Ingredients To Avoid If You Have Sensitive Skin
According to the Google search trend for the keyword sensitive skin, an increasing number of individuals are interested in the topic, and according to one FDA survey, more than half of women have described their skin as sensitive.
For those with sensitive skin, I'd recommend delaying the use of certain ingredients or product categories for a while.
Full Disclaimer: this blog is not intended to demonize any ingredients.
I'm not suggesting that all of these ingredients are harmful or hazardous; rather, they are the most common irritants, allergens, and sensitizers that have been reported to contact dermatitis and allergic reactions.
At the end of the day, it's the concentration, not the presence of the chemicals, that matters, and it's the formulation that determines if a formula is sensitizing or not, and I hope you keep that in mind.
What to Avoid If You Have Sensitive Skin?
Harsh Cleansers:
Many people underestimate the necessity of utilizing a skin-friendly cleanser, and their cleansing practices are often the source of increased inflammation and sensitivity.
If you have the option to cleanse less, please do so, but if you must, avoid alkaline cleansers because our skin's natural pH, or the acid mantle and skin barrier's pH, is somewhere between 4.0 and 6.0, which is slightly acidic, so you don't want to disrupt or kind of fluctuate that, and choosing a cleanser that is similar to your skin's pH would definitely guarantee to protect your skin barrier to a certain extent.
Staying away from harsh surfactants will help your skin a lot. SLS (sodium lauryl sulphate) is the harshest and most effective surfactant, which is why it dissolves everything, including oils, dirt, and grime. It also degrades natural lipids, your skin barrier, and anything else you'd like to keep safe.
Sodium lauryl sulphate is typically used in a lot of clinical trials to see how well one moisturizer repairs your skin barrier, so there's a testing method of putting on SLS for a certain amount of time to damage the skin barriers, but we can't really judge by the ingredient label, and a really good example that I can give you is the Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser, which is recommended by a lot of dermatologists to people of all ages and skin types. Even though it contains sodium lauryl sulphate, it is in such a little percentage or concentration that it does not feel stripping; in fact, the entire formulation is incredibly moisturizing and effective.
Overall, my advice is to stash away the foamy cleanser that provides immediate gratification. I know it's difficult to say no to a gel cleanser or a jelly cleanser, but if you have extremely sensitive skin or very vulnerable skin. In general, I would strongly advise you to use a milk cleanser or an oil cleanser, and if you have really broken and damaged skin, I believe you should simply water rinse your skin.
[Gentle Alternatives for Surfactants: Cocoyl, Lauroyl sarcosinate, Cocamidopropyl betaine, Glucosides, Succinates]
Gentle Cleanser Recommendations:
1. Farmacy Green Clean Makeup Meltaway Cleansing Balm
2. SIORIS Cleanse Me Softly Milk Cleanser
3. KraveBeauty Matcha Hemp Hydrating Cleanser
Chemical Sunscreens:
If you have sensitive skin and live in the United States, good luck with your search for chemical sunscreen. It will be extremely difficult because the US FDA prohibits the use of more modern chemical sunscreen filters such as Uvinul A plus, Uvinal T 150, Tinosorb S, and Tinosorb M.
Because you don't have access to all of these excellent UV filters in the United States, the chemical sunscreens you're stuck with in the US are likely to contain one or more of the following chemicals. oxybenzone, avobenzone, and octinoxate are the most common irritants or allergens, common sensitizing ingredients that have been reported to cause contact dermatitis or allergic reactions numerous times, so if your sunscreen is burning, stinging, or just not right, it's irritating more than it's protecting your skin, which I, unfortunately, experience with a lot of US chemical sunscreens, you are not wrong, it's a tremendous challenge, therefore I'd strongly advise you to find a mineral sunscreen that works for you or a chemical sunscreen that comes from Europe or Asia.
[Gentle Chemical UV Filters: Uvinul A plus, Uvinal T 150, Tinosorb S, Tinosorb M, and more]
Gentle Sunscreen Recommendations:
1. KraveBeauty The Beet Shield
2. Clinique SPF 30 Mineral Sunscreen Fluid for Face
3. Murad City Skin Age Defense Broad Spectrum SPF 50 PA++++
Fragrance And Essential Oils:
I'm well aware of how exquisite the entire experience may be increased by integrating scent and pleasant aromas into skincare products. It does make the overall skincare experience more of a self-care ritual, but it is also general information that fragrance and essential oils are the leading cause of contact dermatitis, skin irritations, and allergic reactions, so avoiding these ingredients makes sense.
If you have sensitive or extremely vulnerable skin, especially if you have serious skin disorders like rosacea or a broken skin barrier, fragrance and essential oils are absolutely not your friends.
