The Best Skincare Routine for Sensitive Skin

The Indigo Calming Cream, Indigo Overnight Repair, The Indigo Cleansing Balm

Sensitive skin can seem (and perhaps feel) troublesome at times — but the good news is that this skin type isn’t rare. Studies have shown that over 70 percent of adults experience sensitivity chronically or at some point in their lives. The sensitive skin type is characterized by frequent skin reactions from outside stimuli, like the sun or weather, or by exposure to irritating products. It can be hard to know which formulas, ingredients, materials, or weather conditions will aggravate you—until they’re introduced. To help empower you to soothe your sensitive skin, we’ve compiled the ultimate guide to sensitive skin: tips, things to avoid, and a skincare routine for sensitive skin. Keep reading to learn all about soothing sensitivity.

What Is Sensitive Skin?

Sensitive skin is skin that is more reactive than other skin types. This can include redness, burning, stinging, swelling, itching, peeling, inflammation, and more.

What Causes Sensitive Skin?

The truth is, well, we don’t exactly know. Available evidence suggests that cosmetic overuse is a main trigger, but sensitivity has also been linked to various disorders in both the skin and other areas of the body. Sensitive skin is something you are born with, as opposed to sensitized skin, which is usually a temporary state caused by the overuse of harsh products.

Sensitive Skin Tips

Just because you have sensitive skin doesn’t mean you can’t indulge in luxurious, nourishing skincare. In fact, quite the opposite can be true: a sensitive skincare routine curated with the best Japanese skincare products composed of intentional ingredients can help soothe and repair skin over time. But several everyday tips can also be helpful when implemented into your routine. Here are a few things to consider for those with sensitive skin.

Avoid Aggressive Formulas and Techniques

One of the most common ways to irritate and trigger sensitive skin is through improper exfoliation and using harsh exfoliants. When in doubt, be as gentle as possible to the face, and learn how to properly exfoliate. We like to think of the skin as delicate silk, imagine how thoughtful and careful you are when cleansing a precious garment. Use that same care and consideration with your skincare routine for sensitive skin. For formulas, choose products that tout their sensitivity and gentle ingredients.

Keep Things Cool

Speaking of gentleness, blazing hot temperatures can be triggering for sensitive skin. Be mindful of the water temperature when taking a shower or cleansing the face. Tepid temps are preferable, or even cold temperatures when just washing your face, if possible, which can feel more refreshing and depuffing. Time is also a factor. While a long hot shower feels incredible, soaking for longer than 10 minutes at a time can be quite harsh on the skin and, for some, lead to a loss of natural skin oils, which weakens the skin barrier. Tepid and quick cleansing conditions are the most ideal for sensitive skin.

Focus On Your Skin Barrier

At least one study has posited that sensitivity is linked to the integrity of your skin barrier, that outermost layer of the complex cutaneous system. The skin barrier is composed of dead skin cells caulked together by fats, proteins, and lipids; it helps the inner layers of your skin retain water and essential nourishment. When the barrier is weakened, there’s a greater potential for skin reactions to occur, which is why protecting the integrity of that barrier should be your number one priority when dealing with sensitivity.

Seek Out Thoughtful Ingredients

When building your daily skincare routine for sensitive skin, one consisting of products that repair the skin barrier, there are specific ingredients to look for. Here are a few of our favorites to consider adding to your sensitive skincare routine.

Hydrating Staples

Seek out super hydrating ingredients like squalane and hyaluronic acid, both of which are naturally found in the skin. They support naturally healthy looking skin and instantly boost moisture levels. Adding them to your routine is a little like adding mortar to a brick wall to support its structure.

Colloidal Oatmeal

Colloidal oatmeal has inherent anti-inflammatory properties that can calm down aggravated skin. The clinically-proven ingredient helps instantly soothe, soften, protect, and hydrate skin, and is even recognized by the National Eczema Association (NEA) as an ingredient that helps treat eczema.

Japanese Indigo

The Japanese indigo plant and its soothing, restorative powers, was a huge source of inspiration for Tatcha’s sensitive skincare collection. The familiar pigment that may have helped dye your jeans is made by boiling down a powder of Indigofera plant leaves into dye. But the extract’s active ingredients help provide impressive relief, even to reactive skin. The Indigo Calming Cream combines the extract with colloidal oatmeal for superior skin barrier relief, which is perhaps why it bears a seal of acceptance from the NEA.

Skincare Routine for Sensitive Skin

Those with sensitive skin might be disinclined to try a new product or routine out of fear of a severe reaction, but Tatcha’s scientists at The Tatcha Institute in Tokyo have been perfecting our formulas for years, always with sensitivity in mind. Sensitive skin is actually the catalyst for our founder Vicky Tsai to create Tatcha, after finding soothing solutions in traditional Japanese methods after a lifetime of suffering.

Did you know that sensitivity can be layered over other common skin traits, like oily, dry, or combination? To make things curated to your specific skin type, we’ve organized each skincare routine for sensitive skin into categories: dry, oily and acne-prone, and combination. Not sure exactly what your unique skin type is? A board-certified dermatologist or licensed aesthetician can help you, but Tatcha’s helpful guide to discovering your skin type will narrow down each distinct skin type and how to care for them.

