Why Can't I Use Retinol Before Waxing?

Written by Helen Ward, award winning beauty educator and salon owner. Last updated November 2026.

"Why can't I use retinol or retinal before my wax?"

Why I ask you every single time

This week, another client didn't tell me she was using retinal. It's on my consultation form, it was on her pre treatment skincare questionnaire, and I checked with her in person. Her treatment was dermaplaning, which I only ever do on healthy skin. A few minutes in, her skin started showing dry, scaling patches. I stopped straight away and asked what she was using on her skin, and whether she was using anything else. After some digging, it turned out she was using retinal, and I had been using a blade on her skin.

The most common place I see the effects is brow waxing, and it's why I ask every client, every time, no matter how often they come to me. There's nothing quite like waxing a brow and seeing the tell tale glassy, shiny skin where the wax has lifted the top layer of skin cells. A few days later that turns into a graze, and if you're very unlucky, it can haunt you for years with pigmentation problems.

What retinoids do to your skin

Retinoids are forms of vitamin A. Retinol and retinal are converted in the skin to retinoic acid, the active form, and retinal is one step closer, so it works faster and more strongly. Prescription creams are retinoic acid already. They speed up cell turnover and help smooth and brighten skin, which is why they're so popular. While they work, the outer layer can become drier, more sensitive and less able to protect itself. Wax grips that fragile surface and pulls it away with the hair.

Which treatments it affects

• Waxing and sugaring, especially brows, lip and face
• Dermaplaning
• Chemical peels and stronger exfoliating facials
• Microdermabrasion
• Microneedling
• Laser and IPL
• Threading, which can also be more irritating on sensitised skin

How long to stop before your treatment

• Retinol or retinal you buy yourself: usually around five to seven days before.
• Prescription retinoid creams: often three to four weeks before.
• Prescription retinoid tablets for acne: waxing usually isn't advised until at least six months after you finish, and sometimes up to a year.

Your therapist may advise longer. Never stop a prescribed medicine without speaking to the person who prescribed it.

How to prepare

• Tell your therapist everything you use, including night serums and anything labelled "anti ageing", "renewing" or "vitamin A".
• Stop retinoids and exfoliating acids for the time your therapist advises.
• If you're unsure, take a photo of your products to show them.
• Don't restart for a few days after your treatment, or until your skin feels completely calm.

If your skin has been lifted

• Keep the area clean and dry, and don't pick or scratch it.
• Avoid make up, retinoids, acids and scrubs until it has fully healed.
• Wear a high SPF every day, as healing skin marks easily.
• See a pharmacist or doctor if it becomes hot, swollen, weepy or very painful.

Darker skin tones are more prone to marks that last. Some fade within six to twelve months, and others take much longer.

For professionals

• Ask every time: verbally, even with regular clients, and keep retinoids on your consultation form and pre treatment questionnaire.
• Use the words clients recognise: retinol, retinal, retinaldehyde, tretinoin, adapalene, vitamin A, and "anti ageing night serum".
• Look before you start: shiny, tight, flaky or unusually sensitive skin is a warning sign. If in doubt, don't go ahead.
• Stop at the first sign of lifting or scaling, and ask again.
• Record it: keep notes and photos, give written aftercare, and record any lifting.
• Explain why: clients who understand the reason are far more likely to tell you next time.

Read more

• Waxing treatment guide
• Dermaplaning treatment guide
• What is healthy skin? Why balance beats perfection