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Struggling to figure out how to care for your sensitive, easily reactive skin? This can undoubtedly be challenging, especially when every product you apply only seems to make things worse.
While you may be tempted to target the redness and irritation with a multitude of products, you should be taking the opposite approach instead. The way in which your skin is reacting points to skin barrier damage, meaning that you’ll need to keep your skincare routine as simple and minimal as possible so that you don’t overload that barrier even further.
Need some help? Here’s a morning and evening routine from VouPre that, when combined with the extra sensitive skincare tips we’ve also shared, should soon have your skin feeling calm, balanced, and happy.
A Morning Skincare Routine for Sensitive Skin
Your morning skincare routine should set your skin up for success for the day. Here’s a routine that will leave your skin feeling stronger and better capable of dealing with all of the environmental stressors the day is about to throw at it:
Cleanse With the Radiance Facial Cleanser
Every skincare routine should start with cleansing. However, you need to practice caution when cleansing sensitive skin. Your skin will be very susceptible to over-cleansing due to the fact that your skin barrier is already compromised, making it crucial to pick a gentle cleanser that isn’t going to make things worse.
That’s where the VouPre Radiance Facial Cleanser comes in. While most cleansers contain ingredients that leave the skin barrier feeling vulnerable, this one does the opposite. Thanks to a blend of plant proteins and vitamin E, this sulfate-free cleanser is able to efficiently remove dirt and other impurities without triggering a reaction in sensitive skin.
Calm Your Complexion With the VouPre Hydrating Toner
One of the goals of a sensitive skincare routine should be to ensure that the skin feels calm and less inflamed. Certain ingredients, such as aloe vera, cucumber extract, and chamomile extract, are renowned for doing this. You’ll find all three in the VouPre Hydrating Toner, making this a great follow-up after cleansing.
The extra benefit of using this toner is that it will also rebalance the pH level of your skin’s surface. When this falls out of whack, it can trigger a number of problems, including the redness and sensitivities you’re currently experiencing. This toner will soothe and balance your complexion, leaving it looking much happier.
Boost Antioxidant Power With the Vita C Serum
As important as it is to keep sensitive skincare routines minimal, you also don’t want to leave your skin completely defenseless. During the day, it faces potential damage from so many environmental aggressors. The best way to prevent the appearance of environmental damage is with antioxidants, which is what the VouPre Vita C Serum provides.
This serum contains tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate and ascorbyl palmitate. They’re both gentle and stable forms of vitamin C – you won’t need to worry about them causing a reaction in the way that other vitamin C derivatives can. The fact that this serum also contains a blend of hydrating plant oils, including jojoba, coconut, and olive, ensures that the skin looks soft and dewy after each application.
Moisturize With the Age Defense Cream SPF 30
Moisturizing helps the skin barrier feel reinforced, making it an important part of a sensitive skincare routine. However, during the day, you need to consider sun protection too. The VouPre Age Defense Cream SPF 30 takes care of both, combining what would have been two different steps of your skincare routine into one.
It’s worth noting that this moisturizer also contains a few ingredients that are particularly useful to sensitive skin. Aloe vera, as we’ve mentioned, is great for soothing the feeling of inflammation. Meanwhile, green tea extract contains an antioxidant called EGCG that has a similar effect.
An Evening Skincare Routine for Sensitive Skin
Now that your morning skincare routine has seen you through the day, it’s time to turn your attention to the care that you lavish on your skin in the evenings:
Cleanse With the Radiance Facial Cleanser
Some people like to use a more powerful cleanser in the evenings. After all, this is when your skin is at its dirtiest. However, when you have sensitive skin, it can often be more beneficial to stick to the same gentle formula.
So, for your evening cleanse, turn to the VouPre Radiance Facial Cleanser once again. It will get rid of all of the impurities that your skin has picked up over the course of the day while giving it a more resilient finish.
Target Inflamed-Looking Skin With the L’Rae Beam
People usually have a bit more time to spend on their skin in the evenings, making this the perfect opportunity to add some LED light therapy to your skincare routine. It’s a great way to target the appearance of inflammation and redness, without having to subject your skin to even more topical ingredients.
LED light therapy is now more popular than ever. There are plenty of at-home devices out there to choose from, but the L’Rae Beam from VouPre remains a firm favorite. This hand-held device offers multiple modes, one of which combines blue LED light with stainless steel chillers to quickly soothe the look of inflamed and irritated skin.
