Natural Skincare Routine for Dry & Sensitive Skin

Whether dry and sensitive is simply how your skin has always been, or your barrier is currently compromised, from over-cleansing, harsh products, or something else, the underlying principle for your skincare routine is the same: fewer ingredients, less stripping, and time to let your skin's own barrier and microbiome do their job. See our How Your Skin Works page for the full science behind why. Here's a simple skincare routine for dry and sensitive skin, covering morning and evening

Morning Routine

  1. Rinse – A splash of cool water is usually enough. Avoid anything foaming or stripping first thing.
  2. Moisturise – Apply Unfragranced Beauty Balm over your whole face. It's 100% natural, free from preservatives and emulsifiers, and does triple duty as cleanser, moisturiser and primer, covering nearly everything a healing or sensitive barrier needs in one product.
  3. If skin feels irritated, layer Calendula and Marshmallow Balm on top or in place of the Beauty Balm on affected areas. It's a gentle, soothing, unfragranced option for calming reactive-feeling skin. If you prefer a lighter, whipped texture and don't mind fragrance, our vegan Calendula Cream Natural Emollient is a good alternative, just be aware its essential oils mean very sensitive skin may react, so it's worth patch testing first.
  4. Sun protection – If you'll be in direct sun, apply a mineral sunscreen (zinc oxide or titanium dioxide) before makeup.
  5. Makeup (optional) – Our mineral make-up range is free from antimicrobial preservatives and harsh ingredients, so it won't work against everything else you're doing.

Evening Routine

  1. Cleanse – Massage a pea-sized amount of Unfragranced Beauty Balm over dry skin to dissolve makeup, sunscreen and the day's build-up. Remove gently with a warm, damp flannel. See our Oil Cleansing Method page for the technique and why it works.
  2. Moisturise – Apply Unfragranced Marshmallow Facial Oil over your whole face. It's rich in linoleic acid, exactly the kind of repair-focused ingredient best used at night rather than during UV exposure (see our Free Radicals page for why), and it's vegan, if that matters to you.
  3. Target irritation – If any areas are red, sore, or reactive, layer Calendula and Marshmallow Balm over those specific spots, or Calendula Cream Natural Emollient if you prefer its lighter, fragranced formula (see note above on patch testing first). There's no need to use either over your whole face unless your whole face genuinely needs it.

For more stubborn or more visibly inflamed patches, Zinc and Calendula Cream has a stronger calming effect, thanks to the added zinc oxide, but it's also more drying. Start with Calendula and Marshmallow Balm, and reach for Zinc and Calendula Cream when that alone isn't quite enough, using the sandwich technique below rather than applying it directly.

Using Zinc and Calendula Cream Safely on Dry, Sensitive or Compromised Skin

Zinc and Calendula Cream is genuinely useful for breakouts and more stubborn irritation. But it's worth understanding how it works before using it here: zinc oxide works by binding and solidifying oils and fatty acids, sebum in particular, sitting on the skin's surface. That's ideal on an oily patch, but if your barrier is compromised and there isn't much surface sebum to begin with, applied directly it can end up drawing on the protective lipids within the barrier itself instead, thinning the very structure your skin is trying to repair.

That's what the sandwich technique is for:

  1. Oil cleanse and leave skin damp.
  2. Apply a sparse layer of Unfragranced Beauty Balm to seal in moisture.
  3. Apply Zinc and Calendula Cream over the top.

The zinc calms the area, while the oils in the Beauty Balm underneath give it something to bind instead, so its absorbent action works on that layer rather than pulling lipids from a barrier that's already under strain.

As a spot treatment on an individual pimple or weepy patch, Zinc and Calendula Cream works well applied directly, with no need to moisturise underneath first, the drying action is exactly what you want there. Just keep an eye on the surrounding skin, and go back to moisturising with Beauty Balm or Calendula and Marshmallow Balm if it starts to feel like the barrier is weakening.

How Long Does Recovery Take?

There's no single timeline, it depends on what caused the sensitivity and how significant it is. Mild irritation often settles within days once the trigger is removed. More significant barrier damage, built up over weeks or months, tends to need several weeks or longer. The constant that matters: stop repeatedly irritating the skin, and give it the time and simple conditions it needs to do what it already knows how to do.

If your skin also runs oily or blemish-prone alongside these symptoms, our Oily, Combination & Blemish-Prone routine is a good next step once your barrier feels more settled.