Sensitive Skin: Everything You Need To Know
Sensitive Skin: The What, Why, and How To Treat It
Sensitive skin is becoming an increasing issue and today we want to break it all down about this skin condition. We answer all your questions AND explain why more people than ever are suffering from sensitive skin. So let’s dig in!
What Is Sensitive Skin?
Sensitive skin is a skin condition that causes sensations such as burning, itching, redness, and inflammation. This occurs in response to applying a lotion, cream, or cleanser. Sensitive skin can also result from environmental factors, wind, or toxins in the air. Traditionally, we would treat sensitive skin by avoiding specific ingredients that someone was allergic to or potentially caused a reaction. However, we are seeing more clients with sensitive skin and it’s now caused by the excess of skincare products and the fact that everyone online is now a skin expert.
Untrained influencers talk about skincare and consumers buy those products and mix active ingredients, the skin becomes sensitized and irritated. Estheticians are frustrated by influencers selling skincare who have no educational background.
Why Is My Skin Suddenly Sensitive?
There are several reasons why skin suddenly becomes sensitive. Here are the most common reasons why:
✅ Using stripping products that are not meant for your skin
✅ Mixing actives
✅ Too many skincare products in your routine
✅ Over-exfoliation
Women are constantly searching for the best miracle cream. In doing so, they overbuy skincare products or use products not made for their skin type. Over time, this creates skin sensitivity and they begin to react to products or ingredients they never had an issue with before. Mixing active ingredients creates skin sensitivity because you are overdoing it with your skin. Layering acids is too much for the skin – this creates stress, strips the barrier, and puts the skin in a state of having to repair itself. This causes sensitive skin because the skin is in fight or flight mode. Over-exfoliating puts the same stress on the skin as using too many skincare products.
Simple is best when it comes to skincare. Schedule a time to meet with your esthetician and follow their customized recommendations. Estheticians only recommend effective products so you only have to use what works!
What Products Should I Use?
🧴 Switch from a gel or foaming cleanser (which strips the skin) to a gentle cream-based or oil cleanser.
🧴 Light exfoliation is important to help with cell turnover. Don’t use scrubs or acids. Either gommage or enzymes are great and the product does the exfoliation for you. Once-a-week exfoliation is best for sensitive skin.
🧴 Hydrating serums restore hydration and repair your skin barrier. Stripping your skin barrier causes the skin to become sensitized. We recommend serums containing hyaluronic acid and salmon DNA to hydrate and repair the skin barrier. Use these serums morning and night.
🧴 Hydrating moisturizers are heavy enough to hold moisture without clogging your pores. Always wear your zinc-based SPF.
Do you need specific product recommendations? Below is a list of our favorite skincare products. Schedule a new client facial to talk about your skin, restore your skin barrier with our hydrating facial, and simplify your routine to stop your skin from being sensitive.
When Skin Feels Sensitive To The Touch
Sensitive skin can feel reactive, meaning when you touch your skin it feels hot. Your skin is reacting to a skincare product! Apply ice or cool compresses to your skin to calm it down. Gently rinse off all products (not with soap) but cool water to remove the products from your skin. Call us if you can’t calm down your skin and we will do a calming treatment – we are skilled in sensitive skin and help when your skin is reacting.
Another thing that may be happening is a histamine reaction. Histamine reactions occur more frequently with waxing but can occur after applying products. A histamine reaction is an allergic reaction that results in redness, inflammation, hives, or itching. According to the Cleveland Clinic’s definition, “Histamine is a signaling chemical your immune system releases to send messages between different cells. Histamine has several functions, but it’s mainly known for its role in causing allergic and anaphylactic symptoms.”
When Skin Becomes Sensitive
The #1 reason your skin becomes sensitive is that you’re using skincare products not made for your skin.
Your skin barrier becomes compromised when using products not designed for your skin type. Those products break down the skin barrier and the skin goes into fight or flight mode working hard to repair. Your skin barrier protects the body from pollution, environmental toxins, UV rays, and harmful substances. Products that strip the skin break down the skin barrier and put the body at risk. The skin’s job is to protect, if it goes into a state of constant repair creating inflammation, you begin to notice sensitive skin.
