Skin Concerns 101: Red, Sensitive Skin
Persistently red, flushed-looking, sensitive skin is often due to challenging skin concerns. For some, it begins as a swath of pink across the cheeks, which can either come and go or stick around for some time. Gradually, the redness becomes visibly more intense, sometimes accompanied by bumps or extreme sensitivity, dilated capillaries, and even flaking.
If you do indeed have a sensitive skin type, it’s incredibly important to start calming, hydrating, and nourishing your skin now, especially if you’re experiencing any of the above symptoms. Doing nothing or just the bare minimum in your skincare routine means the redness and sensitivity are likely to worsen, and we don’t want you to go through that!
On the other hand, we know addressing these concerns isn’t easy. Incorporating the research-supported steps listed below into your skincare routine, however, will get you closer to the beautiful, calm skin you want.
What is Skin Redness?
Skin redness is a type of skin concern that is easily identifiable, but its cause can be hard to pin down. It usually goes hand-in-hand with a sensitive skin type or more serious skin disorders like rosacea or acne. Since skin redness can be caused by a myriad of factors, both internal and external, identifying what’s triggering it is integral to calming your skin.
This wash of colour over the face and parts of the body often accompanies sensitive skin symptoms such as itchiness, dryness, tightness, and flakiness. Skin redness can span many colours based on your skin tone, ranging from bright red to pink, to a darker, dusky brown colour on melanated skin.
What Causes Red Skin?
There are many reasons why you might experience skin redness. Some might seem like common sense; others might surprise you. Here are some of the most common causes:
- Skin disorders requiring medical attention, like eczema and rosacea
- Inflamed breakouts
- Prolonged exposure to the sun and sunburn
- Other environmental factors (pollution, wind, cold, heat)
- Use of skin-sensitising ingredients like fragrance
- Allergic reactions and their resulting histamine response in the skin
- Physical irritation
- Diet and alcohol consumption
- Stress
Identifying the main trigger of your skin redness can help inform your treatment and skincare routine, ultimately leading to calmer and more nourished skin.
Skincare Routine for Red, Sensitive Skin
There are many assumptions about what causes redness and sensitivity, but what makes a good skincare routine for sensitive skin is well established: it should calm redness and diminish the appearance of flushing, even for those with rosacea. Caring for sensitive skin also requires a consistent, ultra-gentle skincare routine that tackles the root triggers via various pathways within the skin and supports a healthy, strong barrier.
It is vitally important to keep the skin drenched in skin-type-appropriate hydration and skin-defending, soothing antioxidants. Our CALM collection is formulated with those impactful elements, ideal for those with redness-inclined, sensitive skin, and even suitable for skin prone to rosacea. More importantly, this range of skincare products targets the underlying factors of sensitivity and includes ingredients that strengthen the skin’s microbiome, while alleviating signs of reactive skin.
We recommend creating a skin redness-minimising skincare routine according to the following:
- Cleanse with a gentle, soothing face wash that works to support rather than deplete the skin barrier. The CALM Ultra-Gentle Cleanser is one such face wash. Employing gentle cleansing agents, hydrating glycerin, and softening triglycerides, this face wash soothes the skin and replenishes its microbiome, all while gently removing impurities.
- Apply a hydrating skin toner. Toners are a wonderful way to drench your skin in hydrating and skin-beneficial ingredients. Incorporating a skin toner like the CALM Nourishing Milky Toner. It features a new and improved blend of skin-replenishing and anti-aging ingredients to soften the skin and immediately soothe sensitivity, such as allantoin, panthenol, and marshmallow root.
- After using a skin toner, follow with a gentle BHA (beta hydroxy acid, AKA salicylic acid) leave-on exfoliant. Beyond tackling clogged pores, which can contribute to redness-inducing breakouts, BHA also soothes the skin. The CALM 1% BHA Sensitive Skin Exfoliant is a great option that combines this acid with natural prebiotics, allantoin, and mushroom extract.
- Treat the skin with a targeted serum, skin booster or mask that features skin-replenishing heroes, like ceramides and beta-glucan. Skin-replenishing ingredients help to build and nourish the skin’s surface with hydration, which ultimately assists in decreasing the redness of the skin. That’s why we included them in our CALM Repairing Serum.
- For daytime, it’s critical that you conclude your skincare routine with a calming, hydrating face moisturizer that offers broad-spectrum SPF 30+ protection. Unprotected sun exposure makes everyone’s skin worse, especially for those with a sensitive skin type and those prone to skin concerns like rosacea. Sunscreen for the face that contains only active ingredients such as titanium dioxide and/or zinc oxide is incredibly gentle and least likely to cause sensitivity, including around the eyes. The new redness-reducing CALM Barrier Protect Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30 is a soothing all-mineral SPF that could be a good option to try out.
- For nighttime, treat the skin with an antioxidant-rich, skin-replenishing moisturizer to target the underlying causes of redness and reactivity, while fighting signs of aging. We’ve developed two CALM moisturizers to return the skin to an even-toned state that each focus on varying needs based on skin types: the lightweight CALM Rescue & Repair Weightless Moisturizer and the richer CALM Rescue & Repair Intensive Moisturizer.
Skincare Tips for Sensitive Skin
Regardless of the cause, there are plenty of factors that can make redness and rosacea-prone skin worse. Sun exposure, wind, heat, spicy foods, alcohol, and caffeine are all well-known triggers.
Other triggers may be sneakily hiding in the skincare products you use. Here are some examples of what to avoid if you have a sensitive skin type that is prone to redness:
- Fragrance and added dyes. All skincare products should be fragrance-free and synthetic dye-free. “Fragrance-free” means avoiding fragrant plant oils, too, which, surprisingly, and disturbingly, often show up in skincare products targeted for those with redness-prone, sensitive skin. For example, despite its calming aroma and its reputation for relaxing you, lavender oil is a definite no-no!
- Scrubs and harsh cleansing brushes. Anything physically abrasive can weaken the skin’s barrier and make redness worse.
- Irritating ingredients, including alcohol (SD or denatured), menthol, all types of mint, citrus, and lavender.
Keep in mind that not all plants or natural ingredients are bad for sensitive, redness-prone skin; the trick is to know which ones are worth incorporating into your skincare routine. Borage, calendula, chamomile, curcumin, evening primrose, ginger root, liquorice, and willow herb are just a few examples of soothing plant ingredients for the skin. Use the Skin Care Ingredient Dictionary to look up any other ingredients that you may be curious about.
Say Goodbye to Red Skin
Although there’s no simple, one-size-fits-all solution for skincare concerns like persistent redness, you can take action to help control the visible signs. Our research-based suggestions can bring some improvement, but if you don’t get the results you hope for, the next step is to visit your dermatologist to find out what else you can do for your reddened, sensitive skin. Your physician will be able to recommend an appropriate course of action, and then, as long as you keep your skincare routine gentle, gentle, gentle, with beautifully formulated products, you have a great chance at keeping the redness under control. And you’ll be taking brilliant care of your skin at the same time.
Browse our range of skincare products for sensitive skin and incorporate them into your skincare routine.
References for this information
International Journal of Cosmetic Science, February 2022, pages 56–73
Annals of Dermatology and Venereology, September 2019, pages 585–591
Journal of Drugs in Dermatology, December 2014, pages 101–107
Experimental Dermatology, November 2013, pages 752–753
Future Microbiology, February 2013, pages 209–222
Skin Therapy Letter, December 2012, pages 1–4
Annals of Dermatology, May 2012, pages 126–135
Recommended Products
CALM 1% BHA Sensitive Skin Exfoliant
CALM Barrier Protect Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30
