Without a heathy skin barrier, you cannot treat dehydrated, acne or aging skin effectively. Always work from the bottom of the Skin Treatment Priority Pyramid and get the fundamentals of skin health right first before working your way up.

Here’s what to prioritise:



1. Treat the skin barrier. This can be caused by trauma, redness, rosacea, perioral dermatitis, over exfoliating or using incorrect products for your skin type. If you consider yourself to have sensitive skin, start here because your skin barrier needs to be repaired.



2. Treat dehydrated skin. Many people confuse their dehydrated skin for dry skin. Dry skin is caused by fewer oil-producing glands. Dehydrated skin is due to lack of water. If your don’t have a healthy skin barrier water is not retained. 



3. Treat acne. First treat inflamed acne and then non-inflamed acne. Acne is an inflammatory condition. Inflammation must be control before it can be treated.



4. Treat aging. “Anti-aging” treatments are generally more aggressive and can territories sensitive skin, Make sure the skin barrier is intact and healthy before moving to retinoids or retinols.