There are five types of healthy skin from a cosmetic point of view: normal, oily, dry, combination and sensitive. The latter is the most delicate. It requires special care and is often the prelude to or accompanies skin diseases.
What does the skin need to be healthy?
Sometimes someone around us says: “I can’t use that cream because I have sensitive skin” and we all say sympathetically with a look of commiseration and regret. But why? Is it a disease?
Not really. It is a way of being, it is a delicate skin that, although healthy, needs specific care to reduce the dryness, roughness and cracked appearance that it occasionally presents. The fundamental symptoms are a feeling of tightness, loss of suppleness, and often itching and stinging.
Sensitive skin has:
– Color: pinkish or reddish.
– Pore size: invisible.
– Touch: dry.
– Shine: low and only in the central areas.
– Imperfections: superficial red veins on the nose and cheeks.
By assessing their appearance and symptoms, a diagnosis can be made. But if you can hardly ever feel comfortable when applying a cream or make-up, then there is no doubt about it.
Care of sensitive skin
In general, there are four essential steps in skin care: hygiene, moisturizing, protection and repair of defects caused by inadequate care or simply by the passage of time.
In the case of sensitive skin, cleansing should be with milk or cleansing cream that does not cause irritation. If cleansing with water is preferred, an extra-fatty or cold-cream product should be used that does not completely wash away the skin’s hydrolipidic film. This mantle is made up of two components:
1. Natural moisturizing factor, composed of the epidermal cells themselves, which are constantly eliminated, together with the lipids and amino acids they produce.
2. Sebum from the sebaceous glands, sweat and water that assiduously evaporates from the skin (perspiratio insensibilis).
Many moisturizing cosmetics have a composition similar to the natural moisturizing factor while others try to mimic skin lipids. The moisturizer to be applied to sensitive skin should be similar to the natural moisturizing factor to avoid the risk of contact allergy.
It is very convenient to apply a sunscreen daily, or to use moisturizing creams containing sunscreen. This prevents the appearance of spots, wrinkles and other signs of aging due to ultraviolet rays (photoaging).
Anti-aging cosmetic products can be used at night, but those that are inherently irritating, such as retinoid derivatives or alpha hydroxy acids, although effective, are not usually well tolerated.
And furthermore…
In some women, especially those with fairer skin, sensitive skin can be accompanied over time, around the age of 35-40, by the appearance of rosacea, which manifests itself with small veins (couperose) and small papules and pus-filled lesions.
Other times the sensitive skin is part of an atopic dermatitis, in which eczema in plaques scattered over the body accompanies the sensitive skin. Allergic contact eczema is another pathology common to this type of skin. In case of doubt, the dermatologist will be the right expert to achieve a beautiful appearance absent of discomfort.