How to increase retinol strength safely with sensitive dehydrated skin?

I am atopic (only body) and my skin is prone to redness. I have combination skin (oily T zone, normal checks). I live in a tropical country, so I spend a lot of time in heavily ACed room. This made my skin more sensitive and dehydrated. My goal with retinol is anti-aging and reducing sebaceous filaments/congestion. I am 28.
F.

My first try with retinol was 0.3% Frankly retinol an and as you might guess it burned my skin with the first use. I didn’t know it was going to do that, but lesson learned. I stopped immediately and it was really painful the first few days, but then it calmed down. I learned all about barrier repair and invested in good skincare to get my skin back on track. Few months later I was so afraid to get burned again that I started with 0.05% eye cream I used on my whole face once a week, eventually twice. I was afraid I might never be able to use retinol but it was just my barrier.

I now transitioned to Good Molecules Gentle Retinol 0.1% and my skin is tolerating it well, but I haven’t gone through retinization yet. I just started using it twice a week.

Skincare routine:

I have dehydrated skin so I focus on gentle cleansing – Cleansing oil and then Cetaphil foaming or gentle cleanser, I only wash with water in the morning.

Morning:
Hatomugi skin conditioner as a toner
Hatomugi gel moisturizer
Good Molecules 10% niacinamide serum (skip when skin is sensitive and use snail mucin instead)
Cerave PM on top
Hatomugi sunscreen 50

Evening
Hatomugi toner
Alternating Centella ampoule, Corx Snail Mucin essence and hyaluronic acid serum
Aestura barrier cream

Retinol days evening:
Hatomugi toner
Centella
Aestura
Retinol 0.1% for face & 0.05% for eyes
Cerave PM (sandwich)

I do two treatment days besides retinol days because I have congestion:

BHA toner 1x week on congested areas
Peptide and alzeaic acid cream 1x week (weak AC concentration)
Sheet mask 1x week

My skin is handling all actives well at the moment, but I do want to move to higher strength retinol and one day even tretinoin if possible. I am not sure if I should jump from 0.1% to 0.3%, I am considering buying something in between to not shock my skin too much. I also heard about the “exposure” method where you don’t leave the retinol overnight but just for some time and wash it off. My goal is anti-aging and congestion/ sebaceous filaments control.

I want to avoid burning my skin and having start all over again. How can I build tolerance and get the real benefit from retinol because these three months I haven’t actually got enough exposure as my skin was getting used to it. I think that just now that I stated a proper strenght twice a week I can expect some results, but the main goal
is to have results while keeping the barrier stable. I would appreciate any advice on how to slowly scale the use of retinol and get the most out of it while keeping my barrier healthy. Thank you so much!