Hopefully, the last time someone said, “Why are you so sensitive?”, they were talking about your skin. All jokes aside, having super-reactive skin is seriously challenging.
If you have sensitive skin, you know how frustrating it can be to find a skincare routine that actually works. Everything seems to cause a reaction—even the expensive stuff. And no matter what you do, sun exposure or everyday irritation can undo all your progress.
It’s enough to leave you feeling defeated and ready to throw in the towel, accepting dry, irritated skin for good. But don’t give up just yet.
A lot of us here at TSC have sensitive skin—even our founder herself, Lauryn Bosstick. That’s why we put together this handy sensitive-skin guide to help you calm irritation, strengthen your skin barrier, and finally get that even, glowy complexion we’re all aiming for.
Everyone deserves Instagram-worthy skin. Here’s how to get it:
Sensitive Skincare Routine: What to Use (and What to Avoid)
In this post, we’ll first help you diagnose your skin type. That way, you can be certain you have sensitive skin before trying out this routine.
Then, before we get into the step-by-step, we’ll list some of the common causes of reactive skin. Reducing those triggers may be the missing puzzle piece your routine needs for a calm, glowy complexion.
What Is Sensitive Skin?
If you have sensitive skin, you react more easily to products, environmental stressors, or touch. In addition to this, sensitive skin can actually be oily, dry, or a combination. It’s not an official skin type or skin condition.
This issue is actually with your moisture barrier. The barrier is fragile, meaning irritants penetrate your skin way more easily and water escapes faster. This makes it much harder to keep your skin hydrated and calm.
The result? Skin that’s super prone to inflammation, moisture loss, and, worst of all, irritation.
How to Know If You Have Sensitive Skin
Your Skin Stings, Burns, or Tingles After Products
Actives, pigments, fragrances, essential oils, and other ingredients in skincare and cosmetics are designed to absorb into the skin’s upper layers. A healthy moisture barrier limits how far those ingredients can penetrate.
But when that barrier is compromised, ingredients can travel way deeper and reach your nerve endings. There’s no protective layer to stop them.
So, if you feel stinging, burning, or tingling after applying makeup, sunscreen, moisturizer, or other products, you probably have sensitive skin.
Your Skin Feels Tight, Itchy, or Uncomfortable
If you have sensitive skin, you may also struggle with dry skin. This all comes down to water loss from the lack of a protective seal on the outermost layer of your face.
Since the skin can’t hold in any water, your face may feel tight, itchy, and just generally uncomfortable. Just like the rest of your body, your skin needs water to stay flexible, balanced, and resilient.
You Experience Flaking or Rough Patches Despite Moisturizing
That dry, cracked skin combined with inflammation from irritation can seriously disrupt your skin’s cell renewal process. When your skin is healthy, your body sheds dead skin cells and replaces them with new, healthy ones every 28 to 40 days.
But when your skin is reactive and inflamed, the process slows way down. And the shedding is likely to be pretty uneven.
When this happens, your skin may have rough patches and flake off, even if you’re religiously moisturizing. Because it’s not just a dry skin issue, it’s actually a cell turnover problem.
You Get Red or Flush Easily
Your moisture barrier is basically your skin’s shield. It protects against heat, friction, UV exposure, and irritating ingredients. When that barrier is weakened, your skin is left way more vulnerable.
Then things like sun exposure, friction, active ingredients, and everyday stressors can trigger inflammation. As your skin tries to calm itself down, the tiny blood vessels near the surface dilate.
The result? A red, flushed complexion—most noticeable around the cheeks, nose, and chin. The flushed look was cute on Strawberry Shortcake, but if you have it, it’s probably because you have sensitive skin.
Products Frequently Cause Breakouts
When your skin is inflamed and irritated, it can respond by producing more oil and shedding dead skin cells unevenly.
That combination of excess oil and built-up skin cells can clog pores, increase inflammation, and, yes, cause breakouts.
This type of inflammatory acne usually shows up as small, surface-level red bumps. They’re usually pretty tender and itchy, too.
You might think the culprit is bad products, but it’s more likely to be sensitive skin.
Sensitivity Worsens With Weather Changes
Skin that’s super reactive to weather is another tell-tale sign of sensitive skin. Tell us if this sounds familiar:
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Cold air makes your skin feel tight, itchy, and sore
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Wind leaves your skin dry and irritated
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Heat and humidity cause redness, flushing, or breakouts
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Sudden temperature changes make your face sting
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Direct sunlight triggers redness, burning, and lingering irritation
Hit a little too close to home? In case you didn’t know, that doesn’t happen when your skin is healthy and balanced.
Your Skin Improves When You Simplify Your Routine
The more complicated your skincare routine, the more opportunities there are for your skin to react.
Each product adds ingredients, actives, preservatives, and sometimes fragrance—all of which can stress sensitive skin. On top of that, layering multiple products increases friction and raises the risk of ingredient interactions.
Taking it a step further, a lot of people tend to overuse exfoliation treatments and retinoids, leading to stripping, irritation, and flare-ups rather than results.
Sensitive skin typically responds best to simple, intentional routines. Below are a few quick tips to help you choose the right products for your sensitive skincare routine:
How to Choose Products for Sensitive Skin
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Look for short ingredient lists (fewer ingredients = fewer chances to react)
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Choose products labeled fragrance-free, not just “unscented”
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Use one active at a time, if any
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Prioritize barrier-supporting ingredients like ceramides, glycerin, and fatty acids
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Avoid alcohol-heavy formulas, especially denatured alcohol
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Patch test new skincare products before applying them to your whole face
What Causes Sensitive Skin?
