What Products Really Work on Reactive Skin?

Reactive skin is defined as hypersensitive skin with a weakened skin barrier, making it more prone to reactions from external triggers. With a consistent skincare routine, you expect your skin to clear up and look better than ever before. When it doesn’t respond that way, you may be left wondering if there is anything else you can do. But, sometimes the hardest work is finding the right skincare products, not adding more to your routine.

Recognizing When Your Routine Doesn’t Work

Reactive skin is evident through physical symptoms and signs, such as burning, itching, redness, breakouts, and even rashes. It could be due to external triggers from your environment. Harsh UV rays or contact with an allergen can do just as much damage as the wrong skincare product. Consistency is the key to recognizing when your skin is directly affected by your routine.

A few questions can help you understand your skin’s reaction to your routine:

● Have you added any new skincare products to your routine lately?

● How often are you doing your skincare routine?

● How many steps is your skincare routine?

● Are you experiencing a reaction on your skin directly where a product was applied?

Any new skincare products should be patch tested first before applying into a full routine. In addition, too many steps to your routine can leave your skin raw, especially when harsh chemicals are in your products. Even products with ingredients that would be fine on your skin alone can react poorly when combined with another skincare product.

Stripping down your routine to the bare minimum is the easiest way to reduce irritants. If you are only using a gentle cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen but are still experiencing a reaction, it’s time to look at the ingredients in those products. It’s easier to look at the ingredients of three products first than, say, seven products used in your daily routine.

Ingredients That Harm Hypersensitive Skin

Skin can react poorly to a wide range of triggers, even beyond skincare ingredients. Some ingredients are well-known culprits to hypersensitive skin, causing reactions that include excessive dryness, redness, and even blemishes.

Harsh ingredients to look out for include:

● Aluminum (also shown in ingredients as alum and alumina)

● Benzalkonium chloride (BAC)

● Synthetic fragrances

● Formaldehyde (also shown in ingredients as glyoxal, quanternium-15, DMDM hydantoin, germall, and sodium hydroxymethylglycinate)

● Parabens

● Plastics (also shown in ingredients as diethyl phthalate, dibutyl phthalate, dimethyl phthalate)

Harsh ingredients are often spotted as ones with complex chemical names. More natural ingredients are often gentler on the skin, causing reactions more so when there is an allergic reaction, as opposed to reacting to a chemical not meant for skin in the first place.

How to Find Products for Reactive Skin

While trial-and-error is often the routine of finding products for reactive skin, you do not have to test products blindly. If your skin is reactive, avoid products that you already know contain harsh chemicals.

Focus also on the active ingredients in your skincare products. Skincare product ingredients are typically listed from highest to lowest concentration. The ingredients listed first are the most active. Targeting botanical formulas, such as a plant-based moisturizer, gives you a better chance at avoiding high concentrations of harsh chemicals.

Patch Testing: The Key to Successful Product Testing

When you purchase a new product, you are often excited to feel the benefits of it. You’ve been convinced to buy it amongst hundreds of other options. But, patience is key to successful product testing, especially when it comes to reactive skin. If you incorporate a product right away into your full routine, and your skin reacts poorly, you now have to wait longer for your skin to relax and repair from the damage before trying something else new.

Patch testing helps delicately test products on your skin to see how it reacts. Apply new products to a small patch of sensitive skin daily. Over a few days, if your skin does not react, the product is generally safe. Even then, gradually incorporate it into your routine until you are also sure it does not react poorly in combination with your other products. Through this method, you will be on your way to more beautiful, healthy skin.