ABSTRACT
Each day our skin is in contact with a multitude of aggressions that we need to minimize. This can be done by decreasing the intrinsic irritation potential of the insult, by placing an additional barrier between the irritant and our skin, or by changing our behavior. Chemical irritants are usually the best-known irritants that inflame our skin, but physical, biological, and environmental factors are also important causes of irritation (Table 1)
In some cases, several irritant categories may act simultaneously on the skin to potentiate their effect. For instance, scrubbing products involve a mechanical stress of the skin by rubbing the skin with solid particles and a chemical stress by the surfactants used to formulate the vehicle. With so many types of potential irritants, it is obvious that skin irritation can be induced through different pathways.
