Sensitive skin.

[AshleyTheRed]

I know I'm not alone here. Sensitive skin = sensitive scalp.

Here is a place to rant and share products that have worked right for you!

Because of my darned red headed skin. I have to use mild shampoo, natural makeup products, and have to be careful about anything I use on my skin. I had to test MANY shampoos and conditioners before I found some that made my hair look nice without setting my scalp aflame.
Oatmeal baths are my hero when I get rashes especially rashes for no reason. Benadryl has also become my friend over the years.

[sweet*things]

When I was a Pantene user I had lots of trouble with pimply things on my scalp. When I went cone and sulphate free I was fine for a while, but eventually got a lot of build up, sores and intense itchiness. Since I switched to Prell & Coconut oil shampooing my scalp has been perfect, yay! :D

[AshleyTheRed]

I use Hairtrition shampoo. I've used it for a few weeks now and my scalp is fine. Less dandruff, and not red and irritated.

[Arya]

EUGH I'm a redhead, and while my scalp is fine, the rest of my skin hates my life. I get rashes for NO REASON, all sunscreen causes me to itch and sometimes to break out, and I'm currently dealing with a two week old underarm rash of unknown origin.

[TheCaityCat]

I was born with red hair, if that counts! I still have the pale, redhead-esque sensitive skin. I've found that ACV rinses sort my scalp out really nicely. I thought it would be irritating but nope. Not at all. Cone/sulfate free has also done wonders for me.

[AshleyTheRed]

ACV also helps me some but I can;t use it too often.

[rheostaticsfan]

I have severe atopic dermatitis and right now I'm struggling to find something that won't make my neck, face and scalp burn and weep and itch. I don't use any makeup at all (but I'd like to). I don't use styling products or leave ins in my wavy hair (but I'd like to).

I currently have 4 bottles of condish and 4 bottles of shampoo in my bathroom...and two of the shampoos seem ok for my sensitivies (but give me super dry hair). One condish MIGHT be ok for my skin but I'm not sure...and it's not moisturizing enough for my hair.

On top of that, I get a major case of the greaseys if I don't shampoo daily. I've been trying to stretch to every second day, but it's been 6 weeks and I still get greasy scalp in between.

Ugh.

I've been posting over on naturally curly in the wavy section. There's someone over there who has been super helpful to me...IAGirl.

[archel]

I'm super pale with sensitive and acneic skin. I found that the less I do to my face the better it is. Same with my hair! I'm trying the "keep it clean and moisturized and otherwise leave it alone!" routine with both my face and hair.

[racrane]

Well, I definitely have sensitive skin. I use VO5 and I use hardly any shampoo during the summer but I need more "oomph" during the winter months and use a tad more shampoo to get the flakes out. I just am more kind to my scalp than others sometimes are.

[rocksmom]

I have super sensitive skin, but my scalp isn't as bad. I do get that weird scalp acne occasionally or some itchiness, but nothing too terrible. Mine seems to be more from careless rinsing or styling products on my scalp. At this point I'm not using any styling products, just a leave in that I don't apply to the roots.

The rest of my skin on the other hand... yikes! I literally turn red just from scratching or touching. Sometimes it's worse than others and I end up having to take an antihistamine. I had a terrible time finding skincare that worked so now I use yogurt, honey, and kukui nut oil. No more irritation and it's really cleared up my acne.

[RainbowHawk]

My hair is naturally dark auburn. I'm mixed, but my skin, while not Irish-redhead pale, did not get the memo that I'm not supposed to catch fire every time I go out into the sun. *lol* I started making my own soap over the winter, and for the first time in memory I haven't been drying out like crazy. I don't wear makeup very often at all because every kind I've ever tried has made me break out in hives. I'm allergic to aloe (of all things!) so many products for "sensitive skin" leave me covered in hives. I'm also allergic to sunflower oil, which is a big component in many moisturizing/gentle formulae and again leaves me all hivey. The only sunscreen I've ever tried which didn't irritate my skin horribly was the California Baby Face Stick. :o

[My little boy requests this smilie: :cheese::cheese::cheese::cheese::cheese::cheese:]

[Chiara]

What I particularly find irksome is that my skin responds to irritation by churning out the oil AND getting dry, cracked and flakey. I seem to react to products containing fragrance (including a lot of essential oils), and I suspect that some preservatives in cosmetics also cause problems. I also can't use most detergents or soap- I think they must disrupt the balance of bacteria on my skin, or something like that.

