BEST CLOTHING CONSIDERATIONS FOR YOUR SENSITIVE SKIN BY DR. YOKOYAMA

Expert Dermatologist and Co-developer of SunoHada Dr. Yokoyama answers your sensitive skin questions in this month’s Skinsecure Spotlight.

Q.

How does choice of clothing impact my skin? 

from Alice.lowsf

A.

If you suffer from skin flare-ups on those parts of the body that are in contact with clothing, particularly those areas where clothes are tight or cause friction with the skin, your clothing may be the source of your problem. When you repeatedly wear those clothes, it may even spread the symptoms, worsening your skin condition.

There are mainly 2 causes, physical stimulation or chemical stimulation, which can lead to skin irritation;

1. Physical Stimulation Clothes tags, seams, or scratchy materials such as wool, can rub your skin and cause irritation, particularly with sensitive skin.

2. Chemical Stimulation Synthetic materials, such as nylon, polyester, acrylics, and rayon tend to produce skin irritation as these fabrics are less breathable and trap sweat inside, which can lead to itchy skin.
   
   

   Some people produce allergic reactions to a certain material such as metal, rubber, dye, or detergent residue in fabric.

So what should you consider to avoid skin flare-up caused by clothing?

• If physical stimulation such as a tag at the back of the neck cause skin irritation, avoid wearing tight-fitting clothes or wear a base layer of a breathable fabric like cotton underneath to protect from the physical stimulation.

• Skin irritation caused by the seam of the clothes tend to happen with delicate baby skin. To prevent this from happening, a good solution is to turn the clothes inside out when wearing.

• Should you feel irritation when wearing clothes made of synthetic materials, we recommend wearing clothes made of 100% cotton, which is highly breathable and absorbent to prevent from skin flare-up caused by sweat.

• Detergent residue left in the fabric can be a stimuli of skin irritation. Therefore, it is important to use the appropriate amount of detergent when doing laundry and ensure clothes have been thoroughly rinsed.

• If there is a possibility you have an allergic reaction, please see a doctor in order to identify the allergen using a skin patch test so that you can take steps to avoid the allergen in future.

Last but not least, when the barrier function of the skin is weakened, skin flare-up is more likely to occur due to external stimuli, including clothing. Therefore, it is important to restore skin’s natural moisture balance by moisturizing your skin sufficiently, after gently washing off sweat and dirt using SunoHada Gentle Body Wash for sensitive skin.

Should you feel itchy and need to scratch your skin due to irritation cause by clothing, you may fall into the itch-scratch cycle which makes your skin condition worse.
Therefore, It is recommended using SunoHada Quick Itch Relief Moisturizing Mist whenever you feel dryness to relieve the symptom quickly.