Caring and preventing the causes for sensitive skin

Causes for sensitive skin and how to care for your skin

While “sensitive skin” is hard to define, it’s an experience many people can relate to – irritated, inflamed, red, itching, flaking, stinging, or breaking out skin.

As defined by The International Society of Dermatology:

Sensitive skin is a complex dermatological condition, defined by abnormal sensory symptoms.

There are a number of ways to address, help, and reduce the discomfort of sensitive skin. We recommend two paths:

• Avoiding harmful or irritating skincare ingredients AND
• Making lifestyle changes to reduce stress and inflammation

Skincare ingredients to avoid as they can cause sensitive skin:

• Fragrances: fragrances are made of artificial and natural ingredients, any of which could irritate sensitive skin. Since individual fragrances aren’t disclosed on ingredients, it’s hard to know which ingredient is causing the reaction. Look for fragrance-free, rather than unscented products, since unscented products may have ingredients to cover the scent (rather than no fragrances).
• Preservatives: preservatives keep products shelf-stable, however, many well-known preservatives irritate sensitive skin. These include:
  • Parabens
  • Formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives – including DMDM hydantoin, Diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea, methenamine, quaternium-15, and sodium hydroxymethylglycinate
  • Quaternium 15
  • Phenoxyethanol
  • Methylisothiazolinone
  • Sodium borate, also called sodium tetraborate or disodium tetraborate
• Sulfates: sulfates provide the foaming lather you likely know from shampoos, soaps, and cleansers. However, sodium laureth sulfate and sodium laurel sulfate can be very harsh, especially on sensitized skin.

Read more about chemicals to avoid HERE

Lifestyle changes for sensitive skin:

Your skin condition, however, also is a mirror to your health and lifestyle. stress is one of the causes for sensitive skin…

Your skin also responds to what’s going on in your life. People with sensitive skin often report more stress, anxiety, or tension. Your skin senses the extra stress and reacts to it.

The following lifestyle changes can help skin sensitivity:

• Stay hydrated with water, herbal teas, fruits and vegetables (more on hydration and tips)
• De-stress with mindfulness, fresh air, meditation, breathwork, nature walks etc.
• Incorporate regular exercise, movement.
• Help overall health and skin appearance by avoiding inflammatory foods (like refined carbohydrates, fried foods, red meat, sodas) and selecting anti-inflammatory foods (like leafy greens, nuts, olive oil, and berries)
• Get a professional natural skin therapist to advise you on your beauty routine at home and give you a facial that is suitable for your skin.  At Pure Salon i thrive to give each one of you a very personal treatment that will support your skin conditions, and one of the areas i specialize in is sensitive skin.

So the causes of sensitive skin can be outside or inside our body, what’s important is to be aware of them and treat it carefully.