Dry Sensitive
Dry skin that's easily upset.
The most careful end of our range.
Skin that feels tight and flaky, and that stings, reddens or flares more readily than most. Dry Sensitive skin struggles to hold on to moisture, and as it dries, irritants find it easier to get in. Everything on this page is built around those two problems.
Is this you?
Dry Sensitive skin tends to feel tight, often soon after washing, and can look dull or show flaky patches by the afternoon. New products frequently sting or prickle before they settle, if they settle at all. It reddens or goes blotchy easily, in cold wind, after a hot shower, or for no obvious reason. And it can feel itchy or rough in a way that steadier skin doesn't.
If several of those are familiar and they happen often rather than once in a while, you're likely in the right place. If you're not certain, the skin type finder takes a couple of minutes and will point you the right way.
What Dry Sensitive skin needs
Dry Sensitive skin has two things going on at once. It loses moisture too easily, and because its barrier is doing less of its job, the things that cause irritation reach it more readily. So the work is twofold. Put moisture back and help the skin hold on to it. And keep everything calm and simple, so as not to add to the upset.
That shapes every choice in these moisturisers: plant oils that support the barrier and help skin hold moisture, soothing ingredients such as allantoin, and no added fragrance or anything sharp or stripping.
The oils in every Dry Sensitive moisturiser
Every Dry Sensitive moisturiser shares the same blend of five cold-pressed and organic plant oils, carried at a different richness in each of the three textures.
Baobab softens and helps skin hold on to moisture. Evening primrose is one of the few plant oils rich in gamma-linolenic acid, and studies suggest GLA-rich oils support barrier function in skin that is dry and easily provoked. Tamanu is a thick, conditioning oil that softens and soothes. Dragon fruit seed oil is light and rich in linoleic acid. Sea buckthorn, in a small amount, adds omega-7 and carotenoids.
Every Biotaderm moisturiser also contains squalane, a barley ferment upcycled from gin distilling, the plant prebiotic inulin, allantoin, vitamin E and chlorella. Each one also carries bladderwrack, the same seaweed species that grows on the rocks below Welcombe, as a cold infusion in sunflower oil made in the UK.
Each product page lists every ingredient with its exact percentage, and links each one to its entry in our ingredient library.
Your three Dry Sensitive moisturisers
The same Dry Sensitive blend comes in three textures, so you can match the richness to where you use it.
Flow, over 9% plant oil, is made for the face. Core, over 14%, is the most versatile, for anywhere on the body and the face when it wants more than Flow. Deep, over 19%, is the richest, for hands, elbows and feet.
If your skin reacts easily, patch test on the inside of your forearm before first use.
Looking after Dry Sensitive skin
A few gentle habits tend to help this skin type as much as any single product does.
Wash a little less than you think you need to, with lukewarm rather than hot water, and something mild rather than a foaming or heavily scented cleanser. Pat dry rather than rub. Moisturise while the skin is still slightly damp, which helps hold the water in. Introduce new things one at a time, with a patch test, so that if something doesn't suit you, you know exactly what it was. Shelter the skin from cold wind and strong sun, both of which reactive skin feels keenly. And give any change a few weeks before you judge it.
We never add synthetic fragrance, one of the more common triggers for reactive skin. The range contains one essential oil, vetiver, at a tenth of a percent, and the label shows exactly how much is there.
Your skin type can change
Dry Sensitive isn't a fixed label. With gentle, consistent care, skin can get better at holding moisture and react a little less, and for some people it settles toward the steadier Dry type. Any change is slow, and it comes from steady care more than from any one product. If your skin changes, the skin type finder will place you again.
Where to next
- See the three Dry Sensitive moisturisers: Flow, Core and Deep
- Not sure this is you? Find your skin type
- The other skin types: Dry, Balanced, Oily, Oily Sensitive
- How we choose our ingredients, and the science behind them