Sensitive Skin and Reactive Skin – what’s the difference?

Sensitive

Sensitive skin is usually considered to be a genetic trait which results in a poor skin barrier, allowing irritants and allergens to penetrate. This in turn causes adverse reactions such as stinging, burning, redness, flushing and even pain.

Skin is typically thin, with blood vessels near the surface which can cause the skin to appear red. With sensitive skin, people often know their triggers, but these triggers can change from person to person and range from a material to a substance to wind and everything in between.

Reactive

Reactive skin can develop due to the environment in which the skin is exposed. Skincare ingredients, cosmetics and other external factors are typically responsible for the triggers of reactive skin. Reactions to products used for a prolonged period and contact allergies can often develop.

Eliminating these product ingredients from your daily life can help you avoid reaction, however other triggers such as the environment, temperature and lifestyle can cause these reactions to linger.

Skin allergies

Some of the basic skin allergies are:

• An allergic reaction that doesn’t occur after first contact with a substance. Only after repeated exposure to a certain chemical does the immune system become sensitised.
• The ‘once allergic, always allergic’ type. After your immune system has been sensitised to a substance it will almost certainly cause an allergic reaction when in contact with your skin. However, once you notice that you are allergic to a certain substance, the likelihood is that you will avoid this chemical. If, however, you only occasionally react, the likelihood is that you are not truly allergic.
• Slow-developing allergies. These can develop over time and sometimes it can take years of using a product before a reaction occurs.
• Reactions becoming stronger over time. This can happen when skin is in regular contact with a substance.
• Some reactions after exposure can take hours, even days to flare up making it hard to pinpoint the actual trigger.

Do I need to know the cause?

Understanding what we put into our bodies and onto our skin isn’t a new topic, however as a nation we are becoming far more aware of reducing the need for certain chemicals and ingredients. Fat used to be the enemy in the weight-loss diet, however the fat-heavy keto diet is now all the rage! Debates will always continue, however if you are like me, and have truly reactive skin, you want to understand how to deal with it and fast!

Being mindful of what we put on our skin is crucial for the future of our skin health and even our mental health.

The magnitude of ingredients that the average person applies to their skin daily is estimated to be up to 126 unique ingredients, and such a huge amount can lead to severe skin allergies in later years.

We need to ask ourselves these questions:

‘Are all these product ingredients necessary’?

In short, no. Many skincare ingredients contain completely unnecessary chemicals. Water-based products, as an example, have multiple preservative systems in them. There really isn’t an all-natural preservative system yet and so these preservatives, designed to contain bacteria and mould growth, add multiple unnecessary chemicals to the skin.

Anti-ageing products contain a whole host of chemical ingredients, whereas CoQ10 and squalene is naturally found in plant oils such as Argan Oil, removing the need for any lab-produced chemicals to be used in a product.

‘Can we reduce the number of products we use by using products with dual purpose?’

Absolutely! Our oil cleansers, for example, remove make-up and cleanse the skin naturally. They are formulated to leave a thin layer of oil on your skin after removal to help protect your skin’s natural barrier.

Cleansing, exfoliating, serums, lotions, balms and 10-step beauty regimens with 30 plus ingredients in each product are just unnecessary.

Beautiful, clear skin can be achieved using just an oil cleanser and serum. Absolutely nothing else is needed!

A note from Eve

This photo was taken just last night, as I was getting ready for bed.

Although nowhere near a bad reaction for me, wearing a face covering for a business meeting with a new stockist was all that was needed for my skin to react and for my eyes to become irritated.

I have always had reactive skin, which began in my early twenties. As a youngster I never truly worried about my skin. I wore makeup most days and often forgot to remove it before bed. Spots were an ‘age’ thing and I always thought I would grow out of it. I am now nearly 42 and my skin is still extremely reactive, if not more so!

Nuts Organic’s products have been developed for reactive and sensitive skin. They contain only the purest plant oils available, unrefined, and unbleached. Although I do produce products for maturing skin, these also pass the ‘reactive and sensitive’ skin test before being given to our cosmetic chemist and safety assessor to evaluate.

Having worked in skincare for decades, I know plant-oils inside out. I opt to use gentle, noncomedogenic oils (oils that do not clog pores) that offer many benefits to your skin. Plant oils and botanics provide all your skin needs, from anti-ageing properties to skin repairing and softening.

All formulations are tried and tested on myself for months before being taken to the next step and discarded if I show any reaction.