Sensitive Skin Tips
How Do I Wash My Skin?
Cleaning is an essential part of caring for your skin. The key is to treat your skin gently.
Use warm water and limit bath time. Hot water and long showers or baths remove oils from your skin. Limit your bath or shower time to about 15 minutes or less, and use warm or tepid, rather than hot, water.
Avoid strong soaps. Strong soaps — those most capable of stripping oil from your skin — can leave your skin dry. A good skin tip is to choose mild soaps with oils and fats added to them during the soap manufacturing process. Good choices are Dove™ Unscented Bar, Cerave™ Foaming Cleanser, Cetaphil™ or Basis™. With respect to detergents, Dr. Harvey recommends that you try Dreft™ or All Free Clear™ products.
Avoid irritating additives. If your skin is sensitive, avoid products containing perfumes or dyes. These can irritate your skin and may trigger an allergic response. Be careful of products that smell good and are expensive. Before purchasing these, perform a cosmetic use test by applying the product twice a day to your forearm for three days. If you have no reaction, then it is safe for purchase and to apply elsewhere on your body.
Remove eye makeup carefully. Use a soft sponge, cotton cloth or cotton balls when removing eye makeup to avoid damaging the delicate tissue around your eyes. If you wear heavy, waterproof makeup, you may need to use an oil-based product such as petroleum jelly, or Aquaphor™.
Why Moisturize?
Moisturizers help maintain your skin’s natural moisture levels. They work by providing a seal over your skin — to keep water from escaping — or by slowly releasing water into your skin.
For your face and neck, select a moisturizer with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30 to help protect your skin from damaging ultraviolet rays. If you have sensitive skin, look for products free of heavy dyes, perfumes or other additives. If your skin is very dry, you may want to apply an oil, such as baby oil, while your skin is still moist.
Oil has more staying power than moisturizers do and prevents the evaporation of water from the surface of your skin. If your skin is oily, you may want to skip moisturizing.
For Dry Skin Use the Soak and Smear Approach
In a tub full of lukewarm water, add ¼ cup of baking soda and ¼ cup of Chlorox™. Soak for 15 minutes. Pat skin dry and moisturize skin liberally with Cerave™ or Cetaphil™ . Use prescription creams on areas that are persistently red or itching. Perform the above process once or twice daily.
Shaving Skin Tips
Shaving is a common and inexpensive way to remove unwanted hair. But shaving can cause skin irritations, especially if your skin is thin, dry or very sensitive. For a smooth shave:
- Press a warm wash cloth on your skin before shaving to soften the hair. Or shave after a warm bath or shower.
- Don’t shave dry skin, which can cause razor burn. Apply shaving cream, lotion or gel before shaving to protect and lubricate your skin. An example of a soothing shaving cream is Aveeno Therapeutic Shave Gel™.
- Use a clean, sharp razor. If using an electric razor, don’t use the closest setting because this can irritate the skin.
- Shave in the direction of hair growth, not against it.
- Rinse your skin afterwards with luke-warm water and moisturize with a SPF product. CeraVe AM™ is an example of an excellent moisturizer with an SPF of 30.
