In this article:
What is skin redness?
What causes red skin?
Skin care routine for red, sensitive skin
Skin care tips for sensitive skin
Say goodbye to red skin
Persistently red, flushed-looking, sensitive skin is often due to challenging skin issues. For some, it begins as a swath of pink across the cheeks, which can either come and go or stick around. Gradually, the redness becomes visibly more intense, sometimes accompanied by bumps or extreme sensitivity, dilated capillaries and flaking.
It’s incredibly important to start calming, hydrating, and nourishing your skin now if you’re experiencing the above. Doing nothing or just the bare minimum means the redness and sensitivity are likely to worsen, and we don’t want you to go through that scenario!
On the other hand, we know addressing these concerns isn’t easy. Following the research-supported steps below will get you closer to the beautiful, calm skin you want.
What is skin redness?
Skin redness is easily identified but its cause can be hard to pin down. It usually goes hand-in-hand with a sensitive skin type or more serious skin disorders like rosacea or acne. It’s caused by a myriad of factors, both internal and external, making identifying what’s triggering your skin redness integral to calming your skin.
This wash of colour over the face and parts of the body often accompanies sensitive skin symptoms such as itchiness, dryness, tightness, and flakiness. Skin redness can span many colours based on your skin tone, ranging from bright red to pink, to a darker, dusky brown colour on melanated skin.
What causes red skin?
There are many reasons why you might experience skin redness. Some might seem like common sense; others might surprise you. Let’s dig into some of the most common causes:
- Skin disorders requiring medical attention like eczema and rosacea
- Inflamed breakouts
- Prolonged exposure to the sun and sunburn
- Other environmental factors (pollution, wind, cold, heat)
- Use of skin-sensitising ingredients like fragrance
- Applying high concentrations of active ingredients to sensitive skin
- Allergic reactions and their resulting histamine response in skin
- Physical irritation
- Diet and alcohol consumption
- Stress
Identifying which cause or causes play a part in your skin redness can help inform your treatment approach, ultimately resulting in calmed, nourished skin.
Skin care routine for red, sensitive skin
There are many ideas about what causes redness and sensitivity, but what makes a good skin care routine for sensitive skin is well established: it should calm redness and diminish the appearance of flushing, even for those with rosacea. Caring for sensitive skin also requires a consistent, ultra-gentle routine that tackles the root triggers via various pathways within skin and supports a healthy, strong barrier.
It is vitally important to keep skin drenched in skin type-appropriate hydration and skin-defending, soothing antioxidants. Our Paula’s Choice Skincare CALM collection is formulated with those impactful elements, ideal for those with redness-inclined, sensitive skin AND even suitable for skin prone to rosacea. More importantly, it targets the underlying factors of sensitivity and includes ingredients that strengthen skin’s microbiome, while alleviating signs of reactive skin.
We recommend creating a skin redness-minimising routine according to the following:
- Cleanse with a gentle, soothing cleanser that works to support rather than deplete the skin barrier. The CALM Ultra-Gentle Cleanser employs mild surfactants, hydrating glycerine and softening triglycerides to soothe skin and preserve its barrier, all while gently removing impurities.
- Apply a hydrating toner. Toners are a wonderful way to drench your skin in hydrating and skin-beneficial ingredients. Incorporating a toner like the CALM Nourishing Milky Toner, which boasts a formula that prioritises moisture retention and irritation reduction with natural moisturising factors (NMFs), is another way to ensure your skin is receiving what it needs to be healthy.
- Follow with a gentle BHA (beta hydroxy acid, AKA salicylic acid) leave-on exfoliant. Beyond tackling clogged pores which can contribute to redness-inducing breakouts, BHA also soothes skin. CALM 1% BHA Sensitive Skin Exfoliant boosts this superstar ingredient’s soothing abilities by pairing it with proven anti-irritant allantoin.
- Treat skin with a targeted serum, booster or mask that features skin-replenishing heroes, like ceramides, beta-glucan and ectoin. Skin-replenishing ingredients help to build and nourish skin’s surface with hydration, which ultimately assists in decreasing the appearance of skin redness. That’s why we included them in our CALM Repairing Serum and incorporated ectoin into our 7% Ectoin + Hyaluronic Acid Milky Hydrating Serum.
- For daytime, it’s critical that you conclude your routine with a calming, hydrating moisturiser that offers sun protection. Unprotected sun exposure makes everyone’s skin worse, especially for those with sensitive skin and even those prone to skin conditions like rosacea. Sunscreen products whose only active ingredients are titanium dioxide and/or zinc oxide are incredibly gentle and the least likely to cause sensitivity, including skin around the eyes. The CALM line’s daytime moisturiser, the CALM Barrier Protect Mineral Sunscreen SPF 15 tackles skin colouration changes associated with irritation and curbs the appearance of ageing with gentle, mineral-based SPF protection.
- For nighttime, treat skin to an antioxidant-rich, skin-replenishing moisturiser to target the underlying causes of redness and reactivity, while combating signs of ageing. We’ve developed two CALM moisturisers to return skin to an even-toned state that each focus on different needs based on skin types, the lightweight CALM Rescue & Repair Weightless Moisturizer for oily and combination skin types and the richer CALM Rescue & Repair Intensive Moisturizer for normal to dry skin.
Skin care tips for sensitive skin
Regardless of the cause, there are plenty of factors that can make redness and rosacea-prone skin worse. Sun exposure, wind, and heat (especially from saunas and Jacuzzis), spicy foods, alcohol, and caffeine are all well-known triggers.
Other triggers may be sneakily hiding in the skin care products you use. Here are some examples of what to avoid with sensitive skin:
- Fragrance and added dyes. All skin care products should be fragrance free and synthetic dye free. “Fragrance free” means avoiding fragrant plant oils, too, which, surprisingly, and disturbingly, often show up in products targeted for those with redness-prone, sensitive skin. For example, despite its calming aroma and its reputation for relaxing you, lavender oil is a definite no-no!
- Scrubs and harsh cleansing brushes. Anything that is physically abrasive weakens skin’s barrier and makes redness worse.
- Irritating ingredients, including alcohol (SD or denatured), menthol, all types of mint, citrus, and lavender.
Keep in mind that not all plants or natural ingredients are bad for sensitive, redness-prone skin; the trick is to know which ones are worth using. Borage, calendula, chamomile, curcumin, evening primrose, ginger root, licorice, and willow herb are just a few examples of soothing plant ingredients for skin. Use the Skin Care Ingredient Dictionary to look up any other ingredients that you may be curious about.
Say goodbye to red skin
Although there’s no simple, works-for-everyone solution for persistent redness, you can take action to help control the visible signs. Our research-based suggestions can bring some improvement, but if you don’t get the results you hope for, the next step is to visit your dermatologist to find out what else you can do for your reddened, sensitive skin. Your physician will be able to recommend an appropriate course of action and then, as long as you keep your skin care routine gentle, gentle, gentle, with beautifully formulated products, you have a great chance at keeping redness under control. And you’ll be taking brilliant care of your skin at the same time.
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References for this information:
Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, Supplement 5, April 2022, pages 3–5; and January 2016, pages 2-8
International Journal of Cosmetic Science, February 2022, pages 56–73
Annals of Dermatology and Venereology, September 2019, pages 585–591
Journal of Drugs in Dermatology, December 2014, pages 101–107
Experimental Dermatology, November 2013, pages 752–753
Future Microbiology, February 2013, pages 209–222
Skin Therapy Letter, December 2012, pages 1–4
Annals of Dermatology, May 2012, pages 126–135
