Have you ever been super excited to buy a skincare product, only to have it sting when you apply it on your skin? You may blame the product instantly, but have you ever thought that maybe the problem could instead be with your skin?
SCENARIO 1
If you apply a product and your whole face is on fire, then probably you’re having an instant reaction or allergy to some ingredient present in the product. Wash it off with cool water and see if your face feels fine. The problem could be with any ingredient in the product here.
Also remember, stinging that lasts only for a few seconds is fine. It merely means that your skin is taking time to adjust to an ingredient in the product but stinging that doesn’t stop is NOT fine!
SCENARIO 2
If you apply the product and it stings in some areas but not the full face, then the problem may not be the product. You may have a damaged skin barrier that has a disrupted pH. In this case, the problem could be your skin.
HOW THE SKIN pH MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE
To further understand why your skin may be the issue, it is important to understand the pH of a disrupted skin barrier. A disrupted skin barrier has a very elevated pH, almost alkaline (upwards of 7!). So when the skin barrier is disrupted or exposed, the exposed patch of the skin has a higher pH than the rest of the face!
Most skincare products are in the acidic range of 5-6. Yes, even skin barrier repairing products! So a product when applied on a patch of damaged skin barrier with an alkaline pH, can sting! However, this feeling is temporary and will fade in a matter of seconds.
HOW CAN WE BALANCE THE SKIN pH?
Using a barrier repairing and fortifying product will help replenish the lost barrier lipids from your skin. These lipids catalyse enzymatic actions which slowly rebalance and stabilise the pH of your skin back to its normal acidic range.
With this in mind, we formulated our ceramide moisturiser (in my defence) with the three main barrier-restoring lipids - cholesterol, fatty acids and 20x more ceramides than the industry standard. With the high concentration of lipids, in my defence accelerates barrier repair and fortifies it from within, giving you soft, supple skin that does not sting on the application of products!
THE TAKEAWAY
To sum up, while using a barrier replenishing product, if it stings for the first few seconds, it’s okay! But if your whole face stings, then maybe the product isn’t working for you and you should think of switching!
So, next time you experience stinging from using a product, try and understand whether the cause could be your product or skin.