Skincare Routine Tips for Calming Redness
It's no fun to have to deal with intermittent flare-ups of redness on your face, especially along the cheeks, nose and sometimes even the chin and forehead. Making matters even worse, these types of skin concerns can worsen, causing irritation or the formation of bumps.
If this sounds like a skin concern of yours, don't lose hope! We'll show you how to build a gentle, soothing skincare routine that visibly calms redness and helps smooth bumps. We also have other suggestions that could make a big difference, including a list of ingredients that could be making the problem worse and how stabilising your skin's microbiome can help.
What Causes Redness on the Face?
Many things can cause or contribute to this common facial concern. These factors span both non-skincare and skincare practices.
Often, common skin conditions, such as rosacea, psoriasis and eczema, are the culprits behind uneven skin tone and other common skin concerns, like tightness, flakiness and dryness. On lighter skin, the uneven tone associated with these skin disorders often appears pink or red. However, on skin with more melanin, this uneven tone can appear as dark, dusky spots or blotches. If you're experiencing any of these skin conditions, you can consult your dermatologist for treatment options.
Your dietary habits can also trigger skin redness. Alcohol and spicy foods (those containing capsaicin) tend to promote a wash of colour in those with rosacea or even just a sensitive skin type that may be prone to redness.
Heat can also cause skin redness. It does so through vasodilation, promoting a rush of blood to the skin's surface. However, it's damaging UV rays that one must worry most about. Not only do UV rays create redness while wreaking havoc on the skin, but they also cause visible signs of aging and not to mention sunburns! That's why it's crucial to always apply (and reapply) a broad-spectrum sunscreen rated SPF 30+.
Special note: those with darker, more melanin-rich skin might not see redness from the sun, but the damage is still happening. Instead of visible redness, your skin may respond by feeling tight and itchy.
A bigger surprise to many may be that the very skincare products you are applying to ease your redness might actually be causing your redness. More on that below!
Skincare Products to Avoid in your Routine
If you want to get your skin back on the right track, it's critical to eliminate the parts of your skincare routine that may be irritating your skin and making the redness worse. Here are some rules to follow:
- STOP using bar soaps, cleansing scrubs and cleansers that leave skin feeling tight or dry.
- STOP using abrasive cleansing tools. This includes cleansing brushes with stiff bristles or microdermabrasion devices.
- STOP using astringents, toners, clarifying lotions, or any skincare product that contains alcohol (listed as SD alcohol or alcohol denatured) or witch hazel.
- STOP applying skincare products that contain fragrant plant oils or extracts, such as lavender, grapefruit, peppermint, lemon, eucalyptus and rose.
- STOP applying products that contain synthetic fragrances; these may simply be listed as parfum or fragrance on the ingredient list.
- STOP applying products that contain essential oils. This is because essential oils contain volatile compounds that research has shown irritate the skin and cause oxidative damage.
It bears repeating: one of the most common warnings on our list is fragrance. Fragrance can negatively affect the skin and even cause adverse reactions and flare-ups, which can lead to red, bumpy, flaky, dry, itchy, older-looking skin. So, aside from the importance of NOT using anything that aggravates your skin, your entire skincare routine should be 100% fragrance-free.
Can using Exfoliants reduce Redness?
Exfoliation can help reduce redness if you incorporate the right products into your skincare routine. Harsh, abrasive scrubs aren't recommended as they can cause microtears in the skin, impairing its barrier and exacerbating redness. Instead, opt for a gentle beta hydroxy acid (also known as BHA or salicylic acid) exfoliant, which has a soothing effect on the skin. BHA exfoliants can also visibly reduce redness due to their inherent calming properties.
BHA's ability to slough off dead skin cells also allows the skin to better soak up any hydrating, nourishing and soothing ingredients that you apply immediately after the exfoliant. BHA works both on the surface of the skin and within pores to remove impurities that can cause redness associated with acne breakouts, while simultaneously soothing the skin. For best results, seek out a BHA exfoliant formula that contains additional skin-soothing ingredients like you'll find in our CALM 1% BHA Sensitive Skin Exfoliant.
Step-by-step Skincare Routine to Calm Skin Redness
Once you've cut out the bad skincare products, eliminated problematic steps from your skincare routine, and have started using only soothing, antioxidant-enriched, skin-calming, gentle, fragrance-free formulas, you'll be miles ahead from where you started. And if you want to make a bigger difference in your skincare routine, here are the products you could add to your routine:
- A gentle, non-drying, easy-to-rinse, skin-softening, water-soluble facial cleanser.
- A skin toner that delivers skin-replenishing ingredients, such as antioxidant-rich plant extracts, ceramides, panthenol, hyaluronic acid, and calming agents to renew your skin.
- A salicylic acid (BHA) exfoliant. BHA not only exfoliates built-up layers of dead skin to reveal the radiant, healthy skin hiding beneath, but also can calm red areas while smoothing dry, flaky skin.
- During the day, use a sunscreen with SPF 30 or greater that contains titanium dioxide and/or zinc oxide. These ingredients provide the utmost age-defying protection.
- In the evening, revitalise and soothe your skin with a calming face serum plus a barrier-replenishing moisturizer formulated for your skin type. Look for those that contain abundant antioxidants, skin-enriching ingredients and skin-drenching hydrators.
That might sound a bit complicated, but we've made sticking to all the above-mentioned guidelines easy with our CALM collection, a line specially crafted to soothe and calm reddened skin. This line is 100% fragrance-free and great for those with sensitive skin types. It's even suitable for those with common skin conditions like rosacea.
Carefully crafted with ingredients to tenderly soothe redness, lessen dehydration, enhance radiance, combat sun damage, and reveal a healthy, younger-looking glow, the CALM collection is a multi-tasking yet mild skincare line. The innovative ingredients in this collection pull double duty by reducing reactivity within the skin while delivering visible anti-aging benefits.
Learn more about sensitive skin types. And to better cater to your specific types of skin concerns, check out our range of skincare products online.
References for this information
International Journal of Dermatology and Venereology, December 2021, pages 199–209
Skin Pharmacology and Physiology, October 2018, pages 1–7
Dermatology Practical and Conceptual, October 2017, pages 31-37
Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, February 2016, Supplement, pages 2-8
Journal of Cosmetic Science, March-April 2015, pages 79-86
Journal of Allergy, February 2011, ePublication
The Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology, November 2008, pages 38-44
American Journal of Contact Dermatitis, September 1998, pages 170-175
