Anti Aging Skin Care For Extra Sensitive Skin

What to look for in anti aging skin care products when you have sensitive skin

A list of the best ingredients to work for when you’d like to support, nourish, and protect your sensitive skin for the long-haul. 

(plus why they work and the healthy skin care products you’ll find them in)

QUESTION:

The following question was asked by a radiant rebel in our Facebook community:

“I need help finding anti aging products for extremely sensitive skin. Can you help?”

ANSWER:

Great question!

I can so relate to this because the world of anti aging products is full of stinging, burning, and peel inducing ingredients! Yikes, no thank you.

So what ingredients DO help to keep our skin healthy, hydrated, and our complexions even as we get older?

Here are my recommendations:

First, I’m going to mention vitamin C, although this can be a NO GO ingredient for some. I did want to mention it because, in a well-formulated product, it can be gentle enough for those with sensitive skin (I’m a perfect example of that).

Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that helps protect the skin from premature signs of aging while fading acne scars, hyperpigmentation, and uneven skin tone. If you want to give it a try, check out this gentle and hydrating vitamin c serum.

However, the question noted “extremely sensitive skin,” so let’s focus on extra-gentle ingredients that support our skin’s barrier functions and cell turn over.

Pumpkin Enzymes

Pumpkin enzymes are an extremely gentle alpha hydroxy acid (AHA), which helps resurface the skin and support cell turn over (an important function of the skin that often needs a helping hand as we age).

AHAs can be too much for many sensitive skin types, and certainly, for extremely sensitive skin, HOWEVER, pumpkin enzymes are so gentle that they can be compared to glycerin on the skin-loving scale (for reference, glycerin is said to be as gentle, if not more gentle, than aloe for many folks).

Pumpkin enzymes are a great ingredient to watch for if you’re skin is experiencing congestion, buildup, products don’t seem to be absorbed readily, or you’re looking to help even out your skin tone without getting into harsh ingredients.

Pumpkin enzymes can be found in our pumpkin enzyme mask – many radiant rebels use it as an overnight moisturizer a couple of times a week.

Probiotics For Your Face

One way to keep skin calm is to support its microbiome (aka the microflora that lives on the surface of our skin) with topical probiotics.

UV protection

Several sunscreen ingredients make sensitive skin worse – typically found in what are called “chemical” sunscreens. So if you have extremely sensitive skin, opt for “mineral” protection from zinc oxide. Also, be sure your UV protection formula doesn’t have any drying alcohols in it (spray sunscreens are the worst for this!).

To drive the point home, sun damage is the NUMBER ONE culprit of premature aging. Premature aging is when functions of your skin are disrupted due to damage from external sources in the environment rather than simply getting older.

• causes stem cell to die off leading to thinning and wrinkling of the skin
• it activates enzymes that break down collagen and elastin (these are responsible for smooth, soft, plump looking skin)
• causes the skin to produce melanin in an attempt to protect itself (resulting in uneven skin tone, age spots, melasma, freckles, texture changes, dull skin, etc.)

Making sure you have adequate UV protection for your skin during the day, year-round, even when you’re inside (UV rays can penetrate windows!), is the single best thing you can do for your skin when it comes to anti aging and skin cancer prevention.

Stop hydration loss

Lastly, let’s talk about ingredients that help STOP TEWL.

“Transepidermal Water Loss” (aka TEWL or TWL) is the amount of water that passively evaporates through the skin to the external environment. We often talk about TEWL in terms of TOO MUCH water loss, aka dehydrated skin (skin that feels tight, is sensitive, is sore, easily irritated, prone to congestion, eczema, redness, acne, etc.).

An increase in TEWL (aka an increase in hydration loss) is a warning sign as it points to a compromised/damaged lipid barrier (our skin’s natural protective barrier).

A compromised lipid barrier and hydration loss are both correlated with premature skin aging.

So now that we know WHY we want to make sure a skincare routine focusing on anti aging includes ingredients that decrease TEWL, let’s talk about some of the best ingredients to get the job done:

• ceramides – find them in abundance in our raspberry repair ceramide hydrator
• oat protein – find it in our blueberry & cornflower night cream
• tamarindus seed extract – find it in our blueberry & cornflower night cream
• grapeseed oil  – find it in these products
• sunflower oil – find it in these products
• niacinamide (vitamin b3) – find it in these products
• borage oil – find it in balance facial serum
• coconut oil – find it in these products
• olive oil – find it in these products
• shea butter – find it in these products

Gentle Anti Aging Skincare Product Recommendations

Here is a list of the best anti aging skin care products to try out for sensitive skin:

• Raspberry Repair Ceramide Hydrator (apply after cleansing and before your moisturizer)
• Blueberry & Cornflower Hydra Well Night Cream
• Summer Shade Day Cream
• Pumpkin Enzyme Mask with Probiotics
• Easy on the Eyes Daily Eye Cream
• Flourish & Nourish Facial Serum 
• Vitamin C + Probiotics Facial Serum (include if your skin tolerates vitamin c well)
• White Willow Bark & Probiotics Micellar Cleanser

As always, it’s best to grab some samples and do a patch test when introducing new skincare products to your routine (whether you have sensitive skin or not). Head over here for a list of available skincare samples (or see the samples collection for even more variety).

I hope that helps,

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