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Skin guide / Sensitive skin

Redness on sensitive skin

This is the pairing the soothing-ingredient group exists for: colloidal oatmeal, panthenol, allantoin, centella, bisabolol, mineral sunscreen. Patch-test behind the ear for three days before anything goes on the face.

What redness is

Redness is blood close to the surface, from a thin or irritated barrier, from heat and sun, or from conditions such as rosacea that a dermatologist diagnoses. Products for it stay simple: fragrance-free, few ingredients, soothing agents, mineral sunscreen. Anything that stings is not working harder; it is irritating.

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 redness: Fragrance and essential oils (including 'natural' ones: lavender, citrus, peppermint), alcohol denat., witch hazel, hot water, scrubs and high-strength acids.

Morning

  1. Rinse with lukewarm water or a cream cleanser
  2. Soothing serum
  3. Fragrance-free moisturizer
  4. Mineral sunscreen SPF 30+

Evening

  1. Cream or micellar cleanser
  2. Soothing serum
  3. Barrier cream

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 redness

All →

Tagged from the maker's own description; moisturizers, serums and oils, cleansers first. Read each label against the list above.

Redness 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.