Dr. Shereene Idriss has reviewed 46 sensitive-skin products and approved 41 of them. She named three of those products outright category winners. Her record on this skin type carries a Guru Score of 89%.
What does Dr. Shereene Idriss recommend for sensitive skin?
Throughout her picks, Dr. Idriss comes back to the same core idea: protect and repair the skin's barrier, and don't add anything that could irritate it while you're at it. She praised the Aquaphor Healing Ointment Body Spray for locking in moisture without the heaviness of a traditional ointment, calling it ideal for areas that are sensitive or raw. The Aveeno Calm + Restore Oat Gel Moisturizer is a long-running favourite. She credits its colloidal oatmeal, zinc PCA, and peptide blend with calming redness, soothing eczema flares, and repairing the skin's barrier. Zinc comes up a lot in her approved picks. She also pays attention to timing: she saves the La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5 for night, because it is too thick and opaque to layer over an active serum during the day.
In their words
"I lock in that smoothness while my skin is nice and damp with this Aquaphor body spray. It is ideal, it is their ointment in a spray form and it works beautifully because it creates a protective barrier that locks in your moisture without making you feel overwhelmed or overburdened by that ointment. It just helps to heal areas that are very sensitive or raw. Just one tip: put a large towel on the floor if you are going to be spraying this because it does have a scatter effect."
"Aveeno Calm + Restore Oat Gel Moisturizer. Holy grail. I've been talking about it since 2019, 2020. I'm obsessed. Colloidal oatmeal really does help to soothe irritation, hydrate deeply, and help repair the skin barrier by replenishing your skin's lipids. [...] It contains acetylol tetropeptide 40, a next-gen peptide that helps your skin stay calm under pressure and reduces visible redness by strengthening very fragile capillaries and soothing inflamed skin over time. And [...] zinc PCA, which is your skin's stress manager. It's going to help balance oil, calm inflammation, irritation, and keep bacteria under control. This is going to regulate your sebum, minimize your redness, and support your skin. If you have eczema and flare-ups, this is really helpful for healing your skin."
"I really really like this one. [...] It is a thick and rich luscious ointment. It retails for approximately 14 to 15 dollars. It's fragrance free. It also has prebiotic oat concentrates, aloe, and pro vitamin B5. This was and is a staple in my household, especially when I had babies."
"Focusing on just giving it basic soothing and calming ingredients like petroleum jelly and Vaseline to make sure that you are locking that superficial layer of your skin and minimizing anything that can come in and anything that can come out."
"La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5 is a hydrating moisturizer with zinc in it. If you have discoloration and [...] an inflamed barrier, or you're red and irritated because it's so dry outside, it's a nice option to use because of the zinc to help calm any irritation. It's very thick. [...] I like to use this at night. I wouldn't use the B5 during the day after the active serum because it might be too white or opaque and it might be just too much on your skin."
"This is the COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence that they call, but I view this more like a serum. It's slightly thicker, it's not as watery, and I do see it more as a serum in my opinion, so I'm going to call it kind of an essence serum."
How many products has Dr. Shereene Idriss reviewed for sensitive skin?
Dr. Shereene Idriss has reviewed 46 products for sensitive skin, for a Guru Score of 89%. 41 approved, 3 mixed, and 2 skipped.
What has Dr. Shereene Idriss skipped for sensitive skin?
She skipped just two of the 46 products she reviewed. One was Sudocrem: she flagged it for containing essential oils that can irritate the very skin they are meant to soothe. The other was the Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Rich Repair Cream. She found it decent for acne-prone, dry skin, but pointed out that it uses zinc gluconate rather than zinc oxide. For anyone trying to seriously repair an inflamed barrier, she said you could do better.
"If you live in Europe and you're trying face basting with Sudocrem, just be careful because it has essential oils. This one can be a little bit irritating, believe it or not, if you are sensitive."
"Drunk Elephant has just come up with their Bora Barrier Repair Cream, and I saw on social that they were duping this and comparing this to a diaper rash cream, but it is not comparable because it is zinc gluconate in this particular product, not zinc oxide. It is a nice barrier cream with squalane, ceramides, and other ingredients. But it's not exactly what I'm referring to when I talk about face basting because of the zinc, the lack of zinc oxide in it. So if you are somebody who is acne prone with dry skin, might be worth looking into this particular product for that reason. But if you're trying to face baste to really repair your skin from an inflamed skin barrier, you could do better than this."
What should you take from Dr. Shereene Idriss's picks?
Dr. Idriss is a practical voice on sensitive skin. She does not just give a yes or a no. She explains which ingredient is doing the work and why a small formulation choice can change what a product is actually useful for. Her three category winner picks are Finacea 15% Azelaic Acid Gel, Aquaphor Healing Ointment Body Spray, and First Aid Beauty Hydrating Sunscreen Milk. All three point in the same direction: formulas that repair and protect, with nothing added that could get in the way.
Watch Dr. Shereene Idriss say it
Every verdict here comes from a video. These are the moments themselves, each one jumping straight to the bit about that product.
- Finacea 15% Azelaic Acid GelNamed a winnerWatch at 10:51
- Aquaphor Healing Ointment Body SprayNamed a winnerWatch at 10:23
- First Aid Beauty Hydrating Sunscreen MilkNamed a winnerWatch at 0:10
- SudocremSkipped itWatch at 9:16
- Drunk Elephant Bora Barrier Rich Repair CreamSkipped itWatch at 5:43
- Aveeno Calm + Restore Oat Gel MoisturizerRated itWatch at 17:08
- Aveeno Eczema TherapyRated itWatch at 3:47
- Vaseline Original Healing JellyRated itWatch at 8:16
- La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5Rated itWatch at 9:42
- COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power EssenceRated itWatch at 5:06
- The Ordinary Soothing & Barrier Support SerumRated itWatch at 6:09
- Tower 28 SOS Daily Rescue Facial SprayRated itWatch at 6:08
- Aestura Atobarrier 365 CreamRated itWatch at 9:30
- Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing BalmRated itWatch at 4:25
- Dr. Jart+ Cicapair Tiger Grass Color Correcting Treatment SPF 30Rated itWatch at 2:30
- BYOMA Hydrating SerumRated itWatch at 6:16
- The INKEY List Polyglutamic Acid Dewy Sunscreen SPF 30Rated itWatch at 18:05
- The INKEY List Retinol Eye CreamRated itWatch at 6:51
- The INKEY List Peptide MoisturizerRated itWatch at 9:27
- Jordan Samuel Skin Moisture Recovery CreamRated itWatch at 10:23
- Jordan Samuel Skin Performance CreamRated itWatch at 3:12
- Aveeno Common Restore SerumRated itWatch at 5:08
- La Roche-Posay Double Repair Face Moisturizer SPF 30Rated itWatch at 8:30
- Beauty of Joseon Revive Eye Serum: Ginseng + RetinalRated itWatch at 1:09
About this expert
See everything Dr. Shereene Idriss has reviewed
Related guides
This guide reflects what Dr. Shereene Idriss said across their videos about 46 products for sensitive skin, aggregated by The Guru Index. Sponsored takes are excluded. The Guru Score is our read on how warmly they talk about them. It is general information, not medical advice.