How to soothe irritated skin: our top tips & advice.
Redness, blemishes, or rough patches: These are just a few of the all-too-common signs that your skin has become irritated. Anyone can suffer from irritation, but if you have sensitive skin or sensitized skin, you’re probably much more familiar with the side effects and seeking a solution.
Unfortunately, determining the cause of the irritation is often quite difficult; our bodies can react negatively to any number of things from the foods we eat and the products we apply to stress and anxiety, all of which can show up as minor skin irritations on our skin.
Thankfully, though, soothing irritated skin is a bit easier. When you know how to calm irritated skin, you can face it quickly and effectively and revive your glowing complexion. Scroll on to learn how to soothe irritated skin so you can be back to feeling calm and confident in no time.
How to Soothe Irritated Skin
Whenever your skin flares up with a bout of irritation, take these simple steps to address it immediately.
Cleanse
Whatever is causing your skin irritation may still be on the surface of your skin. Perhaps it was a face mask you used the night before or an external aggressor that you came into contact with on your workout mat. The best first step you can take is to cleanse the skin—gently—to rid it of any lingering dirt or astringent ingredients.
It’s important here to use a gentle cleanser that will thoroughly clean your skin in a gentle way that doesn’t cause even more irritation. The Evercalm™ Gentle Cleansing Gel will work to wash away dirt and leave the skin refreshed.
Plus, it’s a skin-comforting formula, so you’ll not only clean your skin but calm it in the process. Be sure to use lukewarm water when you wash and simply use your hands to massage the cleanser into your skin. Hot water and cleansing devices, even washcloths, can be rough and aggravating to the skin, especially if it’s already irritated.
Calm
The next step in your journey to soothe angry skin is to, well, actually soothe it. Instantly alleviate the key signs of sensitive skin with a product targeted at your most prevalent symptom:
If you’re dealing with redness, our Evercalm™ Redness Relief Serum is a great option for those wondering how to reduce redness on the face.This calming formula helps reduce visible redness and keep it at bay with a powerful trio of natural ingredients that strengthen the skin barrier, leaving the skin softer and more comfortable too.
If you’re dealing with puffiness around your eyes, try our Radiance Brightening Dark Circle eye cream, a fragrance-free formula that's designed to limit irritation and reduce the appearance of puffiness (and dark circles too).
If you’re dealing with discomfort, reach for Evercalm™ Ultra Comforting Rescue Mask, which contains white mushroom extract to reduce feelings of discomfort, beta-glucan to moisturize and reduce signs of sensitivity, and Arnica extract to soothe the skin. This mask will also help with a range of other symptoms of irritation including reducing the appearance of redness and dryness. Use it after cleansing three times per week, or anytime your skin needs rescuing. Apply a generous amount to your skin, avoiding the delicate eye area, and leave it on for 10-15 minutes before rinsing away with a damp cloth or warm water, or use it overnight.
Combat Skin Dryness
After applying serums and masks, comes the time to apply moisture—an essential step for anyone with irritated skin. The dryer your skin gets, the more sensitive it tends to become, so it’s important to tackle dry skin head-on not only to help diminish signs of irritation but to prevent them too.
Deliver a boost of moisture in one fell swoop with a hydrating overnight product such as our Evercalm™ Overnight Recovery Balm. This rich night balm feeds your skin while you sleep—when your skin’s natural repair process takes place. It is formulated with lipids from Olive, Almond Borage, and Linseed oils that easily absorb into the skin to intensely nourish and moisturize so you can wake up with smooth, supple, and healthy-looking skin in the morning. This is a great product to use whenever you feel like your skin is dry, but also great for fighting irritation thanks to the ingredient Beta-Glucan, which soothes and calms the skin.
While severe dryness shows itself with flaky skin and tightness, sometimes our skin is dry and we don’t even know it. So, it’s always important to use a daily moisturizer to stop dryness before it starts, especially if your skin is sensitive.
Evercalm™ Global Protection Day Cream is the ideal daily moisturizer for sensitive skin. It’s a triple threat, leaving the skin hydrated, replenished, and better protected against moisture loss, environmental pollution, and external aggressors. Incorporate it into your morning routine to combat dryness consistently.
