- Hey guys.
So, I promised you one final video in the sensitive series
on how I go about using products with sensitive skin
or even sensitised skin,
I think it's really just a case of semantics
in a lot of instances,
but basically how I go about rebuilding the skin's barrier
in a way that allows skin
to recover from a sensitive period,
or perhaps the use of products that didn't suit your skin,
and pave the way
for you to start to build an active routine with confidence,
which can be really hard when you've had setbacks,
where you've reacted to ingredients,
or you've reacted to a couple of different products,
And you're really trying to find your way
as to what the culprits might be
so that you could avoid them in the future
and build a skincare routine with confidence.
Okay, so when I see someone in clinic
who's got reactive skin,
first thing I do is essentially stop everything.
And whilst there may be the suggestion
that there's a contact allergy,
which might necessitate patch testing formally
at a later point in time,
I think for a lot of people the practical approach
and just trying to rebuild a routine
with the least complicated products,
slowly one product by product.
Then you can often find a way forward and build a routine
without having to go to the bother of further investigating.
But sometimes it's necessary.
Each case is judged on its own merits.
So, where I go to to start building a routine,
you may be familiar with some of these products,
but I think they're worth reminding you of.
So cleansing, everyone's going to need a cleanser,
even if their skin is misbehaving.
And I think that
the La Roche Posay Tolerane Dermo cleanser,
this is what we keep in the clinic
for reactive irritable skin.
Super simple.
It has eight ingredients, one of which is water
and it's free of anything
that's likely to cause skin problems of a sensitive variety.
So, really suitable, you can use around your eyes as well.
Can be used without water, although I usually recommend
rinsing it clear with tepid water,
and can be used morning and night
if you really don't feel you need to
cleanse your skin in the morning.
I think during this period of time,
splashing it with water alone is fine.
So this tends to be my go to.
Alternatives include
the Avene Tolerance Extreme cleanser,
which is of a similar nature.
Again, very few ingredients,
nothing that's going to irritate,
and they don't even use preservatives
because it's in a sterile cosmetic packaging.
Moisturiser-wise, I tend to go Avene,
and this one's the Tolerance Extreme Emulsion,
which is basically squalene-based,
so it's a lovely texture.
Only seven ingredients again,
no preservatives, because of the type of packaging.
Which is this rather unforgiving sort of packaging,
which, I'm going to show you, produces really large dollops.
That's the one caveat with it.
But that type of dispensing
means that you can happily store it
without using preservatives,
and since preservatives are quite common cause
of sensitivity or even allergy, they can exclude them.
Also from Avene the Recovery Cream,
which comes in a rich and a light format.
The rich is based on mineral oil, glycerin and squalene,
and it's a little bit heavier duty.
I like that one as well.
Perhaps could use that one at night,
and this in the daytime.
Now, I might also use a mild topical steroid,
like 1% hydrocortisone.
If someone is very red, itchy, sore,
angry patches of eczema, that sort of thing.
So we might calm the skin down
with some antiinflammatory treatment
alongside using these things,
but that will be it.
And I will tend to approach the skin like that
for, I don't know, two weeks.
So I might treat them with mild topical steroids
for five to seven days
and a little bit longer if necessary,
but then I will bring them off the topical steroid
and leave them on just cleansing and moisturising tools
like these.
And usually give it another week to make sure that things
don't bubble up to the surface again,
suggesting that we haven't eliminated a common trigger.
So things are improving.
Everything is feeling more settled, more calm.
And now is the time to start thinking about
adding in the essentials one by one.
Now in terms of things like,
(bottle clatters) oops,
eye makeup remover, I tend to stick to this,
Bioderma Sensibio, albeit rinsing off the residue
with water after it's been used,
but this tends to be very well tolerated in most skin types.
So I will have that in the kit.
And then the next step is probably to bring in sunscreen,
since we're planning to build
a scientifically sound routine for it for individuals
who've got reactive skin.
So sunscreen in this context, I tend to go mineral.
I might well move onto a hybrid sunscreen later on,
when the skin is completely settled
and everything is back to normal,
but in this instance,
the safest is going to be an all-physical sunscreen.
