We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Broadcast: When Products Light Your Face on Fire

While I was going about my routine skincare a few nights ago, I suddenly had a bad reaction to a cleanser I’d used with no problems in the past. I’d suspected something was up because I had begun breaking out around the same time I had begun using the cleanser, but I had also started my period around that time, so I was leaving the product in my lineup until I could rule out hormones as a cause. But no! The breakouts were definitely a reaction to a product! How do I know? IIIIIIIT BUUUUUUUUURNED.

Within 30 seconds of applying the cleanser, I had turned green, shrunk several feet, and burst into flames. My childhood invisible friend Sammy Sosa snapped this photo for posterity.

In the grand scheme of reactions to products, it really wasn’t that bad: I felt a mild burning sensation on and around my nose. I didn’t actually realize it was a product at first; I thought my poor nose was just raw after two days of constantly blowing my nose (colds suck). When I wiped the cleanser off, however, I could clearly see that my whole face had turned a lovely shade of splotchy red.

Go straight to Panic. Do not pass Go; do not collect $200.

In a rare stroke of proving-I-actually-have-a-functioning-brain, I went straight to the fridge, pulled out the yogurt, and slapped on a DIY mask. I picked yogurt because (1) it’s cold, (2) it’s hydrating, and (3) dairy generally has a basic pH, and the cleanser I used contained 5% glycolic acid, so I was hoping to neutralize any of the acid still left on my skin. After I felt like my skin had calmed down, I rinsed the mask off and rewashed my face with the gentlest cleanser I own (Clinique Take the Day Off Balm) to restore my skin to the right pH (skin is around 4.5-5.0 whereas acid products in skincare are generally 3.0-4.0). And showered. Definitely shower after you put dairy all over your face because what if it gets in your hair? You’ll smell like spoiled milk. I’m getting anxious on your behalf. Just take a shower.

All of that is to say, here are my thoughts on treating newly-sensitive skin after a bad product reaction:

First of all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Rinse the product off your face with cold water as soon as you start to suspect something is wrong. It’s better to have been wrong and have to wash your face twice than to assume it’s fine and spend the next week days avoiding all your exfoliating products like the plague.

Once you can clearly tell that you’re having a reaction, you need to determine (if you can) whether you’re dealing with irritant contact dermatitis (ICD) or allergic contact dermatitis (ACD). Although the symptoms are similar – redness, burning, itching, stinging – ACD, which is a true allergic reaction, can also cause rashes, blisters, hives, or other symptoms of allergic reactions. In this case, the reaction I had was ICD (redness, burning sensation) whereas the reaction I had to all those salt scrubs after my seafood allergy was ACD (redness, itchiness, hives).

It could also have been lingering sensitivity. Or, at least, I’m choosing to believe was lingering sensitivity until proven otherwise.

Now, I’M NOT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL, but if you’re clearly having an allergic reaction, it’s safest to seek medical help. If you’re having breathing problems (coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, etc.), call 911/go to the ER/go to urgent care immediately. If you have hives or a rash, especially if they spread outside the immediate area to which you applied to product, and especially-especially if they last more than 24 hours, call or visit your usual doctor as soon as you can. They may prescribe you something; they may suggest you get an allergy test. I actually don’t know what goes on at those visits since EMS came to save me during The Seafood Incident of Christmas 2016.

I’M STILL NOT A LICENSED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL, but if your reaction is ICD or if you’re unable to determine whether it’s ICD or ACD, it’s probably mild enough that you don’t need medical intervention. First of all, here are some thoughts on this WikiHow article on treating skin reactions, which is what you get when you do a general search for home treatments for skin reactions to skincare products.

In order of the article: I would not wash your face immediately with a cleanser since that might irritate your skin more.

I wouldn’t use calamine lotion on already-irritated skin unless you’ve used it before on healthy skin because the reaction I got from leaving calamine on a bit too long was vicious.

Aloe vera is a good choice, but make sure you’re using 100% aloe, or you might irritate your skin more.

I definitely wouldn’t rub hydrocortisone all over your face without asking your doctor first.

Do not try any of the natural remedies recommended except for the oatmeal one: clay will dry your skin out, further aggravating the reaction;

apple cider vinegar is acidic and will sting like a mofo;

and peppermint and basil are too strong of fragrances to put on sensitive skin (see: menthol, camphor, strong essential oils).

Cold water is definitely the best thing you can do for your skin, especially in the immediate aftermath of the reaction.

Now that we’ve cleared that up…

In my mind, there are two keys to dealing with skin irritation (if you have sensitive skin to begin with, they’re going to sound familiar): avoid aggravation and increase hydration. Avoiding aggravation means toning down the strength of the products you use to avoid irritating your now-sensitive skin further – gentle cleansers, little-to-no exfoliation, gentle serums, gentle moisturizers (this is especially true if you have lots of anti-aging products, which tend to have skin-resurfacing acids in them). Increasing hydration means focusing on hydrating and moisturizing products – especially toners, serums, moisturizers, and masks – to restore your skin’s acid mantle. Two excellent resources on the acid mantle (more commonly known in skincare as the moisture barrier) are this post from the Skincare Addiction subreddit and this post by Kerry of Skin & Tonics, and it’s important because you likely destroyed it with your terrible, horrible, no good, very bad product, making it difficult for your skin to retain water. Look for products that are high in hyaluronic acid and glycerin since those ingredients help bind water to the skin.

For me, it was enough to wipe off the cleanser, thoroughly rinse with cold water, slap on the yogurt, and follow with my usual skincare (minus acid toner and tretinoin). If your reaction is more severe, you may want to run a washcloth under cold water and lay that over your face for several minutes before trying anything else. Here are some other good options:

• If you’re a sheet mask person, now is the time.
• If you have a gel or cream mask that you’re confident is gentle enough, now is the time.
• If you have 100% pure aloe vera, now is the time. You can slather it on plain for an ultra-gentle mask, or mix one-part milk with two-parts aloe to create a gentler version of my yogurt mask.
• If you have a hydrating toner, now is the time.
• If you have a hydrating serum, now is the time.
• If you have a gel-cream or gel moisturizer, now is the time.
• If you have a hydrating overnight mask, now is the time.

I’m not saying use all of these all at the same time, but use as many as you can so long as your skin keeps absorbing them. I’m also not saying don’t use any oil-based products (like a face oil or moisturizer), but if you have the choice, preference products that focus on adding water to your skin rather than adding oil to your skin. Now is the time to think in terms of hydrating products and occlusive products, like Cat of Snow White and the Asian Pear lays out in this post. A good rule of thumb would be to act as though your skin is sensitive and dehydrated (because it is now, even if it isn’t usually).

When in doubt, do absolutely nothing for a few days, and your skin will recreate its acid mantle on its own.