This post is all about irritated and very sensitive skin care tips, what products and ingredients to avoid and how to care for your skin.
It happens to everyone, no matter the age, to have at some point in time hypersensitive or inflamed skin. In this post, I will go over the causes of very sensitive and irritated skin, what ingredients to avoid, what products to use, and an easy mask that relieves the itching feeling.
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If you experience rashes that don’t go away, a burning sensation, or extremely red inflamed skin, I suggest you see a dermatologist as quickly as possible. These sensitive skin care tips will help you if your skin is inflamed or very sensitive, but this is not professional healthcare advice.
If your skin is oversensitive, irritated, has small rashes, is inflamed, and maybe even itchy then your skin barrier is compromised. Maybe you used some products that your skin reacts with, you over-exfoliated, used too many actives or you didn’t start slow with actives. There are some steps you can take in order to help restore your skin barrier and make your skin healthy, plump, and glowy again.
Irritated And Sensitive Skin Care Tips
Skip cleansing your skin if you can or just wash it with purified water
Most of the cleansers contain surfactants ( surfactants are the ingredients that make cleansers foam) which are harsh on your skin because they are drying your skin even more than it already is and can compromise the skin barrier even more.
No fragrance/perfume
Both in the ingredient list of the products you put on your face as well as in a conventional perfume. Be careful when you spray your perfume and make sure the vapors don’t go close to your face.
Even if the fragrance is at the bottom of the ingredient list, it can still cause sensitivity even when your skin is in perfect health. If you already have oversensitive skin you should just skip products with fragrances and perfume altogether until your skin recovers.
No alcohol
Products with alcohol on the ingredient list are to be avoided when your skin is irritated because they can dry up your skin. You should try avoiding products with alcohol for a few days at least.
If you have a tendency to have sensitive skin, I would recommend, generally avoiding any products that contain alcohol, mostly those that contain alcohol in the first part of the ingredient list.
Colloidal oats mask
A home remedy for very sensitive skin, that has helped me a lot when my skin was overly sensitive, is a colloidal oat mask. Oats contain fatty acids like omega-3 and omega-6 as well as beta-glucan which helps protect and soothe the skin while also having an antioxidant role. For this mask, you just need some plain colloidal oats ( make sure they are not flavored as those will disrupt the skin barrier even more) and purified or distilled water.
You put half a cup of oats in a bowl, pour over the purified water like 1-2 fingers above the oats, and then put the lid and let it sit for half an hour to an hour. Don’t use tap water as this contains a lot of chloride or other ingredients used to treat the water. Also, if you leave in Europe the tap water is hard water, which is not very good for the skin.
After you let the oats sit in the water, dip some extra soft cotton pads into it and gently clean your face. You can also have it like a mask, dip some cotton pads into the water and put them on your face where your skin is compromised, and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes. Make sure you remove them before they start to dry out so that they won’t dry the water out of your skin. Gently pat the excess that remains on your face after removing the pads.
Make sure to patch test this before putting it on your face. Oats are a fairy-safe ingredient but some people might still have an intolerance to them. This mask also helps with the inflamed skin caused by prolonged use of a face mask, now that face masks have become part of our everyday life. Because it is soothing the skin, it might be beneficial to your maskne to use it from time to time.
Use Aloe Vera
Use a gel or a cream with Aloe Vera. Aloe Vera gel has cooling properties, is anti-inflammatory, and helps to moisturize the skin.
Try to look for a product with at least 80% aloe in it. I have a gel from Holika Holika with 99% Aloe Vera which is amazing and it really helps your skin’s complexion.
Use a moisturizer with ceramides
Ceramides are lipids used by our skin in order to restore its barrier and protect the skin. A good thing to do when you have very sensitive skin is to look for moisturizers with cholesterol and free fatty acids.
I recommend Cerave Moisturizing Cream which has a nice selection of ceramides, First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream for the Colloidal Oatmeal which was proven to relieve itching, or Paula’s Choice Omega+ Complex Moisturizer for the ceramides and Omega fatty acids (Omega 3, 6, and 9).
Sunscreen
Use sunscreen only if you go outside or you are near a window – sunscreen might contain ingredients that are able to sensitize the skin even more. Beware, if you have to use sunscreen, to be free of alcohol and perfume/fragrance.
Less is more
If your skin barrier is compromised what you have to do is putting fewer products on your face which can interact negatively with the skin. This means you should try for a few days to take your skincare routine to a bare minimum – only gently cleanse and moisturize in the evening, and splash your face with purified water, use ceramides moisturizer and sunscreen in the morning.
You can also do the colloidal oats mask once or twice a day for a few days. You can use it either as a way to cleanse your skin with water or as a mask as described above.
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