Although there are no official diagnostics for sensitive skin, this skin condition is fairly widespread. Around 50% of all women and 40% of all men rate their skin as “sensitive” to a certain extent. The symptoms include sensitivity to mechanical stress (e.g. redness when drying skin with a towel), frequent itching, a feeling of tightness, dry, flaky skin or reactions to cosmetic products such as irritation or redness. This skin condition is usually aggravated by external factors such as UV radiation, weather changes or environmental pollution and internal factors such as hormonal fluctuations and stress.
In the following you will learn what can cause skin sensitivity and how you can better take care of sensitive skin.
What are the characteristics of sensitive skin?
While science does not fully understand sensitive skin, it is believed that two major factors play a role in this condition:
- Barrier function: in healthy skin, the skin barrier acts like a “protective shield”, repels bacteria and microbes and prevents allergens and skin-irritating substances from penetrating the skin. In the case of a sensitive skin condition, research suspects that the skin barrier is disrupted and therefore at least partially lets these substances through.For an intact skin barrier, it is important to avoid synthetic oils (mineral oils or even silicones). While these oils usually don’t have skin-damaging effects, they often contain emulsifiers, i.e. additives that make water and oil, for example, miscible. In their function, emulsifiers can also affect the natural fatty layers of the skin and thus damage the skin barrier. This phenomenon is also called “washout effect”. In addition, the skin barrier should of course also be strengthened. This works best by providing the skin with natural oils and fats, because of their similarity to human sebum. By optimally integrating into the skin’s surface, they can help reduce transepidermal water loss. The provision of moisture through glycerin or hyaluronic acid are also extremely important.
- Inflammation: a weakened skin barrier makes the skin more susceptible to inflammation. Once attacked, a cycle of sensitivity, irritation and inflammation can quickly develop. It is therefore important to avoid using cosmetics with allergens, solvents and harsh surfactants and instead use skin-friendly cosmetics with anti-inflammatory ingredients such as chamomile, aloe vera or shea butter. For your daily skin care routine, the following applies: less is more, both in terms of the products in the skin care routine and the number of ingredients.
For sensitive skin, we recommend the Pure Hyaluronic Intense Serum and select products from our GREEN series.