How To Help: Sensitive Skin

Is your skin often irritated? Prone to redness or rashes? If so, it’s likely that you have sensitive skin.

Sensitive skin is often hard to deal with, especially when you consider the hyper awareness and vigilance required to ensure that the products and conditions you subject your skin to don’t end up making the pain and irritation worse.

If you want to better understand sensitive skin, look into the causes, and discover some brilliant vegan and organic skincare products that’ll help, then keep reading!

 

Understanding Sensitive Skin

Sensitive skin is often defined as skin that is reactive to aggressors. These aggressors can be external factors such as weather and harsh skincare products or internal factors such as allergens, hormones, or medical conditions. These factors can often result in reddened, sore, itchy, and painful skin, or in some cases just feeling uncomfortable with your skin.

If you have extremely sensitive skin and it is often painful and irritated, then it is a good idea to see your doctor. They may be able to pinpoint the causes or some treatments that will help, in some cases you need certain medications to calm your skin. However, the majority of the time you will be able to soothe and treat your skin at home by adapting your skincare routine and taking the time to learn what products are gentle enough to work on your skin.

How To Know If You Have Sensitive Skin

You may now be wondering ‘Do I have sensitive skin?’ There are many diverse types of sensitive skin and a wide variety of signs and symptoms to go with them, however, there are some common tell-tale signs that you may be dealing with sensitive skin.

Some of these common symptoms include your skin becoming irritated, blotchy, and red after using new products, or perhaps you experience stinging sensations on your face when it’s being washed or exposed to frigid wind or other weather conditions.

If your skin has a habit of developing rashes or becoming uncomfortable and sore when it’s introduced to adverse conditions, then it is likely that you have sensitive skin.

 

What causes sensitive skin?

There are many things that may cause or result in sensitive skin.

Here are a few of the most common:

-        Dry Skin: Extremely dry skin can often give way to skin sensitivities. When your skin loses too much water and oil and dries out it can begin to crack and scale. This can make skin incredibly sensitive to certain conditions and harsh ingredients.

-        Rosacea: Rosacea is a common skin condition, often categorised early on by flushing or blushing in the face. This condition can often make skin sensitive and in some cases may cause burning or stinging sensations on the face.

-        Stress: Stress can affect your skin in many ways. One of which being that it can affect the hormone levels in your skin and aggravate any existing sensitivities. It can also affect the effectiveness of your skincare routine, from disrupting your routine through forgetfulness or tiredness to affecting the way your skin reacts to the products.

-        Allergies: If you believe that your skin is extremely sensitive you could actually be unknowingly allergic to a common ingredient that is used in your skincare routine. What you are interpreting as a sensitivity could be an allergic reaction. If you feel you have tried everything and cannot get your skin to react well or if your skin seems to calm when you are not using any products it may be worthwhile to get tested for common allergies to try to understand your skin better and be able to acknowledge and avoid any ingredients that it doesn’t like.

 

Step By Step Routine

If you have or suspect, you may have sensitive skin then it is important to use products that are as gentle as possible. Here at Evolve Organic Beauty, our products are created using natural, organic ingredients, resulting in organic skincare products that are healthy and gentle on your skin. This is an easy organic skincare routine you can follow to try and get your skin under control, looking and feeling better.

Step One:

The first step is to cleanse and tone your face. This will ensure that your face is clean of any residual products or ingredients that may be irritating your skin.

Our Cleanse and Tone Duo is a great option for this as it includes our award winning Gentle Cleansing Melt and our Daily Defence Moisture Mist. Our Gentle Cleansing Melt is an organic cleansing balm that contains nourishing Baobab Oil to soothe and hydrate your skin whilst cleaning and calming. It is also a terrific way to gently remove makeup without rubbing your skin! Simply massage into dry skin and rinse away gently with warm water.

After you have cleansed, you can go in with our Daily Defence Moisture Mist. This contains Prickly Pear to calm irritated skin, Moringa Peptides to protect skin from pollution and Hyaluronic Acid to help moisturise and hydrate your skin. This mist is perfect to spray over sensitive skin after cleansing, or to pop in your handbag to take on the go and soothe irritated skin when you’re on the move.

 

Step Two:

A facial oil or oil based serum is a fantastic addition to any skincare routine, especially once your skin is clean in order to add more moisture and soothing ingredients back into your now open pores. Our Blue Velvet Ceramide Serum contains skin barrier strengthening Ceramides alongside plant-based Squalane oil to naturally hydrate and boost skin’s glow whilst Camellia Oil and Blue Tansy restore and nourish the skin to bring relief and calm inflammation and redness.

Simply apply the Blue Velvet Ceramide Serum to your face and neck after you have cleansed and toned your skin.

 

Step Three :

Perhaps the most common step in any skincare routine - moisturiser or face cream. It’s important to feed your skin moisture and moisturisers are the most effective way, they also supply a great base if you wear makeup. For sensitive skin we recommend our Pro+ Ectoin Soothing Cream, a dermatologically tested organic moisturiser for sensitive skin that is formulated with Chaga Mushrooms, Ectoin and Camellia Oil to help reduce skin stress, restore and calm skin down whilst reinforcing the skin barrier, protecting it from sensitivity.

Apply this gently to a cleansed face and neck, it is great in the morning to refresh your skin but can also work as a night cream in the evening.

What else can you do?

If you have, or suspect you have, sensitive skin on your face then it is likely you have skin sensitives elsewhere as well. After all, your skin is the largest organ of the human body. Changing your shower products may help with soothing and helping your body too!

If you find that changing your body wash and soap isn’t making much of a difference to how your skin reacts or feels it may be worth changing your shampoo and conditioner. As much as your hair care may be working, you must keep in mind that whatever you put in your hair inevitably washes down your body, coating your skin. Some of the products and ingredients in your shampoo, whilst working wonderfully for your hair, are too harsh for your skin and may be causing the dryness, itchiness, or other skin issues you are experiencing.

By switching to a product such as our ‘Daily Apply Hair and Body Wash’ you will be using a natural and organic product on both your hair and body. The natural Coconut and Sugar Extracts in the wash gently cleanses and maintains your skins’ natural PH balance, whilst the Organic Aloe Vera will soothe and calm your skin whilst also containing polysaccharides which form a film that protects hair when styling.

Caring for sensitive skin can sometimes feel like a challenge, avoiding certain aggressors and finding products and ingredients that work with your skin to leave it feeling healthy, nourished and calm can be difficult. However, by exploring what your skin likes and dislikes and ensuring you’re using a healthy organic skincare routine and natural products you can be certain that you are giving your skin the care and nourishment it needs and deserves.

Once you've found the right hair and body wash for your skin, it's also important to consider other factors that may affect its health. For instance, the fabric of your clothing can play a significant role. Opting for breathable materials like cotton can help reduce irritation and promote better skin health. Just as harsh ingredients in hair products can impact your skin, so too can synthetic fabrics exacerbate sensitivity. Therefore, complementing your natural skincare routine with clothing choices such as socks made of cotton can further support your skin's well-being. Taking these small but meaningful steps can make a significant difference in how your skin looks and feels, helping you achieve a healthy and radiant complexion from head to toe.

Our new Soothing Skin Bundle features three full sized products that make caring for sensitive skin easier. This sensitive skincare bundle not only saves you £19 but provides a stripped back, three-step routine that works to keep skin soothed, protected and calm all day every day.