And literally all but one of your comments since you joined a day ago suggest everyone needs to use actives. Please consider that not everyone is starting with skin from the same place, and that some people may be able to tolerate starting 2% BHA from the start and some people need to be careful of overexfoliation. Do you mean to be posting in r/skincareaddiction, since this sub is mostly directing people away from all the acids all the time and encouraging hydration and moisture and nurturing the skin rather than blasting it with acids ala SCA suggesting tret or acids for the most minor problems? I am not 'repeating things' I've heard and have no idea what I'm talking about: I've used acids, I've monitored my skin to make sure I don't overexfoliate, I've backed off when my skin began getting irritated. It's great that acids have worked for you, but when people come here talking about skin issues that have a lot in common with the symptoms of overexfoliation, people are going to suggest they cut down on the exfoliation to see if it makes a difference rather than increase the exfoliation and see if it makes a difference. If they increase their use and, oops, it was too much overexfoliation, now you've caused even more damage. If they decrease their use and the problems are still there as well as the problems the active was causing resurfacing, then they know.

FYI Caroline Hirons is not the be all and end all of skincare, and you say yourself in other comments that you changed your entire routine and built up actives slowly, so I'm not sure why you're so antagonised by people suggesting here that routine changes happen first and actives get built up slowly over time. Daily exfoliation is not the goal, good skin is the goal, and not everyone needs or can handle daily exfoliation. If you don't want to see people recommend against using too much too fast, maybe don't come to the Daily Help thread, because that gets said a lot since that's what beginners are most likely to do, go straight for acids to 'cure' their acne while not even having a decent cleansing, moisturising, sun protecting routine in place.

Also, if OP stopped being able to use products they could previously use, and you don't think they've overexfoliated and damaged their moisture barrier, why do you think their skin has increased sensitivity to products they could previously use as well as the dry patches you attribute to not exfoliating enough? Overexfoliation leading to moisture barrier damage would explain both those problems, so what's your explanation for OP's increased sensitivity?