We at Ecobeautica believe that sensitive skin needs more than just a gentle hand. Sensitive skin can be tricky to manage, and sometimes it takes an expert to know the best way to take care of your skin and strengthen it. You can consult with us so that we can understand the unique makeup of your skin and what irritates it. We want to understand your skin and get to the root cause of your skin’s sensitivities so we can come up with a way to manage your skin, care for it, and strengthen it.
Know the Signs
Sensitive skin takes a little know-how to care for correctly. We understand that it’s important to notice the signs of sensitive skin and to recognize what prompts negative reactions from the skin. Part of the issue with sensitive skin is its thinness which makes it so that blood vessels and nerve endings are close to the surface. As a result, the skin reddens easily and is also easily irritated.
Common signs of sensitive skin include:
- A thin, fragile, or blotchy appearance
- Dehydrated skin
- Redness
- Reddening or swelling at the slightest touch or scratch
- Inflammation
- Sensitivity to heat
- Proneness to sunburns without tanning
- Proneness to bruising
- Blanching when pressure is applied
To make matters worse, sensitive skin has a weaker and more permeable skin barrier than normal skin does. This weakened barrier makes it easier for irritants to reach nerve endings beneath the surface of the skin. The weakened barrier also makes it easier for the skin to lose water, leading to dehydration and inflammation, both of which can prematurely age and deteriorate the skin. As such, sensitive skin is generally more likely to develop reactions, irritations, and allergies to cosmetic procedures and ingredients.
When their skin is irritated or displaying an allergic reaction, those with sensitive or allergy-prone skin may experience the following in addition to some of the symptoms listed above:
- Burning
- Hives
- Itching
- Rash
- Stinging
- Tingling
- Welts
Know the Triggers
It’s important for those with sensitive skin to avoid anything that may prompt a reactions. The following may trigger a response from sensitive skin:
- Food, drugs, and nutrients that are known to dilate blood vessels like spicy food, nicotine, and niacin, otherwise known as vitamin B3. Dilated blood vessels can give the skin a reddened appearance.
- Heat (body heat, hot water, sunlight, saunas, etc.), which prompts blood to rise to the surface of the skin, reddening it.
- Extremely cold temperatures.
- Skin care practices and products that physically agitate the skin like microdermabrasion, harsh exfoliation, fragrant products, stimulating masks, and chemical peels. Aside from irritating the skin, these things may strip the skin, leaving it weaker.
Overexposure to these things may result in dilated capillaries, giving the skin a red, veiny appearance.
What We Can Do for Your Skin
We at Ecobeautica understand that one person’s sensitive skin is not the same as someone else’s. Different people have different triggers and different reactions, so we make sure to tailor your spa experience with us by finding the root cause of your skin’s sensitivities.
Sensitive skin requires a gentle hand, so when we care for your skin, we make sure to:
- Take care of your skin’s barrier function, using products that may support it and avoiding products that may weaken it
- Avoid using irritating and sensitizing materials and products, including those that may have prompted a prior reaction from your skin
- Use sensitive skin-care products or hypoallergenic skin-care products with ingredients that have been shown to decrease skin sensitivity
Depending on your individual skin, we choose the products and services that may best support it. No matter what we end up choosing, we know that the following guidelines are a must for sensitive skin:
- Keeping things simple. The fewer products we use to cleanse, care for, and strengthen your skin, the easier it would be to identify what products and techniques may or may not irritate your skin.
- Using unfragranced products. Products with very strong scents, even some essential oils, may irritate the skin.
- Avoiding heat and very cold compresses.
- Only using gentle massages and extractions if they’re necessary.
- Avoiding chemical peels and scrubs.
- Taking care not to exfoliate too harshly.
Which services we use to support sensitive skin depends on the individual client and his or her unique skin concerns. Some of the services we generally consider for sensitive skin are:
- The Ecobeautica Facial. This facial is designed according to the unique needs of the client’s skin. For those with sensitive skin, we make sure to use gentle products and techniques to support your skin while cleansing and strengthening it. We will consult with you to determine what your skin needs and may combine different procedures to get the best results possible.
- The Oxygen Facial. This gentle, non-invasive facial uses an airbrush-gun-like wand that emits 90-95% pure oxygen to make it easier for your skin to absorb moisturizing agents.
- The Shiatsu Massage. This massage makes use of gentle finger and palm pressure as well as stretches to relax and reinvigorate you and your skin.
If you have sensitive skin and would like to learn more about how you can care for it and about what we can do for your skin, book your appointment now on-site or by calling us at (718) 382-9200 ext. 1. You can also visit us at our Brooklyn location on Ocean Avenue between Kings Highway and Quentin Road.