Skin Tips: Water, water everywhere…but not on your face please

This week: why it’s best to avoid using water on your face if you have sensitive skin

If you have sensitive skin there’s a good chance you suffer from dry skin too. Whether you have very dry skin or you experience patches of dryness, using soap and water or wash-off products to clean your face can exacerbate the condition.

Water strips your face of essential oils and, when used in conjunction with soap or wash-off cleansers, is just not as effective at removing daily grime (I hate that word but can’t think of anything more elegant!) as using a cream cleanser on a very soft cotton pad. Your face may feel clean because you have splashed water on it, but this is often not the case.

Water is also not necessarily the best option for oily skin. Stripping your face of oil only makes it produce more which is why, even when you do have greasy skin, you should take care to moisturise.

After using a cream cleanser, you should also use a toner to remove excess product. Toners are more gentle than water and should just be swept very lightly over your skin. You will achieve the fresh feeling you get from splashing water on your face. To read more about cleansing and toning sensitive skin, click here.

As well as avoiding wash-off cleansers, it is also best to keep use of scrubs and face masques to a minimum if you have sensitive skin. These inevitably need lots of water and some (often vigorous) rubbing to remove which further stresses sensitive skin.

If you are a water baby, restrict it to your insides! Keep hydrated from the inside and your skin will benefit too.

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