%Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant: 2%US monograph 0.5 to 2%0%2.3%
The rose band is where the vehicle-controlled trials worked (by the pad maker’s own reading of its unpublished placebo studies), open to the right because no dose comparison sets a ceiling; each tick is a concentration a named trial used, with its author and year; the highest dose in the literature is another use, 60% on plantar warts, an ointment used with monochloroacetic acid crystals (Steele 1988), so this line does not draw it; the dashed line is the regulator’s number (US monograph, 0.5 to 2%); the bottles above the line are the products in our catalogue that declare a percentage on the name, hollow where it falls outside the trials’ range. The scale is linear (0 to 2.3%). The full page for salicylic acid (BHA) →
Tap to enlarge

RetinalSolid and proven

The one vehicle-controlled trial tested 0.05% for 44 weeks in 125 people and cut measured wrinkle depth and roughness where the vehicle changed nothing.

Why we say this
  • The water-loss, hydration and pigment figures come from a separate 40-person trial with no placebo arm, so they are before-and-after readings on people using a cream: texture, TEWL and hydration improved on both 0.05% and 0.1% with no significant difference between them, and a 6.5% drop in melanin index reached significance only in the 0.1% group.
  • Most of this work was run or funded by companies selling retinaldehyde.
Tap to enlarge

Salicylic acid (BHA)Solid and proven

Salicylic acid has decades of use and some older placebo-controlled support for clearing comedones, but the 2024 American Academy of Dermatology guideline…

Why we say this
  • Salicylic acid has decades of use and some older placebo-controlled support for clearing comedones, but the 2024 American Academy of Dermatology guideline recommends it only conditionally, on low-certainty evidence from a single randomised trial — unlike benzoyl peroxide and retinoids, which it recommends strongly.
  • The 0.5–2% figure is the concentration range the US OTC acne monograph permits (21 CFR 333.310), not a measured effective dose; in EU cosmetics 2% is a safety ceiling rather than a target.

The question, answered

My toner and cleanser clash with the retinal. What do I do?

The retinal is the one that matters here, and the toner is the one that fights it. An acid toner (salicylic, glycolic, lactic) and a retinoid both speed up how fast your skin sheds, so on the same evening they stack irritation and wear down the barrier. Our data calls this pair a clash: 135 of the 479 pairings we have answered land here.

Can I use a salicylic acid cleanser with retinol or retinal?

Our ingredient base treats salicylic acid and a retinoid as a clash whatever the bottle, so keep an acid cleanser to the nights without the retinal. A cleanser with no acid can be used every night.

Can I use an acid toner and retinal on the same night?

No. Use them on alternate evenings so your skin handles one exfoliating active at a time.

Which goes first if I still want both?

Neither: the pair page's order is "not on the same night".

Does a glycolic acid toner clash with retinal too?

Yes, the same way: retinoids and exfoliating acids both speed up cell turnover and stack irritation together. Alternate nights, and use sunscreen in the morning because glycolic acid makes skin more sensitive to UV.

Related

General guidance from the ingredient base, not medical advice. How we reach every verdict → Your own question can go the same way: the box is in My Shelf.