How To Know If You Have Sensitive Skin?

Sensitive skin can be a tricky thing to pinpoint; sometimes skin can react to one substance but not another, leading to confusion. How to know if you have sensitive skin? If you have been trying to work out the answer to this for many years, you have come to the right place!

What Is Sensitive Skin Type?

What Is Sensitive Skin Type

A sensitive skin type is one that reacts to certain types of external stimuli – whether this be environmental factors or things that you put on your skin.

Sensitive skin is:

  • Easily irritated by skin care products.
  • Can suffer issues when the temperature is raised or reduced.
  • Often itchy and irritated, and can be red.
  • Your skin can feel stinging and burning sensations.
  • Sensitive skin can be prone to breakouts.
  • The skin may be extra flaky and dry.

Sensitive skin can leave you feeling like there’s something wrong with you –  why don’t your friends suffer with dryness, redness and itching when they use a certain moisturiser?

However, working out that you have sensitive skin can be very empowering. Now you know what the problem is, you can work on fixing it!

There are a great many products these days that can help with sensitive skin issues; some of these can be bought over the counter, some can be made at home.

Unfortunately, with sensitive skin it is often a “trial and error” thing – you may have to try something to see if it works for your skin, and deal with the potential consequences!

What Are Sensitive Skin Characteristics?

Sensitive skin is skin that reacts to external stimuli – things like the weather, certain types of skin care (such as moisturisers, make up, and even sunscreens).

  • Your skin may flare up when the weather changes. This can be caused by a transition between hot and cold; and increase in wind, or a more sunny few days.
  • Skin can react (in some cases quite horribly) to certain skincare products. It may be an unexpected reaction, and it can take a while to work out what is causing this reaction.
  • Breakouts. We are taught to believe that spots are just something that we have to deal with, but your sensitive skin can produce a pile of spots in response to something that has irritated it.
  • Extra dry and flaky characteristics can indicate a sensitive skin. You can try to combat this with various different moisturisers – but these can actually exacerbate the problem!
  • If your skin feels extra itchy most of the time, this can indicate that you have a sensitive skin type. This is because inflammation can cause itching, as well as other issues.
  • Reacting to the sun’s rays can be another indicator of sensitive skin – even if it is not really hot, the sun’s UV can really irritate sensitive skin.

This video will take you through the main characteristics of sensitive skin, in case you are wondering about yours:

 

Is It Rare To Have Sensitive Skin?

If you have sensitive skin, you may feel like you’re the only one in the world – and this can be a lonely feeling.

However, you are far from alone!

Sensitive skin is a very common issue, but not one that generally warrants a medical diagnosis.

Sensitive skin is generally identified as one that is prone to more types of inflammation, caused by numerous different factors.

Each different sensitive skinned person may have different trigger factors for what causes their skin to react; it’s not a “one size fits all” thing.

Around 60-70% of women and 50-60% of men report having skin that reacts to certain external stimuli.

The causes of the issues can vary from person to person, and can even change based on each person’s specific environment.

It can be tricky to work out what you need to do to keep your skin comfortable, and it may take a little bit of working out what is the best for you and your skin.

However, doing so is very worthwhile, as it will help your face feel happier, give you more confidence, and help you deal with whatever life throws at you!

If you want to know more about sensitive skin and the prevalence of this condition, have a look through this informative article.

How Can I Identify My Skin Type?

As a general rule, there are four skin types:

  • This is skin that is generally easy going; you can use most types of skin products, and changes in weather do not affect you too much.
  • This type of skin produces more oil than other types, and can cause more breakouts and shininess.
  • Dry skin is, by definition, drier, and can show itself in being flaky, dry and even uncomfortable.
  • Having combination skin means that some parts of your face may be dry, while others are oily. This means that you may have to use different products on different parts of your face.

Identifying your skin type is relatively easy, even without going to specialist. You can use an app, visit various websites, and spend time trying to work out what type of skin you have.

There are a few online quizzes that you can take too, where you have to answer a few simple questions to determine what type of skin you have.

For those who are looking to identify their skin type once and for all, have a look at this site which should help you to figure out what you are and what you can do about it.

Final Words

If you have spent your life having skin flare ups from unknown problems, it may be a relief to finally discover that you have sensitive skin and it is this that has been causing you problems.

If you can answer the question “how to know if you have sensitive skin” then you are one step closer to solving your skin issues, once and for all!

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