We would love you to learn more about your skin barrier by clicking here to read our blog.
What Does Sensitive Skin Look Like?
Sensitive skin looks red, irritated, and/or bumpy. The skin’s natural response happens when working to protect itself from harmful substances that break down the skin barrier.
What Should I Avoid?
Sensitive skin must avoid strong cleansers, such as gel or foaming cleansers. Avoid anything containing a scrub, acids, or anything with exfoliation. You do not need to exfoliate your skin twice a day! Influencers love to tell consumers to exfoliate 2x a day, however, you are putting your skin at risk by listening to them! Stop using acids, retinol, Vitamin C, or any actives. Active ingredients can benefit the skin, too much exfoliation mixed with a cocktail of active ingredients causes the skin to become sensitive. Our goal is to restore your skin barrier. Once the skin is healthy, we can slowly work the ingredients into your skincare routine.
How To Treat?
We also look at your lifestyle and see where you may have inflammation. Gut-related, health issues, or take medications – your skin may be compromised. For example, some medications can cause the skin to become dry, sensitive, or prone to sunburn. In a study by PubMed they state, “The microbiome plays an important role in a wide variety of skin disorders. Not only is the skin microbiome altered, but also surprisingly many skin diseases are accompanied by an altered gut microbiome. An enhanced understanding of the local skin and gut microbiome including the underlying mechanisms is necessary to shed light on the microbial involvement in human skin diseases and to develop new therapeutic approaches.”
When your gut is in a state of inflammation it affects the skin. We mostly see this with acne and rosacea clients. When your skin reacts, it can be caused by internal health issues or medications that stress your gut.
Can I Use Retinol?
Yes, sensitive skin CAN use retinol, however, this is not our go-to product. Schedule a consultation if you have sensitive skin and want to start retinol. We started clients on a skincare routine focusing on hydration and barrier repair. Then we can slowly introduce your skin to a retinol. Adding retinol to a healthy skin barrier will allow your skin to respond better and you won’t have the skin sensitivity issues you’ve had in the past.
Sensitive Skin With Acne
Earlier in the blog we discussed stripping skincare products and see this a lot with acne. Most over-the-counter acne products strip the skin. Add benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid – a perfect storm of actives to create sensitive skin. I am from the era of Noxema pads and Sea Breeze toners – the generation that stripped the skin of oil to stop breakouts. We have come a long way! What we did increased oil production, caused acne, and compromised the skin barrier.
Less is more when it comes to treating acne. We recommend a gentle cleanser that does not include an exfoliant. Spot treat with salicylic acid so you’re targeting the breakouts, not applying all over or just use ice. Lastly, keep the skin hydrated and focus on keeping your skin barrier healthy.
Acne can also be caused by an unhealthy gut microbiome or hormones. These breakouts cannot be treated with skincare alone. This is why many acne clients are unsuccessful in treating their skin – they use products focusing on bacterial acne. Hormonal or gut-related acne must be treated from the inside out to clear the skin. We recommend finding a Naturopathic or Functional Medicine doctor. Dermatologists will prescribe medications, however, this only works if your acne is bacterial. If your acne is not bacterial, the medication will stress your gut and worsen your acne.
Sensitive Skin Routine
Here is a list of our recommended skincare products for sensitive skin. All of these products can be found on our website. Click the product links to shop for skincare.
Cleansers:
Cleansing Milk
Essential Oil cleanser
Exfoliants:
Serums:
Hyaluronic Acid serum
Salmon DNA hydrating serum
Retinol
Moisturizers:
BioRepair
BioCalm
Collagen Gel
Acne Moisturizer
Sunscreen:
Tinted sunscreen
Non-tinted sunscreen
Ready to take control of your skin and chat with us? Click here to visit our website to learn more about our services and how we can help guide you. You can also check out our blog. Questions can be dropped in the comment section below. We have many years of experience working with sensitive skin and are happy to help create a simple skincare plan that works with your time and budget.