BUT I've recently, finally, found a skin cleansing approach that works. First I use plain oil (walnut or almond- anything else makes me break out) to cleanse my face/neck. I apply the oil with damp hands and then gently tissue off. Then I use a little cotton bag filled with a mix of oat and rice bran. I made a whole batch of the bags from an old pair of pyjamas, because I use a fresh bag daily. Wet the bag and contents thoroughly, and massage very gently over face/neck so that the bran 'milk' covers your face. Then rinse off and moisturise. If my skin is feeling very hysterical, I use just straight oat bran in the bag. I wish I'd discovered this technique years ago, as it is cheap and effective.

Lots of people in Australia have sensitive Celtic skin (which is not a good combination with the climate!) and so there are lots of skin care lines for upset skin. The best I've used so far is MooGoo (I use the shampoo, the sensitive skin cream and the anti-aging cream). The other essential thing for me is to eat a good diet (lots of omega 3s and wholegrains, fresh veges).

[rocksmom]

Chiara, i just saw a post of yours in another thread and ended up looking up the MooGoo. I'd like to try the shampoo and conditioner and was thinking about their cream and wash for my husband who has eczema. I wonder if they ship the the US? Something to think about the next time I order something, my budget is blown up right now...

[88Marisa]

I'm not a redhead but most of my extended family is, and I definitely got the sensitive skin genes. I'm allergic to most perfumes and I have to use unscented detergent or get rashes. Makeup of almost any variety makes me break out, and I used to get scalp rashes pretty often. I find that water only for my hair and my face (with a bit of shea butter as a moisturizer after my shower and fresh aloe before bed) are the best things I've done for my hair and skin. It seems counter-intuitive, but it works great for me. I am mostly water-only on the rest of my body too (but I exfoliate thoroughly).

Conditioner-only (with a natural shea conditioner) was an improvement over shampoo for me, but still never got rid of the occasional soreness/rash/breakout.

[Anje]

Why does it seem like pale people are so often sensitive to chemicals?

I still recall the Mary Kay party someone threw for a bunch of us 13-year-olds where the cleanser all the other girls used burned my skin horribly. Sunblock burns near my eyes. Tretinoin and other retinol-based acne meds make my face peel off, and I've developed allergies to the common topical antibiotics and to benzoyl peroxide. And I believe I'm less sensitive than many pale folks, particularly redheads. (Despite the red hair, I also seem to have quite good pain tolerance.)

[AshleyTheRed]

I use perfume oils instead of normal perfumes.

I use mild soaps I buy from the Misty Mountain Soap Co. in Gatlinburg.

I found baby oil works better than lotion for my skin.

Hairtrition shampoo doesn't irritate my scalp or dry out my hair.

Virgin Oils work wonders on my scalp and hair. Argon oil, olive oil etc.

Nuetrogena sunscreen doesn't burn my skin, but does burn my eyes... I live with it.

[Mairéad]

Sun creams also burn near my eyes. Tretinoin also made my face peel off but rose hip oil doesn't do that and it's a pretty good alternative. Certain cleansers make my face break out into horrible hives. I recently suffered a severe skin allergy to a Burt's Bees product. Yeah, natural and gentle my ***.

Perfumes don't irritate my skin but they do make it get a weird pigment. Almost like a bad faux tan. I don't think I have the most sensitive skin but I wouldn't dare use anything that wasn't formulated to be gentle. No one needs a "harsh" cleanser. Dirt, oil, and impurities aren't really that hard to clean up no matter your skin type.

[starlamelissa]

Oh boy do I hear you on having stupidly sensitive skin. Add in a sensitivity to scented products....

Hair products-baby aquaphor shampoo wash,naturelle condish (purchased at sallys) and a little teeny bit of biologe conditioning balm to my towel dried lengths. It has a scent, but I live with it and tuck my hair away till the smell has gone.

Shaving-I exfoliate gently with a soft bristle brush with olive oil squeezed on it. I then use a razor (never reused more than 2 times) and some cure care unscented condish to shave. No aftercare.

Face- just for redheads conceal or, Avon creme blush stck, NYC matte pressed powder. No mascara. Mascara burns like the devil. Revlon lipstick in rose wine, plain petroleum jelly on my lips at night.

Face part2- I wash with a teeny bit of fragrance free neutrogena glycerin bar soap. I also use this on my body. I moisturize at night with a drplet of olive oil mixed with a droplet of tea tree oil. I use plain olive oil on my eyelashes and lids .

Sunscreen makes my skin itchy and greasy. I wear it when I will be in full sun, and as soon as I get home I wash it off. It also stings my eyes.

[terryn]

I recently suffered a severe skin allergy to a Burt's Bees product. Yeah, natural and gentle my ***.