Hydrate With the Cannabis Facial Serum
One of the reasons why your skin is sensitive and reactive is that your skin’s natural protective barrier has been compromised. This means that it’s no longer functioning as it should. In addition to allowing environmental impurities and toxins to irritate your skin, it will also struggle with moisture retention. Moisture loss naturally increases overnight, which is why the Cannabis Facial Serum, which can be found in the VouPre Cannabis Collection, would be a great addition to your skincare routine.
This serum brings together a blend of different humectants. From sodium hyaluronate to lactic acid to hemp seed oil, these ingredients all boast moisture-binding properties that enable them to quickly bump up skin hydration levels.
Moisturize With the Revitalizing Night Cream
The final step in this evening skincare routine is to moisturize your skin. Since you need to counter the increase in moisture loss overnight, your night cream should be much richer than your day cream. A moisturizer that contains plenty of fatty acids is exactly what you need to keep your skin feeling soft, supple, and protected.
This is where the VouPre Revitalizing Night Cream comes in. This lush moisturizer boasts a blend of shea butter and sunflower seed oil, both packed with fatty acids. These occlusives also lock moisture into the skin, ensuring long-lasting hydration.
Other Ways to Care for Sensitive, Red, or Reactive Skin
While the skincare routines we’ve shared above will help you to achieve and maintain a calm, balanced, and bright complexion, here are a few extra sensitive skincare tips to keep in mind:
Figure Out Your Triggers
The best way to put a stop to your skin’s reactivity once and for all is by figuring out your skin’s triggers. This requires plenty of observation and elimination – the trial and error element may not be enjoyable, but it’s the only way to determine exactly what it is that’s setting your skin off.
Some of the most common sensitivity triggers are:
- Harsh and drying skincare ingredients
- Extreme weather conditions
- Sun exposure
- Stress
- Certain foods
Don’t Expose Your Skin to Hot Water
Hot water is another big trigger for sensitive skin. This is due to how hot water melts the skin’s sebum, enabling it to be washed away. This is disastrous for sensitive skin – sebum forms a significant component of your skin’s natural protective barrier. With your barrier already experiencing damage, the last thing you want to do is remove additional sections of it each time you shower.
If hot showers are the norm for you, try turning the temperature down to lukewarm for the next few weeks. There’s a good chance that, by that point, you’ll start to see some improvements in your skin. This should give you enough motivation to keep your showers lukewarm in the future, too!
Protect Your Skin From the Elements
From UV rays to strong winds to cold temperatures, the elements aren’t kind to your skin. Sensitive skin feels this more than most, with the weather being a common culprit when it comes to skin reactions.
To prevent this, make an effort to protect your skin from the elements. While a moisturizer and SPF will form a physical barrier over your skin’s surface, clothing and accessories, such as scarves, will shield your skin even more. Ideally, avoid spending too much time outside when weather conditions are particularly harsh. If this is unavoidable, give your skin some extra TLC once you’re back indoors.
Be Gentle When Applying Your Skincare
It’s not just harsh skincare ingredients and products that irritate sensitive skin. Harsh application methods do the same. If your skin is looking inflamed, this means that it needs to be treated extremely gently at all times.
Cleansing and exfoliating are when people tend to go overboard with how rough they are with their skin. It’s understandable why many believe that aggressively scrubbing their skin will encourage those products to work more effectively. This isn’t true, however. Instead, it only causes damage. Use a light touch when applying all of your skincare products – your skin will thank you!
Don’t Let Your Skin Stress You Out
Has your reactive skin been stressing you out? It’s important that you stop this from happening because stress will only make things worse. Stress increases inflammation in the skin, which will quickly exacerbate the redness and discomfort you’re experiencing.
While this may be easier said than done, work on figuring out ways in which you can bring your stress levels down when they start to rise. Whether you turn to exercise, soothing music, a walk in nature, or anything else, stress management can go a long way in keeping your complexion healthy.
Caring for Reactive Skin
Reactive skin can be tricky to deal with, but the skincare routines that we’ve shared above will set you on the right path. Nurture your skin in the ways that we’ve discussed, and, over time, you’ll start to notice that your skin feels stronger, healthier, and less sensitive.
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