The past few months have certainly been a stressful time for us all and, with an increased focus on personal protection and hygiene, a rise in stress-related skin problems have occurred, from dry cracked and sore hands to an increase in mask related acne and inflammation. 

Face coverings have become an important and essential item in our everyday lives, along with house keys, phone and wallet, we are now grabbing a hand sanitiser and mask before leaving the house. 

If you have been wearing a face mask often and for extended periods throughout the day, you may have noticed irritated and spotty areas developing on the bridge of your nose, cheeks and chin.  This has been coined ‘maskne’ (technically referred to as acne mechanica) by dermatologists and is when acne forms due to heat and trapped moisture causing friction, pressure and rubbing from the skin-mask interaction.

Stress is a significant contributor to unhappy skin and can range from mental and emotional to environmental and physical, causing skin to become red and inflamed, fragile, damaged, dry and acne prone.  Because the skin and nervous system are so closely connected, the list of pandemic related stress breakouts has seen a rise in skin issues like psoriasis, eczema and seborrheic dermatitis, with increased stress levels leading to inflammation.

Irritation and redness are bad for the skin, not only triggering a hormone response in our bodies, increasing levels of cortisol, which in turn tells the glands in our skin to make more oil (oily skin is more prone to acne and other skin problems), but inflammation also compromises the skin’s repair process and weakens the delicate skin barrier.

Before reaching for harsh treatments, over washing your face, over exfoliating or overdoing the soap, it is absolutely critical to know that the best thing you can do to help heal and rebalance your skin is TO BE GENTLE!  Don’t forget, the skin is the largest organ of the body - so we must respect what it naturally does so well; by being kind and using products that protect and feed our skin’s microbiome.

Our skin microbiome houses a whole host of organisms including bacteria.  This little ecosystem controls a lot, preventing infection and dehydration, facilitating the penetration of our beauty products and managing the overall health of our skin.

As a fairly hostile environment, with quite an acidic PH, our skin has natural antimicrobial defence mechanisms to protect against bad bacteria.  If the balance of good and bad bacteria in our skin’s biome is upset, skin can become fragile and inflamed.  Daily hot showers or baths, abrasion and chafing, chlorinated water, or a sugar-heavy diet, not to mention the increase in soap and product usage can all upset the intricate balance of this ecosystem and overly strip the skin of its natural oils, leading to redness, sensitivity and dryness.

Reducing our skin’s good bacteria and compromising this protective barrier means there is no longer a preventative balance in our skin’s microbiome. 

This is where our Sensitive Skin range can help, with prebiotic, uber gentle formulations, the products actually feed the good bacteria and boost their defensive energy to prevent stress related skin conditions and acne.  Prebiotics are a food that favours beneficial microbes over nasty ones, helping to strengthen the skin’s immune responses to stressors. 

TEMPLESPA have developed this gentle, supportive skincare system to settle, strengthen and protect the skin, bringing respite and repair to unhappy, stressed skin.

The products in this collection are formulated with 3 key ingredients, developed to specifically support and protect fragile, stressed and sensitive skin.

 

  • PREBIOTICS - Proven to support your skins microbiome
  • UPGRADED CALMADERM™ COMPLEX - Proven to support your skins microbiome
  • DEFENCIL PLUS™ - Proven to support your skins microbiome

 

Wash your face with a gentle cleanser - avoid products that are too drying or abrasive because they will cause the skin barrier to become more compromised.  BE GONE is our award-winning prebiotic super gentle and calming cleanser to effectively clean the skin whilst settling any redness and supporting the skin’s microbiome.

A calming and gentle moisturiser will provide the perfect support for fragile and stressed skin, BE STILL has an advanced science-based formula of a powerful prebiotic to provide the comfort sensitive skin craves.

For extra soothing and restoration on a deeper level, you can treat your skin to a settling, uber nutritious mask such as the award-winning BECALM.  With added powerful prebiotic that’s designed to deliver skin nourishment, comfort and hydration for the sensitive type.