One thing we get told all the time is "I have such sensitive skin, I couldn't possibly use soap." And it makes us wonder - a) why do so many people have sensitive skin in the first place, and b) do people understand what is the cause of their sensitive skin? By the end of this blog post hopefully we will have answered some of your questions about why you may have sensitive skin, and shared some tips on how you can improve it.

What causes sensitive skin?

We started Bloom In Soap after a family member had an adverse reaction to a product she was using on her face. She never did identify what the cause was, but getting rid of the irritation, redness, blotches and rosacea was certainly a challenge. In fact, she spent a LOT of money buying more products to fix her skin, prescriptions from the doctor, and tried changing her diet. Her skin condition is an ongoing thing, and, several years on, her skin is still affected.

This event sparked our interest in skincare products and set us on our journey into natural skincare. Armed with the right information our family member could have avoided this skin condition completely. That's why it's so important to us that we share the knowledge we've gained from our research into harmful and good ingredients - so the same thing doesn't happen to you.

Many skincare products on the market are made with ingredients that are actually quite harmful to the skin and can cause irritation, blemishes, and worse, life-changing skin conditions to develop. We believe that nature knows best, and that using ingredients derived from nature are the way forward for kissing irritated and sensitive skin goodbye.

Tips to soothe sensitive skin

Check the ingredients

Always check the ingredients on the products you buy BEFORE you put them on your skin. Anyone can do this, just Google it! You'll be amazed, and most likely horrified, when you discover what's really lurking in that face cream or cleanser you just had to have.

Sensitive skin issues may occur simply because your skin is too dry. This is very common in the case of eczema. Eczema is one of the driest skin conditions there is and can be very painful. We know this because our youngest son has suffered from eczema since he was a baby. The trick here is to keep moisture locked into your skin at all times. Our favourite way to do this is to apply an organic body butter when your skin is damp after cleansing. The oil locks the moisture in, creating a barrier and providing nourishment to the skin. 

Keep your cool

It may sound obvious but you'd be surprised how many people wash their face with hot water! Heat aggravates the skin causing redness and inflammation, and dries the skin out unnecessarily. When you cleanse your face always use lukewarm water, and then rinse with a splash of cold water to close up your pores. It really does work a treat!

Avoid scented products 

"Why is my skin so sensitive and itchy?" This is a question we get asked a lot! That's why, if you suffer with super sensitive skin, we recommend to avoid using scented products, especially products scented with artificial fragrances. Any fragrance other than pure essential oils is manmade in a laboratory from synthetic compounds. Just think about it - there is no essential oil extracted from bananas, so the fragrance in your banana lip balm is artificial. Or the sugar plum fairy fragrance in your favourite moisturiser? Well that's probably artificial too. Products made with artificial fragrance oils may smell utterly delightful (and we totally get why you'd want to buy these products), but they don't offer any benefits to your skin. In fact, did you know that fragrance oils are the number one complaint for irritants in skincare products?

Use products made with oats

Oats are widely used to help calm and soothe the skin, but did you know that oats also moisturise the skin? As we explained above, dryness of the skin is one of the main causes of inflammation, so it's really important to keep your skin moisturised. Oats form a barrier on your skin that locks moisture in, and balances the microbes on your skin to keep it healthy. We use oats in our Wild Herb & Oatmeal soap, which is also unscented and contains lashings of coconut milk. Yummy!

Oats may also balance the negative effects of using irritating ingredients on your skin such as SLS (a common ingredient found in many skincare products unfortunately), and they're packed full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and lipids that your skin will love.

Use products made with milk

Goat's milk is very popular in skincare products and especially those designed for sufferers of psoriasis and eczema, however we much prefer to use coconut milk. Not only is coconut milk vegan, it's incredibly moisturising on the skin thanks to its high fat content (only the good kind of fat we might add), smooths skin cells and calms red, irritated and inflamed skin thanks to its high content of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C, B1, B5 and magnesium to repair damaged skin cells. We use coconut milk in our Coffee & Coconut soap as well as our oatmeal soap, and our customers love it!

Still think soap is the cause of your sensitive skin?

You'll also find glycerin which is produced naturally from the process of making cold process soap bars which is incredibly moisturising for all skin types. Along with gorgeous botanical extracts, fresh fruit, oats, coffee, superfoods and coconut milk. All pure, natural ingredients that each have a purpose - not just filler ingredients to make up the numbers. And that purpose? To help improve YOUR your skin so you can feel confident and beautiful.

Natural skin care formulated for sensitive skin

Many skincare products on the market are made with ingredients that can be actually quite harmful to the skin by causing irritation, blemishes, and worse, life-changing skin conditions to develop. We believe that nature knows best, and that using ingredients derived from nature are the way forward for kissing irritated and sensitive skin goodbye. That's why we've formulated some of our products especially for sensitive skin. These include: 

• Wild Herb & Oatmeal shea butter soap - with colloidal oats, coconut milk and a beautiful infusion of calendula and wild herbs from the English countryside
• Naked Flower Whipped Body Butter - made with organic oils and butters and left unscented allowing the natural scent of the raw cocoa butter to shine through
• Delicate Flower shampoo bar - made with scalp soothing calendula and left unscented for sensitive skin types
• Soothe Hand Treatment Cream - enriched with skin conditioning shea butter and a blend of avocado, macadamia, sweet almond and rosehip oils, and left unscented for super sensitive skin.