The Problem of Finding Anti-Aging Skin Care Products for Sensitive Skin

The problem of finding anti-aging skin care products for sensitive skin is that most of them cause your face to break out! Here's what I've learned, that may help you to find a solution.

For those of us with sensitive skin, getting older presents some unique challenges. As we age our skin gets drier which makes our skin even more sensitive. We also develop wrinkles, age spots, sagging and other signs of aging.

Well, when looking in the mirror becomes TOO painful, we tend to respond by putting MORE products on our face, and by using a STRONGER antiaging skin care product with more potent ingredients.

Then, you guessed it ... we get the dreaded skin outbreak. Our whole face breaks out in a rash. Or even worse, acne!! :(

As soon as the inflammation goes away, we're on to the next round of anti-aging skin care products, desperate to find a solution ... until the next dreaded rash appears!!

Well, I know it all to well because this used to happen to me!!

I have had a lot of trouble finding a good antiaging skin care product that won't burn my face and WILL make my skin look healthy and beautiful!

Anti-Aging Skin Care Tips for Sensitive Skin

To find the BEST possible anti-aging skin care products for your sensitive skin, you will need to:

Read Product Labels - check the ingredients in all the products you put on your skin. If you'd like more detail on how to choose the LEAST irritating ingredients, please see our Safe Cosmetics Guide.
Avoid Irritating Antiaging Ingredients - Some ingredients used in antiaging products are just too irritating for sensitive skin, like DMAE, Retin-A Hydroquinone and salicylic acid.
Use anti-aging skin care products With FEWER Ingredients - When you have sensitive skin, even one ingredient in a product formulation can cause your skin to break out. For this reason it is best to avoid products that have dozens and dozens of individual ingredients. Instead, choose an anti-aging skin care product with a short list of ingredients.
Limit botanical ingredients - If you have sensitive or hyper sensitive skin, be very careful with botanical, herbal and essential oil ingredients which may cause allergic reactions.

One of the most effective and LEAST irritating options is to use botanical free hypoallergenic skin care products which will help your skin to look its best WITHOUT causing breakouts.
Another great option if your skin is VERY sensitive is to create your own natural antiaging skin care products with ingredients from your kitchen. This is a fun, simple and very affordable method which really works for sensitive skin because YOU can control or modify the ingredients.

My friend Sue has created a REALLY outstanding collection of homemade antiaging skincare recipes. This is one of the best books I've ever found specifically for anti-aging skincare, with over 130 pages of natural and organic anti-aging skincare recipes for all skin types. Sue's recipes REALLY work as you will see when you watch her video and see how great she looks!

Best Antiaging Skin Care Ingredients for Sensitive Skin

If you have sensitive skin, the best antiaging skin care product ingredients are gentler ones that are relatively non-toxic to the body.

Some of the gentler ingredients which are LESS likely to cause irritation include:

Vitamin C is an antioxidant which has healing properties, improves skin tone, and reduces fine lines and wrinkles.
Vitamin E is an antioxidant also with healing properties which provides skin protection and improves skin texture.
Alpha Lipoic Acid is an Antioxidant, stimulates cell repair and new skin cell growth, provides skin protection, improves fine lines and wrinkles and kin tone, and decreases enlarged pores.
Alpha-Hydroxy Acids are also known as AHA and are found naturally in fruits and milk. These are used widely in anti-aging skin care products because they have so many benefits.

These can be used by SOME people with sensitive skin in VERY small amounts and WITHOUT salicylic acid (also known as BHA).

Even people with salicylate allergies can use some forms of AHA called Lactic Alpha-Hydroxy Acid, which are made from milk rather than fruit acids.

AHA works to exfoliate the skin, to stimulate the repair of skin cells and the production of new skin cells. They improve skin tone, texture and elasticity, decrease enlarged pores, help reduce acne, increases collagen production, and reduce fine lines and wrinkles.
Hyaluronic Acid Improves fine lines and wrinkles.
Allantoin is made from comfrey leaf. Stimulates the repair of skin cells, improves skin texture and has healing properties.
Copper Peptides Antioxidant properties, provides skin protection, increases collagen, improves skin elasticity, has firming and skin healing properties.
Natural, fruit based antioxidants can provide some powerful rejuvenating and antiaging benefits. Depending on your unique skin's sensitivity, you may be able to tolerate a lot or a little of these.

