Anti-Irritants and Anti-Inflammatories

Avoiding irritating ingredients is important for the health of your skin, but it is also help­ful to use skin-care products containing ingredients that mitigate or counter the effects of irritation on skin. Anti-irritants and anti-inflammatories are a group of ingredients known for reducing or relieving skin irritation and inflammation. Because irritation and inflamma­tion are well known to be problematic for skin, anti-irritants as well as anti-inflammatories have become popular and necessary terms and components in the cosmetics world and in most medical fields, particularly in dermatology. Many ingredients perform the function of anti-irritants or anti-inflammatories, and better ones are being discovered all the time. Interestingly enough, most antioxidants function as anti-irritants because one of the skin’s responses to free-radical damage is irritation and inflammation. These ingredients go a long way toward helping the skin deal with its daily struggle against sun exposure, pollution, skin-care routines (topical disinfectants, sunscreens, and exfoliants can be irritating to skin), and seasonal environmental extremes (Sources: Exogenous Dermatology, June 2004, pages 154-160; and Toxicology Letters, December 2003, pages 65-73).