Skin that suddenly stings at products it tolerated last month is usually not sensitive by nature. It is sensitised — the barrier is damaged, and things that should stay outside are getting in.

The distinction matters, because sensitised skin recovers.

Sensitive versus sensitised

Sensitive is a trait. Lifelong, consistent, often runs in families. Managed rather than cured.

Sensitised is a state. It appeared recently, it has a cause, and it goes away.

If your skin was fine a year ago and is reactive now, it is almost certainly the second.

What causes it

Nearly always the routine:

  • Too many actives, or several introduced at once
  • Over-exfoliating — the most common single cause
  • Foaming or stripping cleansers
  • Constant product changes
  • Chasing a "glass skin" routine of eight steps
  • Aggressive professional treatments too frequently

Environmental factors — cold wind, central heating, hard water — contribute but rarely cause it alone.

How to recognise it

  • Stinging on application of things that used to be fine
  • Redness that lingers
  • Tightness that moisturiser does not fix
  • Rough patches on otherwise normal skin
  • New reactions to fragrance
  • Skin that looks shiny in a tight, taut way rather than an oily one

The reset

This is the part people find hard, because it involves doing less.

For at least two to four weeks:

  1. Stop all actives. Retinoids, acids, vitamin C, everything
  2. Stop all exfoliation. Physical and chemical
  3. Use a gentle cleanser only, once a day in the evening, water in the morning
  4. A simple moisturiser with few ingredients, no fragrance
  5. Sunscreen, since damaged skin is more vulnerable
  6. Add nothing new. Not a soothing serum, not a barrier cream you read about

The urge to add something calming is strong and usually counter-productive. Subtraction is the treatment.

Reintroducing

Once skin is comfortable — no stinging, no redness, normal texture — bring actives back one at a time, twice a week, with two weeks between additions.

Most people find they do not need everything they were using.

When it is not this

If irritation persists after a month of a minimal routine, or comes with itching, flaking patches, or visible vessels, that may be rosacea, eczema or dermatitis. Those are dermatological conditions, and a gentler cream is not the answer.

For a minimal routine to reset to, see the skincare section.