I recently discovered a TRULY amazing natural antiaging skincare product line that gave me facelift results after my very first use!

The most active ingredients are a special, patented form of fruit based antioxidants. You can learn more at my wholesale skin care products page.

Avoid a Break Out by Staying Away From These Ingredients!

I've been doing a lot of research about this, and I recommend that you avoid the following antiaging skin care product ingredients. Based on the research I've seen, and also my own experience, they can be more irritating, and are considered a higher health risk to use on your skin.

Retin-A is a high hazard skin care product which shows strong evidence of developmental toxicity and harm to the reproductive system at even low doses. It also builds up in the body years after you use it. I would avoid this even if you don't have sensitive skin!
Hydroquinone is used as a skin lightener which is considered a high hazard and is not recommended for people with sensitive skin. It has been linked to cancer, allergies and immune system toxicity and impairment. There are MUCH safer skin lightening options out there, for example the Xtend Life Whitening Day Cream is both extremely effective, and also safe and paraben free.
Salicylic acid or BHA is used as an exfoliant and to help control acne. It is in quite a number of acne products, but is really quite irritating. Some people are even allergic to it. The Environmental Working Group considers Salicylic acid considered a high health hazard, it produces skin irritation and sensory organ changes when applied around the eyes, mouth, or lips.

Another problem with salicylic acid is that it builds up in the body over time, years after you use it, and is a penetration enhancer which allows the ingredients to pass through all the layers of your skin to enter your bloodstream.

I have written some additional articles on the effect of salicylates and how they can impact your health especially if you have allergies.
DMAE is considered a moderate health hazard which has been linked to allergies and toxicity to the immune system.
Retinol is not recommended for pregnant women due to the possibility of Vitamin A overdose. It is used as an exfoliant which increases the production of collagen, improves fine lines and wrinkles, skin tone and elasticity, improves acne and decreases enlarged pores, but is considered a high hazard ingredient by the Environmental Working Group because of it's effect on development and the body's reproductive systems. Also, recent FDA research has suggested that Retinol, when applied to the skin and then exposed to sunlight, can increase the formation of tumors.

My Experience with Anti-Aging Skin Care Products

Well, I noticed that when I passed the 50 year old mark that my skin was starting to look baggy, saggy and that my mouth had a perpetual frown even when I was happy!! :(

I also had some sun damage from times when I wasn't able to properly care for my skin. I had some trouble finding anti-aging skin care products that didn't irritate my sensitive skin.

After a lot of research and trying different approaches and products, here's what has worked for me.

Facial Exercise has so far been THE most helpful antiaging skin care that I've done. I tried a lot of different types of facial exercise and some actually made my wrinkles worse.

Eventually I learned that each type of facial exercise builds the face differently, and so you need to choose a program that is created to build the facial muscles gracefully. I am most happy with Carolyn's Facial Fitness program which has done wonders for my face. You can see my initial results here at our non-surgical face lift page.
Hypoallergenic Antiaging Skin Care has been very helpful for me in avoiding the redness, inflammation and skin break outs created by most anti-aging products.

It was EXTREMELY difficult for me to find hypoallergenic products that contained effective anti-aging ingredients AND also that did not include the kind of harmful or toxic chemicals that cause breakouts.

I have found that botanical free hypoallergenic products are the most gentle and yet effective choice ... and they are also quite affordable which is important in today's economy!

They are also very effective and you can read my skin care product review which has more detail.

This brand is the ONLY relatively safe, botanical free hypoallergenic product line I have found so far that contains few or no toxins, parabens or harmful ingredients.
Non-irritating Wrinkle Treatments have also been helpful for me. There are some very useful exercises for literally "rubbing out wrinkles" contained in the Carolyn's Facial Fitness program which has helped me to lighten some of the most noticeable lines on my face. These techniques are contained in her "Full" facial exercise kit.

Carolyn recently developed a new line of natural and mostly organic antiaging skin care products that are very safe, toxin free, and they are SUPER effective for sensitive skin. You can read my review here at Carolyn's Facial Fitness Skincare.