Navigating Life with Sensitive Skin
Unless you’ve lived with it, it’s hard to understand how difficult living with sensitive skin can really be. If you’re not dealing with rashes, itchy skin, or sunburns in the summer, you’re dealing with dehydration in the winter. While other people can pick up a new skin care product without much thought to it, you have to put extensive research and planning into your skin care routine.
Luckily, once you become accustomed to a skincare routine that works for you, you might be surprised to find that navigating life can actually become easy again.
Get rid of products that don’t work for you.
If you have sensitive skin, steer clear of products that irritate your skin. This means avoiding essential oils, perfumes, harsh exfoliators, harsh acne products and foam products. If your skin is extremely sensitive, you may even want to avoid hard water, instead washing your skin with micellar water. If you have to stick with tap water, just switching to a gentler cleanser will make a world of difference.
Stick with just a few skincare essentials.
Avoid cleansers with salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide; instead, start your search with bland milk or light gel. Following your cleanser, use a toner water mist to keep your skin subtly hydrated with soothing ingredients like aloe or glycerin. If you use a mist instead of a cotton pad for toner, you will notice less irritation on your skin.
After toning, give yourself a gentle skin treatment directed at your specific sensitive skin problem. Avoid alpha hydroxy acids, especially in the summer; while they work wonders, they increase your skin’s sensitivity to the sun.
Before stepping out of the house, apply a moisturizer with basic ingredients and SPF protection.
Once you find your skincare routine that works, stick to it.
When you finally have a good thing going, don’t mess it up!
Finding a skincare routine that works the way you need it to is a trial and error process that requires a lot of research and experimentation. By replacing irritating products with simple ingredients that are soothing, gentle and protective and sticking to an established routine, the bulk of your sensitive skin problems should subside. In fact, since you are avoiding products that tend to be more aggressive, your skin may actually become more nourished than people whose skin is considered non-sensitive!
Of course, if you feel like you have tried everything to no avail, it may be best to visit a dermatologist for more specific guidance from an expert. Sensitive skin can be a tough obstacle to overcome, but it’s far from impossible to deal with. With a little practice and persistence, you’ll have no trouble navigating life with your sensitive skin.
