How can I change my skin texture without surgery or harsh chemicals?

My skin has wide pores (not too bad), pock marks, small moles, bumps, tiny ingrown hairs, etc. It's not really bad. Nobody notices or perhaps nobody mentions it. For my face (because I also sometimes get blackheads) my previous derm doctor gave me retin-a micro. But it's costly and it's not great to use it in the peak summer months where there is more than average sun exposure. My job actually puts me in the sun for a few hours a day. Is there a milder over the counter treatment to help exfoliate? Do scrubs help (sometimes they stimulate acne for me so I always need an acne medicine when I use these)? What about loofahs? Is this just a matter of better exfoliation?