Skin that
reacts quickly
Skin that reacts quickly usually has a weakened barrier. We calm it with mild treatments and a care schedule your skin can handle.
At the intake we go through your skincare. Often there are several irritating products in it that together become too much.
What we to go through
We go through your care. Each product can be fine on its own; what matters is what works together on the same barrier.
Sometimes the cause is not in your skincare
What you ticked is not much in itself. If your skin still reacts to everything, we would rather look for the cause somewhere other than your bathroom cabinet.
Look below and see whether one of the conditions sounds familiar. If so, the story starts there and not with your products.
Four conditions
that start like this.
Sensitive skin is a complaint and not a diagnosis. These four conditions often start the same way and each asks for something different.
Rosacea
Lasting redness on cheeks and nose, flare-ups after heat or alcohol, sometimes bumps without blackheads.
To the rosacea pageEczema
Itching first and foremost, dry flaking patches that come back in the same places, sometimes cracks.
To the eczema pageContact allergy
The reaction appears in a defined spot and starts hours to days after contact, often with a clear shape.
To skin rashA dehydrated barrier
A tight feeling after washing, products that sting while they used to be fine, and worse in winter.
To dry skin
With itching that keeps you from sleeping, with cracks or open spots, with patches that do not go away or keep coming back in the same place. That is no longer sensitive skin and we are not the right place for it.
What helps and what we advise against
Stinging does not mean a product is working. That is the most stubborn misunderstanding in skincare.
This works
- Stripping back to the minimum and building up from there, one product every two weeks. Otherwise you will never know which one it was.
- Trying anything new on one small spot for a few days first, for example on your neck.
- Reading the ingredient list rather than the claim. The front says what the brand wants; the back says what is in it.
- Keeping track of what happened and when. Sensitive skin often reacts with a delay, and then your memory is not a good witness.
- Postponing treatments until your skin is calm. Waiting two weeks gives more than pushing on.
We advise against this
- Keeping on with a product that stings because you are supposed to get used to it. Stinging is not efficacy.
- Changing several things at once. It may well work, but you will not know what did it.
- Replacing everything with products labelled sensitive. That word is not protected and says nothing on its own.
- Tidying your skin up by scrubbing when it is already irritated.
- Assuming it is predisposition before you have stripped the routine back. In many people the predisposition only shows once the rest is gone.
Why we look for the cause first
Sensitive skin feels different one day from the next, and afterwards nobody remembers how it was last month. So without a fixed starting point you are talking about a memory.
So we record how red it is, how quickly moisture disappears and how the top layer sits. Then in two months the question is not whether it feels better, but whether it is better.
More about the skin analysisWhat we measure here
- Redness
- How much is visible at rest
- Leakage
- How quickly moisture disappears through the barrier
- Texture
- How evenly the top layer sits
Every axis is measured again at each check-up, under the same lighting. That way a difference later is something you see rather than something you have to take on faith.
What we use for this
LED therapy
€ 30Light that calms the skin. In several wavelengths, without needles or acids.
Frequently asked questions
Is sensitive skin something you are born with?
Sometimes, but far from always. Many people only develop it after years, and then something has usually changed in what they use or how often. Predisposition often only shows once the rest has been taken away.
My skin stings from almost everything. What now?
Back to the minimum, for two weeks. Cleansing and one care product, nothing else. If it calms down, it was the stack; if it stays the same, we look elsewhere.
Does stinging mean it works?
No. That is a stubborn story and it is not true. A light tingle with certain ingredients can be normal, but burning and persistent stinging are a sign to stop.
Can I be treated with sensitive skin?
Usually yes, only more gently and in smaller steps. What is not possible is treating while your skin is irritated at that moment, because then it reacts more sharply and gives less.
What does this cost?
The measurement costs fifty euros. What follows is listed per treatment on the price page, and with sensitive skin that more often starts with doing less than with doing more. If the outcome is that you should strip back for two weeks, you hear that at the consultation and it costs you nothing further.
First work out what is switched on.
We go through your routine, measure how your barrier is doing and say what can go. Often that is the whole advice, and then the treatment is that you do less for two weeks.
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