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A weakened skin barrier: The root cause of most sensitivity
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Over-exfoliation: Acids, retinoids, scrubs, or devices that damage the barrier
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Too many products or frequent switching: Overwhelms already-stressed skin
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Harsh or fragranced products: Fragrance, essential oils, alcohol, preservatives
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Environmental stressors: Sun exposure, wind, cold, heat, pollution
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Stress and inflammation: Weakens skin defenses and slows repair
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Hormonal changes: Pregnancy, postpartum, cycle changes, menopause
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Underlying skin conditions: Rosacea, eczema, acne, dermatitis
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Genetics: Naturally thinner or more reactive skin
What Is the Best Skincare Routine for Sensitive Skin?
Morning Routine for Sensitive Skin
Step One: Cleanse gently.
In the morning, always start with a gentle cleanse. You’ve been sleeping on a clean, silk pillowcase (or you should be), so your skin won’t be too dirty.
Choose an active-free cleanser with moisturizing ingredients like glycerin or hyaluronic acid. Or use something super simple, like jojoba oil, which is naturally hydrating.
Of course, avoid harsh exfoliating acids or other multi-tasking ingredients. Your cleanser should just cleanse.
Then rinse, and pat your skin mostly dry with a disposable face towel.
Read our guide on how to use a disposable face towel and how to add it to your routine.
Step Two: Apply hydrating mist.
Next, apply a hydrating mist or toner. These products are fantastic at calming inflammation or irritation after cleansing, helping to rebalance the skin.
The SOS Spray from Tower 28 is one of the best products for sensitive skin. Just spritz it on and give it about a minute to sink in.
Step Three: Apply face oil or serum.
Sensitive skincare routines are all about applying hydration in thin layers. So, here’s layer number two.
Apply a few drops of a serum, like OSEA Dayflow Face Oil for Sensitive Skin. Then, pat it into your skin. Don’t rub—we want to avoid friction as much as possible.
Interested in learning more about the brand? Lauryn and Michael actually recently interviewed the founders of OSEA! Listen to the episode of the Him & Her Show called The Truth About Clean Beauty & Skincare Ingredients Ft. OSEA Founders - Jenefer & Melissa Palmer.
Step Four: Use barrier-supporting moisturizer.
Now for a barrier-supporting moisturizer. Remember, your weakened skin barrier is the main reason your face is so reactive.
Choose a moisturizer that can help repair, rebuild, and maintain your moisture barrier long-term. Look for ceramides, squalane, colloidal oatmeal, centella, allantoin, and cholesterol.
A couple of our favorites are BioLumin-C Vitamin-C Gel Moisturizer and Dr. Dennis Gross Hyaluronic Marine Oil-Free Moisture Cushion.
Step Five: Apply mineral sunscreen.
Finally, finish with sunscreen! This is one of the most important steps, because UV rays are the main enemy to your skin barrier.
Protect your skin with a broad-spectrum sunscreen. We recommend a mineral sunscreen that uses zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide. For your face? Use The Skinny Confidential Caffeinated Sunscreen. And then for your neck and chest, we recommend iS Clinical Eclipse.
Why mineral sunscreen specifically? It’s designed to sit on the skin’s surface and create a physical barrier. This is better than relying on chemical sunscreen filters that absorb into the skin, because it gives your sensitive skin one less ingredient to potentially react to.
We’re serious about how important this step is. Just read our founder, Lauryn Bosstick’s book, titled Get the Fuck Out of the Sun. And, of course, you can listen to her podcast by the same name.
Evening Routine for Sensitive Skin
Step One: Double cleanse.
In the evening, do a double cleanse. This cleanses, removes makeup, and breaks down buildup using both a water-based cleanser and an oil-based cleanser.
This shouldn’t be super harsh on your skin when done right, even though it involves two cleansers. Here’s how to double cleanse the TSC way.
Step Two: Apply a gentle treatment.
Next, apply just one gentle treatment depending on what your skin needs. Here are some options:
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Very mild chemical exfoliation (used occasionally)
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Low-strength retinoid, like retinol (at night, and not daily)
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Targeted breakout spot treatment (only where needed)
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Clay mask (used sparingly, especially if you’re prone to dryness)
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Soothing essence or toner to calm irritation and redness
Step Three: Apply face oil or serum.
Apply your face oil or serum. Remember to pat it into your skin—don’t rub!
Step Four: Use barrier-supporting moisturizer.
You can use the same moisturizer you used in the morning, or you could go with something richer since it’ll have all night to sink in.
We like The Rich Cream from Augustinus Bader and Crème de la Mer from La Mer. Both are fantastic for intense overnight moisturization and barrier repair.
Step Five: Put on eye cream.
The skin around your eyes is particularly prone to sensitivity. The skin there is a lot thinner and contains fewer oil glands, making it more vulnerable to irritation and dehydration.
In your evening routine, you want to address the under-eye area specifically. Use a hydrating eye product, like La Mer Eye Concentrate or Peter Thomas Roth Water Drench Hydra-Gel Eye Patches.
Not only will these hydrate the skin, but as a bonus, they’ll help prevent fine lines and dark circles.
Step Six: Seal with an occlusive (if you need to).
If you’re still struggling to manage sensitive skin and build up your moisture barrier, try using an occlusive at the end of your evening skincare routine.
Apply a thin layer of Vaseline, beeswax, or shea butter to seal in all your hydrating ingredients. Just remember to put an old, clean t-shirt over your pillowcase to make sure the occlusive doesn’t ruin your bedding.
Here’s more on how to hydrate your face overnight for dewy, glowing skin.
Sensitive skincare routines should be simple, intentional, and effective.
Reactive skin responds best to intention, not intensity. Stick to what supports your barrier and skip what doesn’t. Less stress, better skin.
And remember, you can find some of the best products to elevate your routine and address your sensitive skin on The Skinny Confidential Shop.
