How To Soothe & Calm Dry, Irritated Skin
I think as the weather changes and becomes colder in the autumnal months, I find that our skin can change so much too. I guess this almost goes without saying. Also, as soon as we're back from our summer hols, a lot of clients tend to start hammering their actives again as they've been away from them for so long and then, all of a sudden, we have skin that is sensitive from the sun, irritation from too many layered actives and dryness from the change in weather... recipe for a skincare disaster!
Let's start by saying that if your skin is feeling incredibly dry and sensitive, now is really not the time for an active (actives being AHAs like glycolic, lactic or citric acid, or retinoids, for example).
Changes in weather, lifestyle and hormones can have a huge impact on our skin barrier too and can leave our skin feeling quite tight, red and inflamed. Don't worry though, I've got you!
FIRST OFF. IS IT DRY, DEHYDRATED, SENSITIVE OR SENSITISED?
Here's the radio edit...
Dry skin tends to be lacking in oils and lipids.
Dehydrated skin tends to be lacking in water (you can be oily and dehydrated at the same time, FYI).
Sensitive skin is more of a long-term thing. It reacts easily and you've probably struggled with this for many years.
Sensitised skin has suddenly become reactive because something has irritated it. Think too much retinol, over-exfoliation, aggressive treatments, weather changes or using too many active products etc.
So, this combined with an impaired barrier function from the change in weather can really cause an upset in the skin.
WHY DOES IT SUDDENLY GET WORSE IN OUR 40s AND BEYOND?
Do I even have to say it? Hormones, of course. The joy!
Perimenopause and postmenopause can cause so much disruption to our skin barrier and skin health. The reduction in oestrogen can influence our collagen, hydration, skin thickness and barrier function.
Even someone who has had thick, robust and oily skin can still be caught off guard too.
Combine this with changes in the weather and you can really notice a huge difference in your skin.
HOW DO WE TREAT IT?
Start off by stopping any actives that can irritate, such as AHAs and retinoids. Vitamin C can sometimes be quite active too, so strip it back for now.
Keep everything gentle with cleansing, no active peels, absolutely NO SCRUBS (Lisa Left Eye Lopes was right all along!) and concentrate on barrier repair, hydration, calming and soothing the skin.
SO WHAT SHOULD I USE THEN?
Focus on hydrating and humectant ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, alongside barrier-supporting and soothing ingredients such as squalane, niacinamide and hypochlorous acid. Below I've listed all my favourite products for dry, sensitive and irritated skins...
(Please note, some of these products need you to fill out the order form to purchase them. This is part of the brand policy and is for brands such as Nimue, Decoded and SkinBetter Science)
Nimue Soothing Repair Serum: This has quickly become one of my new best sellers. It does what it says on the tin and works pretty quickly at calming irritation. When used twice a day, you could see changes in the skin in as little as seven days. Click here to order.
Nimue Daily Calm & Restore: This again works great in combination with the Soothing Repair Serum to double down on calming the skin. It's barrier repairing and super hydrating and nourishing to help heal aggravated skin. Click here to order.
Nimue MenoDermo: This is a new product but, again, is becoming very popular with my clients suffering from changes in their skin due to menopause. It's barrier repairing, hydrating, calming and soothing, and works to calm very reactive skin that has changed due to hormones. Click here to order.
Hydrinity Restorative Serum & Hyacyn Mist: These can be purchased together or separately and work really well for soothing and calming the skin. The Restorative Serum floods the skin with hydration and also soothes the skin with ingredients like bisabolol. The Hyacyn Mist is great for reactive and stressed skin and can be used as the first thing after cleansing.
Calecim Recovery Night Complex: This is actually designed for post-ablative treatments or very sore and sensitive skin, even from sunburn. I like to use it weekly as a maintenance treatment for my skin.
Now, of course, you do not need all of these products and I wouldn't recommend them all in one go either! The Soothing Repair Serum is always a great place to start and if you're in perimenopause or postmenopause, then MenoDermo is great for those skin concerns too.
If you have absolutely no idea where to start though, please fill out my free Skin Check-In form here or book an online consultation with me here and we can get your skin back on track.
Thank you so much for reading,
Emmaline
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