Wealden Times | WT264 | May 2024 | Love Your Home Supplement inside

Beauty
the skin.” We need to take care of all
the layers of our skin – which keep out
irritants and keep moisture in – rather
than constantly strip them away in a
constant and often multi-pronged quest
for brightness, ‘glow’ and radiance.
But before my product suggestions
(and I’ll come on to some favourites for
sensitive skin), first I’d like to share some
of the lifestyle shifts that can help skin to
‘chill’ out – whether you have occasional
flare-ups and reactions to products, or
even more entrenched skin conditions
such as psoriasis, eczema and acne...
Never use very hot water on
sensitive skin. Use cool or tepid
for washing face and hands and
warm for showering/bathing.
Don’t chop and change products.
There’s a fad for ‘self-prescribing’ what
your skin needs on a daily basis – this
or that ‘wonder serum’ – but skin craves
consistency. Buy gentle products; use
them up. Let your skin relax into a
proper regime, rather than never knowing
what you’re going to throw at it next.
Stress can cause a ‘perfect storm’ with
skin. This is definitely something I’ve
identified (through my own symptom
tracking, see below); I’ll be fine with a
product, and then, bang! Something
sends me off-kilter emotionally, and I’ll
have a reaction to a product I’ve been
fine with, up till that point. Staying
mentally balanced – perhaps through
yoga, or an app like Calm.com (my
go-to each morning) not only makes me
emotionally less reactive and volatile,
but does the same for my skin, too. (I
know we live in a weird and troublesome
world, and suffer all sorts of individual
pressures, but this is useful wisdom for life
management, not just skin challenges.)
Stick to a routine and keep it simple.
Sounds boring? Not as boring as flaky,
touchy skin, I reckon. Introduce products
one at a time, if you are buying things
you’ve never used before, and see how skin
responds. And fun as it is to ‘play’ with
skincare, less is more when it comes to
soothing skin. A great cleanser (a balm,
a milk, an oil – but not a wash or foam,
which contain drying detergents). Serum,
if you use it, but make sure it doesn’t
have retinoids or any acids. A good sunprotective
day moisturiser, certainly at
this time of year. Eye gel or lightweight
eye cream. At night, after cleansing,
facial oil and/or cream. Yup. That’s it.
Rebuild your barrier function. Avoid
scrubs, exfoliating toners, fruit acid/AHAbased
products, alcohol-based products,
strong perfumes and soaps. Ditch anything
that makes you tingle, immediately. If you
want to use a mask, much as we all like
the idea of ‘brightening’ skin, products
which trumpet their ‘glow-getting’ action
generally feature ingredients that strip
off the top layers of skin, which yours
needs for protection. Instead, layer on
moisturising, barrier-building ingredients,
squalene and squalane, hyaluoronic
acid, omega essential fatty acids,
ceramides, wheatgerm and glycerine.
The reality is that our
beauty regimes have, in
many cases, become too
harsh and complicated
for our complexions,
which haven’t evolved
to be assaulted by
acids, peels, scrubs,
microdermabrasion, etc
Avoid exposure to passive smoke. It
will inflame skin, just as it irritates the
rest of your body. I’m not just talking
cigarettes, but open fires as well.
Switch to household products which
avoid harsh chemicals. This may help
alleviate allergies, too; towels and face
cloths touch our faces, and in some cases,
that can be enough to cause a reaction,
so look for ‘non-biological’ formulas.
My Beauty Bible colleague Sarah’s
decades-long eczema disappeared when
she started using Ecover and Bio-D.
Keep a symptom/lifestyle diary. It can
be hard to figure out what’s working
(though I’ve a hunch all of these tips will
help). So, take brief notes of what you
do, in lifestyle terms (and that includes
food), to deal with your sensitive skin each
day – and see if you can spot patterns.
There are certain ranges and products
which I point people in the direction
of, meanwhile, who are experiencing
short- or long-term sensitivity. A brilliant
choice is the Simple range, which is
fragrance-free and hypoallergenic and
covers every product category imaginable
and is as gentle on the wallet as it is on
the face. Two favourite new finds in the
range, one for drier skins and one for the
less dehydrated, are Simple Repairing
Rich Cream and Simple Restorative
Cream, £9.99 each for 50ml, both
specifically designed for barrier repair.
Good old Clarins offer a specific range
for sensitive skin; I particularly like the
redness-reducing Clarins Calm-Essentiel
Soothing Emulsion, £42 for 50ml,
and Clarins Calm-Essentiel Soothing
Repairing Balm, £34 for 30ml, a nongreasy
but very nourishing balm that
can be used on any areas of sensitive,
irritated skin on face and body; it’s also
great around the nose when you’ve
had a cold, and constant blowing has
caused flaking and painful dryness.
Another just-launched barrier-boosting
product that I’m enjoying is the brightlypackaged
(and again, pocket-friendly)
BYOMA Barrier+ Treatment, £16.99 for
50ml – rich and buttery but not heavy,
with a ‘barrier lipid complex’, avocado
oil and squalene for lasting hydration.
French pharmacy brands which are
most worth checking out by anyone with
a reactive complexion include Avène
(who’ve notched up multiple winners in
our Beauty Bible Awards, over the years)
– their Tolerance Control Soothing
Skin Recovery Cream, £21 for 40ml, is a
classic. La Roche-Posay offer a wide range
for sensitive skins under the Toleriane
banner, including Toleriane Rosaliac AR
SPF30, £26 for 30ml, albeit a mouthful,
is one of the best daily SPFs for touchy
skin. (I like Avène’s lightweight sunscreen
option, too, Antirougeurs Day Soothing
Emulsion SPF30, £20.50 for 30ml.)
And at the other end of the spectrum?
If you want to go properly posh, there’s
the beautifully packaged (of course)
CHANEL La Solution 10 de Chanel,
£67 for 30ml, with soothing white tea,
among other calming inclusions, on their
unusually short – just 10 ingredient – list.
In other words? Gently does it.
Visit beautybible.com for more of Jo’s
product reviews and beauty tips.
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