One of the hardest sensations to cope with is the sensation of itchy skin when you have sensitive skin. Sensitive skin makes you feel exposed to the world. Taking care of it can be a pain, and often feels like navigating a minefield of products trying to find the right one that suits your skin type. 

Dealing with sensitive skin is tough, and even the products actually labeled for it aren’t guaranteed to work very well for you if you are particularly sensitive. Whether you are dealing with constant itchiness or break outs, you need to know how to look your best and ensure that your skin doesn’t let you down. Treating itchy skin isn’t necessarily easy, but it doesn’t mean you can’t navigate your way through this. Find your way to clearer and calmer skin with the steps below.

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  • Learn to keep your skin hydrated. Hydrated skin is healthy skin. And if you’re not drinking your water you’re going to insure your skin looks flaky, damaged and dry. It’s also going to be more sensitive and it’s going to each. Drinking your water should be a priority of yours, as internal hydration directly correlates to how well our bodies work and how they look on the outside. There is no magic amount of water that you need to drink for your optimal skin health, just make sure that you are never letting yourself get too thirsty. Buy yourself a water bottle that you can use throughout the day so that you can stay hydrated as much as possible. 
  • Be gentle with it. If you have sensitive skin, the worst thing that you could use is exfoliation products or microdermabrasion. Itchy skin isn’t going to be fixed if you scratch at it as much as possible. You could actually damage your skin and the blood vessels beneath it. Scrubbing your skin with a washcloth is also not a great idea because micro tears and scrapes will be more visible. You need to be gentle with how you handle yourself, so don’t pick or prod or pull – we are looking at you the skin pickers – and don’t use harsh products to try and force your skin to improve. All this will do is have the opposite effect.
  • Test your skin products before you use them. Most of the time, those with sensitive skin understand that this is a process of trial and error. You’re not always going to get it right, so make sure that your test products on the inside of your elbow with the skin is thin and at its most sensitive.
  • Don’t necessarily trust the labels. If you assume that everything hypoallergenic is safe, you might end up with a nasty reaction. Hypoallergenic doesn’t mean you won’t react to it – it just means less likely to trigger those allergies that make your skin sensitive in the first place. It’s always worth seeing a specialist about allergies before you choose any products for your skin.
  • Keep it simple. The more ingredients listed in a product, the more likely you are to have a reaction. You want to reduce redness and soreness, and that means using products that have as few ingredients as possible and with more natural ingredients than manufactured.
  • Try not to over cleanse your skin. By continuously washing away all of the natural oils of your skin, you’re going to leave it exposed to the hot elements. Clogged pores and surface dirt can make skin more sensitive, but too much washing can make your skin worse. Keep your skin cleansing session to twice a day, and make sure that you use gentle and mild products until you can find ones that don’t make you react too badly. Stick with microfibre towels and blot your skin dry – do not scrub, rub or roughly dry your face with towels.
  • Don’t be too generous with the moisturizer. Sensitive skin does dry up, but too much moisturizer and ultra heavy creams aren’t going to help you. It can be hard to find the right balance but it’s very important that your skin has the right kind of moisture and not too much of it. If there’s anything that’s heavy with thick oils or serums then it’s probably a good idea to avoid those. Keep it light and make sure that it’s a gel moisturizer to keep your skin hydrated. Always apply moisturizer once in the morning before you put makeup on, and once again before you go to bed and that’s all you need to do for your skin.