Blotchy, red, tight, dry? Get the low down on sensitive skin and how to deal with it...

Sensitivity in the skin can occur for all sorts of reasons but thankfully with the help of some clever products and a little knowledge it’s easy to keep under control!

Sensitive skin is usually a hereditary thing - either you’re born with it or you’re not.  It can easily be irritated by water temperature, the kind of cleanser you use, certain makeup brands, how often you wash your face and even some moisturisers before buying! Other things like food, stress and certain medications can also cause sensitive skin to flare up.

Symptoms:
There are many different signs and symptoms of sensitive skin but some of the main ones can include tightness, stinging, redness,  itching, dry patches, inflammation and blotchiness

How to combat it:
If you have overly sensitive skin, getting an allergy test is a good idea to find out if you have any allergies you were not aware of.

To find out if your skin is particularly heat sensitive, which could be the cause of some redness, try limiting showers to once a day for a week, and also turning the temperature down.

It’s also good if you can narrow down what exactly your skin is reacting to so you can avoid it! A good way to do this is by noting down products you have reactions to (tightness, itching etc), this way you can start figuring out what these products have in common that you skin obviously doesn’t like. The same goes for food and medication, it’s all about eliminating the problem!

Treaments
A year ago I had a facial from Michelle from Dermalogica. Once of my key concerns was redness in my cheeks. Michelle diagnosed this as sensitivity problem and concentrated the facial on calming my skin. I walked away from the facial completely free from that redness and have not suffered again!

Products

There are some really good products on the market that are designed to reduce the signs of sensitive skin and help to stop it from reacting in the first place. Here at Beauty Bible we love the following:

Aveeno Ultra Calming Daily Moisturiser

With naturally calming feverfew, a natural ingredient related to chamomile, this light, fast-absorbing moisturizer is clinically proven to visibly reduce facial redness and soothe irritation. It helps to actively manage dry, red uncomfortable skin. Ultra-Calming Daily Moisturizer also helps maintain healthy-looking skin and is shown in clinical studies to deliver visible skin improvements in as little as one week. Use it daily to reduce redness, calm and soothe irritations, and diminish blotchiness for even-looking skin. It is gentle enough to use every day and safe enough for the most sensitive skin, even those with rosacea.

Dermalogica Sheer Tint Redness Relief SPF15

Neutralize, relieve and defend against inflammation and redness induced by skin sensitivity and rosacea with this three-in-one SPF moisturizer. Natural earth minerals provide a sheer green tint to actively counter telltale redness. Licorice, Green Tea, Sea Buckthorn and Ranunculus calm inflamed, irritated skin while promoting skin recovery from previous environmental assaults.

Dermalogica Ultra Calming Cleanser

An extremely-gentle cleansing gel-cream that combats environmental assault with Dermalogica's exclusive Anti-Ozonate Complex.  Protects and soothes skin sensitised by pollution, temperature extremes, irritating cosmetic products, harsh detergents, chemical exposure, stress, poor diet or hormonal factors.  Also contains Lavender, Echinacea and Raspberry extracts for their anti-inflammatory, calming and healing properties. Leaves no irritating residue and is formulated for even the most hypersensitive skin that cannot tolerate water.