Skin guide / Sensitive skin
Fine lines on sensitive skin
Retinol is possible on sensitive skin with a slow ramp, a buffer of moisturizer, and bakuchiol or peptides on the off nights. If stinging persists past two weeks, stop and ask a dermatologist about a prescription with less irritation.
What fine lines is
Fine lines come from less collagen and elastin with age, from sun (the largest controllable share), and from dryness that makes them show. Cosmetics address the showing part: humectants plump the surface, retinoids and peptides are the ingredients with the most published work, and sunscreen slows the rest. Nothing in a jar removes a wrinkle; a dermatologist can discuss what does.
What sensitive skin wants
Fragrance-free creams with short ingredient lists; soothing agents such as colloidal oatmeal, panthenol, allantoin and centella. Patch-test everything behind the ear for three days.
Cleanser: a fragrance-free cream or micellar cleanser. Go easy on: Fragrance and essential oils, high-strength acids and retinoids started without a ramp, physical scrubs, and alcohol denat. high on the list.
Look for on the label
Go easy on, for fine lines: Starting retinol nightly at full strength (peeling, redness, then quitting), using it in the morning (it is light-sensitive), and expecting change inside a month; the studies run twelve weeks and longer.
Morning
- Gentle cleanser
- Vitamin C or peptide serum
- Moisturizer
- Sunscreen SPF 30+
Evening
- Cleanser
- Retinoid, two nights a week to start, on dry skin
- Moisturizer; a 'sandwich' (moisturizer before and after) for sensitive skin
Thinnest to thickest, water-based before oil-based, sunscreen last in the morning and first off at night. Add one new product at a time and give it two weeks. The routine tool orders whatever you own.
On the site for fine lines
All →Tagged from the maker's own description; serums and oils, moisturizers, masks and exfoliants first. Read each label against the list above.
Made in the USA
Made in the USA
Made in the USA
Made in the USA
Made in the USA
Made in the USA
Made in the USA
Made in the USA
Other concerns, sensitive skin
Fine lines on other skin types
Dew & Balm describes ingredients and label categories from the public record (FDA OTC monographs, the EU CosIng database, PubMed) and makes no claim about what a product will do for you. A concern that persists, hurts, bleeds or spreads is for a dermatologist, and anything on prescription is between you and yours.