Each skin type has its own nuances, but in general, follow this skincare routine outline. Below we’ll dive into each sensitive skin variant and what products in this outline best support your face morning and night.

Morning

Cleanse
Essence
Moisturize
Protect

Evening

Cleanse
Essence
Treat
Moisturize

Skincare Routine for Dry, Sensitive Skin

In a way, dry skin resembles dry earth. It bears cracks and crags, lightens in color, can be brittle or even break. But unlike a desert expanse, dry skin doesn’t suffer from an absence of water. Or at least, not as a root cause. (Although dehydration can certainly make the issue worse.)

While the Mayo Clinic reports that water loss leads to dry skin, it’s in fact a lack of oil that leads to water loss in the first place. Factors like aging, behaviors like overbathing, and products like harsh detergents can all contribute to a loss of natural skin oils, which weakens the skin barrier and allows precious water to slip away. Those who have dry skin may simply naturally produce less oil in their pores than others. And sensitivity and dry skin can go hand in hand, with dryness being one (of a few) kinds of skin reactions. So it follows that there’s a way to treat both at once. And there is: Just add oil.

Products dry, sensitive skin will love:

Oils help condition the skin by shoring up skin’s moisture seal, making them super effective moisturizers—and extremely helpful for managing dryness. Fortunately, they’re everywhere in nature, as well as in skincare formulas.

Cleanse

In Kyoto, during Japan’s Edo period, geisha performers painted their faces with thick white makeup, and would remove it with a lightweight oil from the camellia flower. This bit of beauty history helped inspire Tatcha’s Camellia Cleansing Oil, which has a two-in-one function—it melts away dirt, impurities, and even makeup, while nourishing the skin with a buffet of vitamins and omega fatty acids. (Camellia oil is a richer source of oleic fatty acids than olive oil.) Using this cleansing oil on its own or part of a Double Cleanse will help cleanse — but not over cleanse — skin, which is important for dry, sensitive skin.

To soothe sensitivity and restore the skin’s moisture barrier, try The Indigo Cleansing Balm, which was developed to melt away the most stubborn makeup and sunscreen, yet not strip skin’s essential moisture.

Essence

Those who find their skin feeling parched at all times (aka dry, sensitive skin!) will benefit from a skincare booster like our award-winning Essence, not to be confused with a serum, which is clinically proven to improve skin moisturization instantly and help serums and moisturizers work more effectively.

Treat

While not always necessary, especially in the middle of a flare up, a serum can boost (and perhaps even fast track) your skincare recovery. A product like The Dewy Serum instantly floods skin with hydration and smooths texture for a radiant glow.

Moisturize

Hydrating with a moisturizer that soothes irritation while also tackling dehydration can be a tall task. However, at Tatcha, we have a handful of moisturizers that accomplish exactly this. The Dewy Skin Cream is a bestseller for a good reason: it immediately improves skin plumpness, suppleness, and radiance, and improves the appearance of the skin barrier after just one use.

If addressing sensitivity and calming skin is more important, try the Indigo Calming Face Cream, which has the NEA’s prestigious seal of acceptance. The indigo-boosted rich cream addresses redness, itchiness, and visible irritation, and also strengthens the skin barrier to keep moisture in.

The moisture doesn’t have to stop there, thanks to the rich moisturizing Gold Camellia Beauty Oil. A base of camellia oil is flecked with radiant 24K gold, but the formula also contains licorice extract, which has been shown to visibly soothe skin. It can be used on its own or used to seal in hydration atop a moisturizer.

Protect

Arguably the most important thing you can put on your skin, at the very end of your skincare routine, is sunscreen. No matter the season, the weather outside, or your daily activities — don’t skip on SPF. Dry, sensitive skin will adore one of our newest innovations: The Silk Sunscreen. The invisible, weightless mineral formula not only protects from both UVA and UVB rays, but it also contains hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, and silk extract for skin that is more hydrated, even toned, and soothed.

Skincare Routine for Oily, Sensitive Skin

At the other end of the skin spectrum is oily skin, the skin type caused by more than the average amount of oil production. These tips and products are also the perfect skincare routine for acne-prone sensitive skin too, as they contain non-comedogenic products that won’t flare up breakouts or excessive oil.

Did you know oily skin suffers not from an overproduction of oil but actually an abundance of sebum, a slick substance made mostly of lipids that is secreted from pores? Sebum has a protective function, according to The Cleveland Clinic, and helps to moisturize the skin. Too much sebum has been linked to breakouts, according to some studies, which is why treating oily skin is a balancing act to keep oil levels in check.

Products oily, sensitive skin will love:

Sensitivity and oiliness can be challenging to manage, as oily skin benefits from regular exfoliation, but sensitive skin can’t handle standard exfoliation. But even sensitive skin can benefit from frequent exfoliation; the trick, however, is to use chemical or physical exfoliants (whichever you prefer) designed with sensitivity in mind.