So something like
EltaMD's UV Physical,
which is actually specifically designed to be used after
things like procedures.
So when the skin barrier is usually reduced and therefore
there's increased absorption of products put on the skin,
so that's considered really nice and safe.
it's just zinc and titanium.
And then this one from Neostrata.
These are both kind of in my skin tone,
so they're suitable for fair to medium tone skin,
also zinc and titanium only.
And the tint is just good,
because if you've got that little bit
of redness in your skin,
from whatever you've been reacting to,
your period of sensitivity,
this masks it quite nicely.
And it also means you're not having to wear foundation,
so again, for somebody who having reactive skin
probably use this instead of base,
even foundations might potentially tickle your skin up
wit a little bit of fragrance in them,
as they so often have.
So this is a great next step in your path
to rebuilding a routine.
So I might give sunscreen another week or so to settle in
before thinking about adding anything else into the routine.
So we're now at about week three
and that's the right sort of timeframe, two to three weeks,
I think for it to take for the skin barrier
to really start to rebuild.
But if all is going smoothly at this point in time,
I might then think about adding in a moisturiser,
that further assists with barrier building.
And that might be something like Flawless Moisturiser
or CeraVe Moisturising Cream.
This has ceramides, this has niacinamide,
which helps boost barrier function
through increased skin synthesis of ceramides.
So we're starting to move into slightly more,
shall we say cosmetically fun space,
with some more elegant products.
And again, able to build in a stronger moisturiser,
that's a good sign, that shows that the skin is healing,
it's settling.
And I think at that time you may also decide to move on
to a more robust cleanser.
A lot of people don't particularly love the feeling
of a lotion-type product,
a gel cleanser gives you that slightly cleaner feeling
and probably is a more effective cleanse
when combined with water.
But if you're super, super sensitive, this stuff is awesome.
So I think we have a few things going now
and the next step then,
if this is all going to plan,
so you might be at week four now.
You can see this is how slow I go.
I take things week by week.
No sudden changes and everything is planned
in a considered way.
Now's a good time to think about adding in an active.
Now, it really depends on your skin type
and what your main concerns are,
but in the Routine Finder for Dr Sam's range,
we've made Brightly our go to for those with sensitive skin,
perhaps concerned with some redness,
as sort of a background quality in their skin,
because of the azelaic acid concentration in Brightly,
which is a good anti-inflammatory skin calming ingredient,
but it's also good for pigmentation and breakouts.
So that's the kind of thing
you might think about introducing now,
if you have further concerns
beyond just simply maintaining your skin.
So if that's of interest, do download the routine finder
and go through it, to get the right routine for your skin.
Other actives, you could think about introducing,
niacinamide we mentioned,
which is good for pigmentation, for blemishes,
and helps boost barrier function.
We can think about a gentle retinoid,
but again, slowly, slowly,
it's the kind of product you'd introduce every second,
or even every third night.
You might buffer with moisturising first,
pea-sized amount only,
and really do it slowly,
so that you're increasing the frequency of use
and the quantity of use every two to four weeks.
So you're definitely in the slow lane, and that's okay.
So, I think that's a structure
for building a skincare routine for sensitive skin.
On prescription I still think
we have a lot of space to work with
and sometimes prescription products are a little bit easier.
So for example, if we're trying to build an acne routine
with something like adapalene.
again, not too many ingredients to deal with.
So really we're just monitoring someone's skin's behaviour
with the retinoid side of things.
We're not so concerned
about other ingredients in the product causing issues,
but that might be something that you find easier to do,
with a physician's guidance,
if you have significant acne or significant rosacea,
get some help with that.
Because even just a one off appointment,
it can really help you have the confidence to go forward,
building an effective routine for your skin
to get the most out of your products safely.
So that's my approach to treating sensitive skin
with some sensitivity,
and the products I'd recommend to help you on that journey.
I hope you found this overview of sensitive skin helpful,
and that it helps you get the results that you want.
And I'll see you again soon. Bye for now!