Redness of the skin is often seen in people with sensitive skin and is easily aggravated in the dry climate of winter. To choose the best face serum for red skin, you must first understand the causes of redness. This kind of skin is sensitive to external sunlight, drugs, cosmetics, and climate, resulting in repeated capillary dilation and slowly losing elasticity. People with more serious symptoms will become flaky, commonly known as “plateau red” or “apple face”.

What is redness?

In medical terms, redness is also known as capillary dilation, which is a common condition of sensitive skin due to improper long-term care, resulting in a thinning of the stratum corneum and a damaged skin barrier.

Causes of redness

1. Personal habits

Spicy food, alcohol, and other factors predispose the skin to problems, thus increasing the risk of capillary damage and dilation.

2. Frequent exfoliation

Frequent exfoliation with scrubs, peeling masks, and other products, results in damage to the stratum corneum and thinning of the skin, which makes it easier for the redness to appear.

3. Ultraviolet radiation

Strong ultraviolet radiation damages the stratum corneum and causes redness, so facial care should not just be about getting rid of redness, but also about sun protection

4. Harmful ingredients

Some skin care products contain undesirable ingredients that can cause damage to the skin and hormonal effects that lead to the rupture of dilated capillaries

5. Occupational factors

Such as chefs, welders, and other flame fumigation, long-term exposure to high temperatures, which results in the continuous expansion of capillaries

6. Hormone dependence

Long-term use of corticosteroid drugs causes capillary dilation, which results in thinning, atrophy, and redness of the skin

Common symptoms of redness

1. Thin stratum corneum, poor water locking ability, dry and dehydrated skin

2. Sensitive, face becomes red when exposed to cold and heat water or emotions

3. Blood vessels can be clearly seen under the skin, i.e. red blood

4. Skin tingles when using alcohol or acid–containing ingredients

Most redness is found on the cheeks and sides of the nose and is symmetrical and flaky.

There are four common types of redness

1. Borderline type

A noticeable redness that appears under friction or irritation, usually with a quick recovery

2. Flushed type

The skin can easily become flushed with or without minor irritation

3. Symptomatic type

The skin is not only constantly red and rash, but also flaky, seborrheic and even infected. And there is a tingling sensation when you use some skincare products and cosmetics.

4. Spider Web type

This is the most serious type with tight, shiny skin and a thin stratum corneum, which is visible to see a thick, bright red, dense spider web of redness.

With a general understanding of what redness is and why it occurs, let’s talk about how to repair it and protect the skin.

The first step to fixing redness is anti-inflammatory

You must cleanse gently, otherwise, it will only get worse. Please turn to the article How to Wash Your Face?

Be patient, all treatments don’t work that quickly, you have to be persistent

Ingredients forbade for redness

Soap Base: Its cleaning power is relatively strong. Redness itself usually is thin stratum corneum, the use of soap base will further accelerate the loss of damaged stratum corneum

Alcohol: Irritation will be stronger. The use of alcohol–containing products will aggravate skin sensitivity

Acid: Acid products work mostly by exfoliating the stratum corneum, so redness must go to avoid further damage to the barrier

Preservative: It’s very easy to cause further aggravation of redness when fragile sensitive skin encounter preservatives are

VA: 20+ girls may want to do anti-aging, but VA is also a very irritating ingredient, redness must be avoided from it, especially the high concentration of VA

Ingredients available for redness

Anti-inflammatory ingredients (Anti-inflammatory is the first step in redness repairing)

Olive extract: This is one of the most effective ingredients in the fight against redness and can help to suppress inflammatory factors at the base of the skin.

Potassium glycyrrhizate: an anti-inflammatory ingredient found in many brands of water

Redness repair ingredients

Centella Asiatica:  collagen in plants, the effect on redness is super nice.

Ceramide: It occurs naturally in the skin which helps to lock in moisture and repair redness

Bisabolol: It’s great for fighting inflammation and improving the skin’s resistance to irritation.

Restorative ingredients (essential for repairing the skin barrier)

Squalane: It’s a strong affinity to form a protective film on the skin’s surface to help repair the skin barrier.

B5: It’s a great ingredient to relieve dryness and tightness of the skin which is good for dry sensitive skin.

Conclusion of How to prevent and repair redness

1. Strengthen your protection

Redness lacks a defense against UV rays, so it’s important to protect your skin from the sun! (Sun protection is a skincare step that we always emphasize, indeed sun protection is the most important and basic step in the whole skincare process). Sunscreen not only blocks UV rays but also has the function of blocking airborne pollutants, otherwise fragile red skin is very susceptible to secondary damage from external stimuli. Please turn to the article How Sunscreen Works?

2. Strengthen moisturizing

The thin stratum corneum of redness, and oil secretion is less which often causes moisture loss and easy to makes the skin dry. Strengthen moisturization and hydration to keep the skin moisturized and soothe allergy symptoms.

3. Strengthen skincare

Strengthen the skin barrier system to improve skin tolerance and give your skin a healthy foundation. The main focus of redness care is on prevention, protecting fragile skin in advance to prevent future sensitivity problems.

4. Balanced Diet

Avoid spicy foods, it is best to eat a lighter diet to allow the skin to breathe well. It’s good to take enough VC foods, vegetables, and fruits such as carrots, tomatoes, chicken, apples, and pineapples in your daily life. You can take the article Which Serum Is Best for Dark Spots? for reference.

Conclusion

Don’t treat redness blindly and crave quick results. Although using topical products containing antibiotics or glucocorticoids can quickly relieve redness and dryness, itching and stinging, etc., over time it will form a hormonal face and bring about more serious skin damage problems, so be sure to use repair products carefully and skincare correctly.