Burt's Bees was bought out by Clorox some years ago, and that stuff just ain't what it used to be. :(

I recently discovered my skin is sensitive. I know, you'd think by 23, I'd know, right? No, apparently not. My skin on my body (scalp and face especially) has always been crazy oily. Like, Severus Snape oily. I tried *everything* to combat it, from clean and clear to proactive, used harsher and harsher soaps, extreme exfoliation, etc. Which made my skin dry out like crazy. Proactive actually made my face peel, like a lizzard, seriously.

So, I started switching to natural products and have been super gentle with my face/skin, etc. Only to find out that it works way better than all that other stuff I was using. Go figure. And now that I'm not trying to beat my skin into submission, I'm noticing things like flare ups due to harsh chemicals, fragrances, etc. I guess when I was younger I just accepted those things as normal.

Anyway, product line up: I use dessert essences tea tree oil face wash when I need something stronger, but for the most part I am using Deadsea Warehouse's Mud Intensive facial bar, which has seriously helped my blackheads. I am using one with nature's dead sea mineral soap on my body about once a week, sometimes more if I'm actually dirty. I was trying dead sea mineral stuff just to see how it worked for me, so far, I am very happy. I wash my hair with baking soda, and my bangs with Hugo Natural's unscented shampoo, I was using the matching conditioner before I was a dreadhead. For make up, I don't wear it often, but when I do, it's always Silk Naturals. I LOVE their stuff, and couldn't possibly say enough good things about it. I make my own deodorant/antiperspirant with baking soda, cornstarch and coconut oil, so all is happy there - in fact I find I don't even really need to use it all the time anymore.

Maybe I should've mentioned I'm a dirty hippy at the beginning of this post.... ;p

[RainbowHawk]

I still recall the Mary Kay party someone threw for a bunch of us 13-year-olds where the cleanser all the other girls used burned my skin horribly.

Oh man, that happened to me, too. My face was all red and swollen for a good week, I had to go to school like that. . . meh. The really fun part was that it was the second time I had attempted to wear makeup of any kind, and the same thing had happened the first time, so everyone at school was like, "Did you try to wear makeup again?" :(

Some redheads have higher pain tolerance, others lower. Generally we have a higher tolerance for particular kinds of pain and a lower tolerance for other kinds of pain. It also doesn't require red hair, just the variant of the MCR1 gene associated with red hair. There was a study done in Greece a few years back where they examined individuals with dark hair who had the variant of MCR1 associated with red hair which found that their pain tolerances were more in line with those of redheads and that their risk of malignant melanoma (the scary kind of skin cancer) is actually identical to that of redheads. So if you're one of those people who has that variant of MCR1, you may or may not have red hair (plenty of auburns and even darker-haired people do indeed have it, and the majority of people who can say "Almost everyone in my family has red hair except for my dad and me" or something similar) then your skin is going to react the same way that a redhead's does-- to sunlight, to different kinds of pain, and to products. (I find this fascinating. *heh*)


I recently suffered a severe skin allergy to a Burt's Bees product. Yeah, natural and gentle my ***.

I'm horribly allergic to many Burt's Bees products. They use a lot of sunflower oil and aloe, both of which will *always* make me hivey. The feeling of being allergic to lip balm is soooo unpleasant. :( I'm the only person I know who stands in the lip balm aisle reading the ingredients on every label before I buy anything, I learned back in high school that "natural" and "gentle" do not mean "You're not going to break out in hives from this." I like California Baby, they have several products which are fine for me, but it's seriously expensive. :(

[Anje]

Some redheads have higher pain tolerance, others lower. Generally we have a higher tolerance for particular kinds of pain and a lower tolerance for other kinds of pain. It also doesn't require red hair, just the variant of the MCR1 gene associated with red hair. There was a study done in Greece a few years back where they examined individuals with dark hair who had the variant of MCR1 associated with red hair which found that their pain tolerances were more in line with those of redheads and that their risk of malignant melanoma (the scary kind of skin cancer) is actually identical to that of redheads. So if you're one of those people who has that variant of MCR1, you may or may not have red hair (plenty of auburns and even darker-haired people do indeed have it, and the majority of people who can say "Almost everyone in my family has red hair except for my dad and me" or something similar) then your skin is going to react the same way that a redhead's does-- to sunlight, to different kinds of pain, and to products. (I find this fascinating. *heh*)
I haven't looked into the genetics that closely (I just figure eukaryotic genetics are complicated and stick to simpler organisms), but I'm a natural redhead that's darkening toward brunette as I mature. I'm sure other family members have that red gene too, just more eumelanin to hide it.

