70% of the world’s population consider themselves to have sensitive skin. With this staggering statistic, many dermatologists believe sensitive skin is often mistaken for what is actually sensitised skin. So why is there so much confusion?

Sensitive Vs Sensitised - what is the difference?

Sensitive skin is genetic and unfortunately something you're born with. Sensitised skin is triggered when environmental factors change our normal skin function. These triggers can come from both internal and external factors such as lifestyle, a certain ingredient in a product, or pollution.

Confusingly, both conditions can result is similar skin discomfort issues, such as:

Dehydration
Burning
Itching
Swelling
Uneven texture
Facial redness
Rashes
Breakouts

With common symptoms experienced in both conditions, it’s understandable why there is so much confusion around sensitive skin.

How do you know if your skin is sensitive or sensitised?

Dermatologists recommend reducing your skincare regime down to a simple two step cleanse and moisturise to remove problematic skincare ingredients. You can then gradually re-introduce products to identify which ingredients don’t agree with your skin. However, if you truly have sensitive skin, these symptoms will persist long after you stop using a specific ingredient.

Problem ingredients

Here are some most known ingredients harmful to sensitive skin, which should avoided:

Sulfates
Fragrance
Alcohol
Aggressive exfoliants i.e. apricot kernels,
Essential oils
Chemicals found in many sunscreens (so physical sunscreens using zinc are recommended for sensitive skin)

Another thing to be mindful of is experimenting with skin refining treatments and ingredients, as many aren’t sensible for sensitive skin e.g. face peels and retinol.

Top tips

So that’s what ingredients to avoid, but what can reduce the symptoms of sensitive skin?

Don’t use hot water when cleansing
Cleanse with a gentle, hydrating cleanser, like Kate Somerville DeliKate Soothing Cleanse
Use a simple moisturiser, like The Inkey List Snow Mushroom Face Moisturiser
Always wear SPF - like Dermalogica Invisible Physical Defense SPF30
Avoid using exfoliants that scratch or inflame the skin, instead opt for gentle fruit enzymes peels - like ExfoliKate® Gentle.
Use anti-pollution moisturisers to minimise skin aggravation - like VICHY Minéral 89 Hyaluronic Acid Hydration Booster

Good Ingredients

Here are some ingredients should you look out for which are effective at supporting sensitive skin:

Aloe Vera
Bisabolol
Cica
Chamomile
Reishi
Ceramides
Shea butter
White tea extract
Green tea extract

How sensitive skin concerns are increasing

Our skin is exposed to more extremities than ever before, which can all cause sensitised skin issues. Be it the fluctuations in temperature, the increase of global pollution, or adopting of new protective habits such as wearing face masks and use of antibacterial products.

In the US, ‘Sensitive skin’ has surpassed ‘Acne skin’ searches in the past 12 months for the first time on record, with the search term up 132% in 5 years! Its likely that, post COVID-19, even more people will be looking to their beauty regimes to help treat skin impacted by our new clean-conscious, protective lifestyles.

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THE FLARE UP OF SENSITISED SKIN