The issue about scent is that it's essentially a collection of ten or a hundred various constituent compounds thrown together as one single word fragrance.
When it comes to essential oils, these are fragrance oils. They're wonderful, and they do have some really fantastic skincare advantages, but they're also not the most common skin sensitizers since they're a volatile compound that causes irritation or allergic reactions when they leave your skin. Tea tree oil, clove, cinnamon, lavender, citrus, orange peel and lemon peel, geranium, bergamot, ylang-ylang, and peppermint are some typical essential oils that you should be aware of.
Another thing to be aware of is oxidized essential oil because when essential oils or any kind of skincare formulations are oxidized, they produce toxic chemicals or poisonous compounds that may or may not be healthy for your skin. It's absolutely something to consider.
My advice on this subject is that if you have been using a product with fragrance and essential oils without issue and your skin enjoys it, there is no reason or excuse to discard it.
Fragrance-Free & Essential Oils-Free Recommendations:
1. AmorePacific Vintage Single Extract Essence
3. Etude House SoonJung 2x Barrier Intensive Cream
4. Etude House SoonJung pH 5.5 Relief Toner
5. COSRX Ultimate Nourishing Rice Overnight Mask
7. Primera Miracle Seed Essence
8. Dr. G RED Blemish Clear Soothing Cream
Citrus Fruit Extracts/Oils:
The next ingredient group is actually quite related to essential oils, but it is one common fruit family that has a long history of causing sensitivity, and that is the citrus family, which includes sweet orange, bitter orange, bergamot, yuzu, lemon, neroli, petitgrain, mandarin, lime, grapefruit, and kumquat.
Some citrus fruit extracts are known to have phototoxicity, which means that when you apply it to your skin and then expose it to the sun, it actually burns or irritates it even more. Even if some citrus ingredients do not have phototoxicity, there have been numerous reports of sensitivity caused by using citrus fruit extract. My own opinion is to avoid if at all possible, however, a report that evaluated over forty-seven different citrus fruit extracts for safety and phototoxicity indicates that they are generally harmless, with the exception of some phototoxicity of expressed oil.
Acidic Formulations:
I know this sounds really technical, but it's just Vitamin C and AHA products that you should be wary of before buying because alpha hydroxy acids (AHA) like glycolic acid, lactic acid, mandelic acid, tartaric acid, and the pure form of Vitamin C, L ascorbic acid or ascorbic acid, are stable and effective in a really acidic formula, which means the ideal pH could be anywhere between 2.0 and 4.0 or 5.0. Because that is a very acidic environment, it causes that kind of instant stinging, tingling, or burning feeling, which is acceptable to some individuals and manageable to others, but for many people with sensitive skin, using a Vitamin C product or an AHA treatment is not ideal for this reason.
High Concentration of Active Ingredients:
Vitamin A, retinol, retinoid, Vitamin C, L ascorbic acid and other vitamin C derivatives, alpha hydroxy acids (AHA), beta hydroxy acids (BHA), benzyl peroxide, enzyme peel, and other active ingredients are among the active components. These are great ingredients for transforming your skin, but they do require your skin to be in a certain state to work together. When your skin is really raw, vulnerable, and sensitive, all it needs is a chill and no workout vibe, so you should treat it like a baby and give it the tender loving care it requires.
Anti-aging product overload, according to experts, is to blame for the growth in skin sensitivity, and I couldn't agree more. At least in the United States, it appears that many cosmetic trends are growing more extreme and focused on offering that instant pleasure. As a result, many beauty brands are promising more by cramming so many active ingredients into one bottle in the hopes of delivering those dramatic results overnight, which also means they're claiming to be a medical-grade or have the highest dosage of this and that, and in today's world, I strongly believe that your sensitivity was caused by overdoing skincare rather than the fragrance. So, my advice is to 'simplify to amplify,' while simultaneously providing your skin what it wants and needs.
Some Preservatives:
Some preservatives may be to blame for your skin irritation; however, they are ingredients that are a little outdated, and I don't see many skin care products utilizing them anymore. Preservatives must exist in skincare formulas because they exist in nature. If someone tries to offer you a skincare formula that is free of preservatives, you should be wary at first. Preservatives that cause skin sensitization include parabens, formaldehyde, and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives.
So, those are some ingredients and products that I would strongly advise you to avoid if you have sensitive skin. As I previously stated, more than the presence of the ingredient on the ingredient label, it is the quality of the source of the ingredient and also the entire formulation that matters the most. Also, keep in mind that your skin is a living organ that changes constantly. Your skin physiology varies, and there are a variety of external things that contribute to your sensitivity, so you don't want to put all of the blame on the items you're using.
I hope this blog was helpful, and thank you again for allowing me to be a part of your life.
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