Beauty Talk: Sensitive Skin

Photo by obo-bobolina at Flickr.comDoes you skin react with redness and itchiness to skincare or physical manipulation? Or do you suffer from tightness and irritation during certain seasons? Does makeup give you rash outbreaks? In all of these cases you are dealing with skin sensitivity. Sensitive skin is characterized by hyper-reactivity to external stimuli. Such external factors include: sun, cold, wind, cosmetics, fragrances, makeup, rubbing etc. Sensitive skin can be a permanent skin characteristic or temporary condition. In any case it has to be treated with special care.

I developed skin sensitivity about 1.5 years ago. It all started with a feeling of dryness, tightness, burning. I thought my skin type is changing… dramatically changing… turning from mixed/oily to a dry one. And, sure enough, it did become somewhat dryer but the major problem causing the symptoms was sensitive skin.

Symptoms of Sensitive Skin

So when do you know you may be dealing with sensitive skin? Here are the symptoms:

irritation in reaction to external stimuli

persistent/recurrent redness

recurrent irritation, rash or/and scaling

persistent feeling of tightness, stinging, burning and discomfort

Why sensitive skin occurs?

In most cases the reason for sensitive skin is a lowered skin barrier. Stratum corneum of epidermis is responsible for keeping our skin protected from “invaders”. Skin’s lipids are particularly important here. Due to the content and structure of the skin lipid mantle, bacteria cannot penetrate into the skin. In fact, our skin is almost a 100% waterproof! However, if there is a defect in this protective barrier, bacteria, allergens and irritants can penetrate into deeper skin layers and cause irritation and inflammation.


Causes of Sensitive Skin:

Reasons why we have/develop sensitive skin include:
1. Incorrect use of skin care products
2. Use of certain medications
3. Hereditary
4. Hormonal and immune dysfunctions
5. Chronic or intense stress
6. Allergies
7. Environment (pollution, hot/cold weather etc.)
8. Life style involving smoking, alcohol, unbalanced diet

In my case it was a combination of several factors: incorrect use of skin care products, stress and cold weather. I have to admit to one bad indulgence which is kind of a side-effect of beauty blogging – I love to try out new products! If I lay my hands on a sample of an interesting product, I just immediately turn into a guinea pig and start testing it on myself. Eventually my skin had enough of this. Now I am very selective and I am not going from one sample to another anymore…

Diseases Associated with Sensitive Skin

One more bad news for those who suffer from sensitive skin. There are several serious skin disorders associated with this condition. For example, people who have sensitive skin are more prone to developing rosacea and eczema. So, the bottom line is that you should not ignore sensitive skin but should take proper care of it!

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