The skin on your face is the thinnest skin on your body. In fact, the thinnest skin you have, which is around your eyes, is 80 times thinner than the thickest on your body (can you guess where that is? hint: you stand on it).
Yet your face gets exposed to more skincare and cosmetic products than any other part of your body. Washes, moisturisers, toners, peels, lipstick, foundation, blush and eyeshadow, the list is endless. So, it’s not surprising that skin allergies often appear first on the face. On top of that, if you’re pregnant, your skin reacts even more to external irritants, and as we age, our skin gets thinner and that shows up first, again on the face (hello crow’s feet :( ).
So sensitive facial skin shouldn’t be a surprise after all it goes through and it makes sense that your face needs more care and pampering than anywhere else. One of the most crucial elements of every skincare regimen is your facial wash but did you know that most washes actually contain ingredients that aggravate and sensitise facial skin?
So we wanted to put together a check-list of four ingredients to avoid in your facial wash if you have sensitive skin -
- Fragrance: the number 1 skin allergy trigger. Not surprising as the average fragrance is a combination of at least 100 chemicals (!).
- Essential oils: one of the most common skin sensitisers in natural skincare. But they’re often used in overly high amounts in skincare and, on sensitive facial skin, that can be a potent aggravator.
- Sulphates and betaines: the most commonly used cleansing ingredients in facial washes are also detergent ingredients. Excellent at stripping oil from surfaces, it’s obvious why you don’t want them in your facial wash.
- AHAs (a.k.a. alpha hydroxy acids) & BHAs (a.k.a. beta hydroxy acids) such as glycolic acid, lactic acid and salicylic acid : these acids literally break down the skin and just a few weeks of use makes the skin more sensitive not just to other allergens but UV light as well!
Our castile washes are perfect facial washes for sensitive skin - if you haven’t already, we hope you’ll give them a try.