[Chiara]

Rainbowhawk, I will be joining you in the lipbalm aisle, staring at the ingredient's lists. On my avoidance list is camphor, menthol, peppermint (why, why do people put these in creams you're going to put on the thin skin on your lips?) and, I think, castor oil.

I am not a redhead- I'm an ash blonde with very fair skin. But I've had very sensitive skin since I was a baby- the kind where I'd get welts if wool was touching my skin. I think a lot of the pain and sensitivity must be due to immune system differences. I've heard that a more easily excited immune system may have endowed a genetic advantage in crowded environments where poor hygiene was the norm (because it reacted faster and more strongly). A bit like sickle cell anaemia endowed an advantage in areas where malaria was a problem.

[TheCaityCat]

Does anyone else use jojoba oil or aloe vera gel, either on their face or their scalp? I've started using both. Over the past few days the redness and inflammation in my face have improved drastically. I also rub the last bit of jojoba in my hands through my hair afterward. I might try this on my scalp next time it gets grouchy.

[LadyG]

I come from a family with redheads, I used to have my hair turn red in the summer. I can't use tea tree oil or any acne products. I just found out that sulfates were causing a lot of my problems and have switched over to Nature's Gate products and I now use Burt's Bee's sulfate free toothpaste. I can't use body lotion - it makes me itchy. Still looking for a good one that I can buy locally. I do have tons of allergies. wool, llama, cashmere. (Had to give away a beautiful sweater, sigh.) The one that bothers me the most is Roses. Lovely to smell, bad for my breathing.

I use a combination of castor oil, sweet almond oil and olive oil to wash my skin every night and rub the leftovers into my hands. My face has improved immensely.

And I also don't like lip balm. They also burn my lips. So, I too, read the lip balm labels.

[jaine]

Does anyone else use jojoba oil or aloe vera gel, either on their face or their scalp? I've started using both. Over the past few days the redness and inflammation in my face have improved drastically. I also rub the last bit of jojoba in my hands through my hair afterward. I might try this on my scalp next time it gets grouchy.

I have a nightly habit of putting some type of oil on my face. Right now it's apricot kernel oil, but I also like a mixture of macadamia nut oil and rosehip seed oil.

I have very sensitive skin and I pretty much stick to my "safe" brands for all hair care and skin care ... Max Green Alchemy, Sevi, John Masters Organics, Aubrey Organics, Meow Cosmetics, and Everyday Minerals (the last two are makeup and the rest are for hair and skincare). Laundry detergent is also very important ... in that category my safe brand is Ecover.

...And I also avoid gluten, because my skin freaks out when I eat it.

[AshleyTheRed]

Does anyone else use jojoba oil or aloe vera gel, either on their face or their scalp? I've started using both. Over the past few days the redness and inflammation in my face have improved drastically. I also rub the last bit of jojoba in my hands through my hair afterward. I might try this on my scalp next time it gets grouchy.
I use both occasionally.

[Chiara]

Tea tree oil... yes, you're right, that's on the list with menthol and the rest... A doctor once recommended that I use it to keep swimmer's ear under control (a fungal infection in the ear canal). I then ended up with ear dermatitis AND swimmer's ear...
Another thing I've realised is that my skin functions better if its clean but not TOO clean. So I've seen a big reduction in winter itchies and discomfort from showering every 2nd day, and just having a sink-rinse in between.

[AshleyTheRed]

Tea tree oil doesn't bother me if it's in a soap that is mixed with another oil.

[RainbowHawk]

I find that tea tree oil needs to be *very* dilute for me to use it on my skin. I used to use it in laundry, though (to disinfect cloth diapers & the washing machine) and I've never had problems with it, but again it was very dilute (perhaps 20 drops in a full load of laundry).

I've been making my own soap (100% olive oil, fragrance free), and now I refuse to use anything else on my face. I can't put oil on my face, but my skin can get very dry. I used to use old lady face creams (the ones recommended for women over 60), especially during pregnancy, because that was the only way I could get enough moisture. Now that I'm using my own soap, I don't need it. Yay! :)

The other thing that helps calm my skin down is taking an omega 3 supplement. I don't take it primarily for skin or hair care, but because my mood goes completely haywire without it; the healthy skin is just a nice side effect for me. :o Of course, it's a self-perpetuating cycle-- I'm in a better mood, my skin feels better, my mood improves further. It's pretty sweet. :D

[AshleyTheRed]

My ears are the worst. They have eczema in the winter and sunburn in the summer.
Right now they are just itchy.
Any advice for my ear troubles? xD