How To Prevent Irritated Skin
When it comes to soothing the irritated skin type, prevention is important. There are a few steps you can take that may help reduce the amount of irritation you experience in the first place so you can experience more good skin days and less time fighting facial redness and other uncomfortable symptoms.
Limit The Products You Use
As we mentioned earlier, determining the cause of irritation is quite difficult. While it may be completely unrelated to the products you’re putting on your face, it’s best to double-check your regimen for anything that could be causing the flare-up. Look for expiration dates on both skincare and makeup, and be wary of using anything over a year old. If there’s anything new you have tried in the last 30 days, consider stopping use until the signs of irritation clear up. You can then try reintroducing each product one at a time, waiting two weeks before introducing another skincare product.
Remember, also, to only use skincare and beauty products as directed. Some ingredients can cause irritation with only a single use (ones to look out for include alcohol, retinol, sulfates and some essential oils), but the over-use of ingredients could also be to blame.
It’s also a good idea to throw any pillowcases, towels, and clothes you’ve used in the wash (using a skin-friendly detergent), and give your beauty tools a thorough clean. Even if they didn’t cause the problem, they hold onto bacteria and can easily cause it to spread.
Reinforce Your Skin Barrier
Your skin barrier is your greatest defense against the irritation-causing culprits. Bacteria, environmental pollution, pathogens, and allergens all make their way into your skin through the barrier. When it’s weak they can have a hay day and leave you with red skin, blotchiness, and all-around annoying signs of irritation. When it’s strong, though, the skin barrier acts as a shield that deflects the pesky irritants.
So, a strong skin barrier is the best way to prevent irritation. Thankfully, there are ways to support your skin barrier so it can function at its prime and products that can help you too.
As we mentioned above, our Global Protection Day Cream leaves the skin better protected against moisture loss, environmental pollution, and external aggressors by supporting the skin’s natural barrier with natural remedy oils such as Camellia Oil, Blackcurrant Seed Oil, and Seabuckthorn Berry Oil, which mimic the natural lipids in your skin. The Redness Relief Serum is another skin-barrier-strengthening product to add to your routine to help build your skin’s resilience over time thanks to its antioxidant and soothing properties.
Use Sun Protection
Did you know the sun may break down your natural skin barrier? Yep, that defense mechanism we mentioned above is no match for the sun’s powerful rays, but SPF is. Using sun protection is critical to limit irritation, so use it, and use it liberally and you’ll address more skin concerns than one.
Our Morning Clean Routine is a trio of products that offers protection from both the sun and environmental pollution. That’s right. Plus it combines this protection with multiple soothing ingredient options to keep all skin, especially sensitive skin, calm throughout the day. The trio includes a gentle cleansing gel (a necessity in every skin care routine), our Global Protection Day Cream that prevents moisture loss and protects from environmental pollution, and our powerfully protective mineral sunscreen that not only protects against sun damage but also is specially formulated to limit irritation.
When you use these products as a part of your daily routine, you’ll set your skin up for success and experience calm soothed skin more often.
Irritation is no fun, but you can limit your encounters with it and the length of those encounters when you follow these tips. If you keep calm and stick to them, you’ll not only feel the difference but see it too.
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About the Author
Camille Poggi is a doctor in Pharmacy (PharmD.) and is passionate about skincare and how the skin works in general. She specializes in the cosmetic industry and worked for renowned companies in France like L’Oréal and Chanel before moving to London. After being a training manager for 4 years, Camille is at ease with explaining how products work in the skin and how to adapt her speech according to the audience.
She joined REN in January 2020 as International Training Manager and moved to the Research & Development team earlier this year to be the new Scientific Education Manager. A tailored-made role where she assesses and leads all technical communication and ensures scientific compliance is always met. She’s also involved in new product development from the earliest stages. Finding a way to create sustainable skincare products and making sure the message is properly delivered and understood is definitely a big challenge but also her favourite part working for REN.
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