No moisturizer after adapalene?

I’ve used adapalene before, and would absolutely recommend using moisturizer after. Retinoids work by increasing your skin’s cell turnover, which basically thins out the top layer of your skin. That’ll make you more susceptible to dryness and flakiness. Moisturizer prevents that. I’m glad to hear you aren’t having major side effects so far! If you think your moisturizer is too heavy, then I’d sooner switch to something thinner or gel-based than stop moisturizing altogether.

Definitely use a moisturiser. I even use a richer moisturiser on the nights that I use retinoids. If you're not giving your skin any moisture after applying such a drying ingredient, you're long term drying out your skin that can lead to premature aging and partly defeats the point of using adapalene.

I suggest using a lightweight moisturizer even if your skin is resilient. After some time, the combination of adapalene & no moisture might "dry out" your skin & you'll experience irritation.

My sister was using Adapalene and she was fine at first but got dry dehydrated flaky skin on the long run. So I would recommend using a moisturizer, even a light one, to avoid and prevent any rebound effect later.

The reason we use moisturizer is to combat any dryness that may come after using it. If you don’t hve dry skin, then it should be fine