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-inflammatorie 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