How to Manage Skin Changes During and After Chemotherapy: A Step-by-Step Recovery Guide

Jan 19, 2026Géraldine Poukens

I wasn’t prepared for what chemotherapy would do to my skin.
I expected the fatigue, the hair loss, the nausea.
But no one warned me about this, the feeling that my skin had been sandpapered from the inside out.

It didn’t happen overnight. It was subtle at first: a little dryness, a bit of redness, a strange tightness.
Then suddenly, it snowballed.

My skin barrier was gone.

If you’re going through cancer treatment, or you’re a survivor still dealing with long-term sensitivity, I know exactly how destabilising it feels when your skin becomes unpredictable, reactive, fragile, almost foreign.

Let me walk you through what I learned, what finally worked, and how I rebuilt my skin barrier after chemo when nothing else made sense anymore.

When Chemotherapy Breaks the Skin Barrier

No one tells you this in the hospital, but chemotherapy doesn’t just weaken your immune system. It also reduces the lipids, ceramides, and natural hydration factors that hold your skin together. The result?

burning sensations
redness
tightness
flaking or scaliness
sensitivity to water
products that suddenly sting
inflammation after even a gentle cleanse

For me, the worst part wasn’t the discomfort.
It was the emotional punch of feeling like I had lost control over yet another piece of myself.

The mirror didn’t show “me” anymore.
It showed my treatment.

The Breaking Point

One night, a moisturizer I’d used for years suddenly burned.
Not tingled, burned.
I burst into tears on my bathroom floor because even washing my face felt traumatic.

And that’s when I realised:
My skin wasn’t wrong. My barrier was broken.
And nothing could heal until I stopped attacking it without knowing.

Step 1: Strip Back EVERYTHING

This is the part no one wants to hear, but it’s the truth.

When your skin barrier is damaged from chemotherapy or cancer treatment, the fastest way to make things worse is to keep using:

foaming cleansers
perfumed lotions
essential oils
exfoliating acids
retinoids
serums with “actives”
anything claiming “anti-aging”

Your skin is not ready.

The goal isn’t to “treat problems.”
The goal is to protect the barrier so your skin can even start healing.

So I simplified my routine to three steps.
Three.
Not five, not ten.

And that’s when things started to change.

Step 2: Choose Products Designed for Fragile, Post-Chemo Skin

Here’s the hard part: most “sensitive skin” products still contain fragrance, essential oils, sulfates, alcohols, and hormone disruptors.

All of them triggered me.

So I created a rule for myself:
If it stings, burns, or feels tight after 10 seconds, it goes.

I started from scratch with only fragrance-free, sulfate-free, essential-oil-free, endocrine-disruptor-free products, the exact philosophy I later used for MaGéAu Naturel.

Step 3: A Gentle Cleanser That Doesn’t Strip Your Barrier

During chemotherapy, even tap water irritated my face.
Foaming cleansers? Impossible.

What finally worked was switching to the gentlest cleanse I could find, no perfume, no essential oils, no foam, no sulfates, no drama.

If you need a barrier-safe option: MaGéAu Naturel Face Cleanser

I used it on my face, body, and hands throughout treatment because it cleaned without destroying what was left of my barrier.

Step 4: The Magnesium Moment — When Everything Shifted

This is the part that still feels emotional to talk about.

I was desperate. My skin wasn’t absorbing anything. Every lotion felt like it sat on top of my face, doing absolutely nothing. My body was dry, tight, uncomfortable.

Someone suggested magnesium.

I rolled my eyes, because who puts magnesium in skincare?
But, out of despair, I tried it anyway.

Before magnesium:

my skin was dull, greyish, and rough
lotions didn’t absorb
I had dry patches no amount of cream fixed
everything irritated me
my texture was uneven
I felt older than I was

After magnesium:

deeper hydration almost instantly
irritation calmed
the “tightness” disappeared
my skin actually absorbed product again
smoother texture
less redness
healthier glow

It felt like someone turned the lights back on inside my skin.

This transformation is the reason I created every MaGéAu Naturel formula infused with magnesium.
It wasn’t marketing.
It was a necessity.

If you want to experience the same shift, try the Body Lotion (magnesium-infused, barrier-safe) or the Dry Body Oil (for extreme dryness + peeling).

Step 5: The Scalp — Because Chemo Doesn’t Spare It

Your scalp is part of your skin barrier too.
And chemo makes it tight, painful, flaky, and highly sensitive.

I used shampoos that burned.
Conditioners that tingled.
And I was tired of the pain.

The only way out was switching to cancer-safe haircare with zero irritants with a safe, effective and perfect for sensitive skin, Shampoo (fragrance-free, sulfate-free, magnesium) and Conditioner (deep comfort, barrier-supporting).

It soothed the burning in a way I didn’t think was possible.

Step 6: Seal the Barrier With a Safe Shower Gel

Chemotherapy dries the skin at every level.
A conventional shower gel strips it even more.

I switched to MaGéAu Naturel Shower Gel, and it stopped the post-shower inflammation.

Step 7: Protect Yourself With Mineral SPF

Chemo and radiotherapy make your skin more reactive to the sun — especially your lips.

Chemical SPF burned me.
Non-nano zinc oxide did not.

My everyday protection became a Lip Balm SPF 30 (non-nano zinc, cancer-safe).

A small product, but a big difference.

Step 8: Keep It Simple — More Isn’t Better

When your barrier is damaged, less is healing.
More is inflammation.

Your routine doesn’t need to be complicated.
It needs to be protective.

Step 9: If You Want to Explore Safe Options

My full cancer-safe collection is here:

And if you want smaller formats or post-chemo gift ideas:

If you want to understand the philosophy behind the formulas:

If you’re healing your skin barrier after chemo… please remember this.

It’s not your fault.
It’s not your product.
It’s not your age.
It’s not “sensitive skin.”

It’s cancer treatment. It’s chemotherapy. It’s biology, not failure.

Your skin is doing its best to protect you.
Your job is simply to protect it back.

And you deserve products designed for exactly that.

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