For the past few weeks, we’ve been talking about what sensitive skin actually needs. Now we can finally show you where we were going with all of it.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve talked a lot about sensitive skin.
About the skin barrier. About hydration. About why more ingredients aren't necessarily better. About the difference between ingredients your skin actually needs and the extras that can sometimes create more problems than they solve.
There was a reason.
We’ve been building toward something.
Meet Soak & Soothe.
A new way to deliver something dermatologists have relied on for decades: water.
Sometimes, the simplest thing is the thing your skin needs most
In dermatology, we have a decidedly unglamorous phrase: soak and seal.
The idea is simple. Hydrate the skin with water, then apply a moisturizer to help retain that hydration.
It’s a technique dermatologists have used for years for very dry and compromised skin because there is a fundamental difference between putting moisturizer onto dry skin and putting moisturizer onto well-hydrated skin.
But there’s a problem.
Traditional soak-and-seal techniques weren't exactly designed with your face—or your bathroom counter—in mind.
We wanted to change that.
We didn't want to make another sheet mask
There are plenty of sheet masks already.
They’re often soaked in complicated serums filled with botanical extracts, fragrance, essential oils and long lists of ingredients designed to make the experience feel like it's doing something.
For sensitive skin, more isn't always better.
So when we started thinking about how to bring the concept of soaking to facial skincare, we approached it differently.
Instead of asking:
What else can we add?
We asked:
What does the skin actually need?
That question became Soak & Soothe.
So what exactly is Soak & Soothe?
It’s our modern take on a very old dermatologic principle.
The system allows the skin to remain in contact with hydration for longer than simply splashing water on your face—and then pairs that hydration with moisturizer to help support the skin barrier and reduce water loss.
Soak. Then soothe.
Simple enough to actually do. Elegant enough to become part of your routine.
And, most importantly to us, designed from the beginning with sensitive and allergy-prone skin in mind.
Because we don't think you should need a different version of skincare just because your skin is sensitive.
We think skincare should be formulated better in the first place.
This is really what we've been talking about all along
If you've been reading along with us these past few weeks, you may have noticed a theme.
We're skeptical of skincare complexity for complexity's sake.
Your skin doesn't necessarily need another ten-step routine. It doesn't need every trending ingredient layered on at once. And it certainly doesn't benefit from ingredients that are there primarily to make a product smell, tingle, or feel more exciting.
Sometimes good skincare is surprisingly simple.
Hydrate the skin.
Support the barrier.
Avoid unnecessary irritants.
And be consistent.
Soak & Soothe is our version of that philosophy made tangible.
Who is it for?
We originally came to this idea through some of the most sensitive skin we see as dermatologists.
But we quickly realized something important:
You don't have to have “problem skin” to want calmer, softer, deeply hydrated skin.
Soak & Soothe is for dry skin. Sensitive skin. Reactive skin. Skin that feels tight after cleansing. Skin that's been through a little too much. And skin that simply needs a reset.
Because something we've learned from taking care of very sensitive skin applies surprisingly well to everyone:
When you formulate for the skin that tolerates the least, you often end up with something that's pretty wonderful for the rest of us, too.
And now we finally get to show you
We founded VETTED around a simple idea: skincare should be effective without asking sensitive skin to tolerate ingredients it doesn't need.
Soak & Soothe may be the clearest expression of that idea we've made yet.
It isn't about adding more.
It's about making something simple work better.
Soak. Soothe. Seal in the hydration.
And finally, after all our hints, we can say it:
Soak & Soothe is here.
Created by the dermatologists behind VETTED Dermlab.
