Today I’m going to be a bigger person, so that I can stop being… a… uh… bigger person. I’m going to end this fruitless feud between the gym and myself and get back to being on speaking terms with my workouts. What ‘caused this riff in the first place, you ask?

Oh, I’ll tell you. That jerk-off workout repeatedly wrecked havoc on my sensitive skin, leading to redness, peeling, breakouts, itching – as if I need that kind of nonsense. Seriously, all I was trying to do was have a nice, friendly one-on-one with my workout a few times a week, but every time I did, I’d leave, not with that post rosy work-out glow, but instead with a bevy of unattractive and lingering redness! I don’t need that kind of abuse! But, in the end… my (back) end is starting to go south. So that’s that – this senseless silence between my gym and I must end.



The good folks at Fitness magazine must certainly feel my pain as they helpfully addressed this issue in their latest and greatest October ’11 article entitled “Sooth Your Skin,” and while I would have called it something waaay more aggressive, they do offer some kick-butt ways to conquer sensitive skin issues. This week we’re going to take a peek at some of the cause-and-effect facts causing our dermis’ to be nearly as sensitive as we ourselves our from time to time in a two part series I like to call “Stop Being So Sensitive!”

I know I’m not alone, according to a noted Los Angeles dermatologist nearly 60% of people in the U.S. claim to have sensitive skin (a number that’s doubled in the last 30 years.) So let’s take a peek at what all this “sensitivity” really means:

Ever slapped on your moisturizing salve only to experience stinging flames spread like wild fire across your face? SENSITIVE

Watched as your supple and smooth visage transformed into reptilian-like flakiness and scaliness? (I hate you, yoga chin.) SENSITIVE

How ‘bout the aforementioned rosy glow that lingers on and on and on after you’re workout? SENSITIVE


What about that post-workout breakout? (A term that should only be used to describe a Houdini-type escape from the pokey or the latest starlet.) SENSITIVE

Now that we’ve identified the detailed tragedies that signal sensitive skin, our next step (you know, the one that solves the problem) is going to take a little more time. On Friday we’ll bust out the whole facts and solutions song-and-dance and banish the redness, flakiness, breakouts and burning once and for all. Let’s see if we can’t find a solution that works better than slamming the gym door in a huff vowing to never speak to a treadmill again, shall we?