Beauty comes from the inside is not just a folk saying but an actual scientific fact! In order to understand what makes our skin healthy, we need to understand all the factors that directly influence its wellbeing. Diet, sleep, exercise, water intake, environmental pollution, personal care products all affect your skin’s health. The main line of defense that is most exposed to all these agents-your skin barrier.
What is the skin barrier?
The skin barrier is a thin layer of cells that sits on the surface of your skin. Our skin, being the shield that protects us from environmental factors, is consisted of layers. The outermost layer is created of specific cells called keratinocytes fused together by lipids (oils) – this is the skin barrier.
Every day, our skin is exposed to air pollution, smoke, UV rays that deplete and weaken the skin barrier, making the inner layers of the skin exposed to these pollutants and causing extensive harm.
This barrier is essential for keeping your skin healthy and hydrated, as it helps to lock in moisture and keep out environmental irritants. When your skin barrier is damaged, it can lead to several problems, such as dryness, sensitivity, and skin conditions like eczema.
How to know if your skin barrier is damaged?
If your skin barrier is damaged, it may show as certain skin symptoms and conditions. People with a depleted barrier are prone to:
- itchiness
- dry, scaly skin
- rough or discolored patches
- acne
- sensitive or inflamed (red) areas
- bacterial, fungal or viral skin infections
How to protect and restore your skin barrier
Now that we’ve learned the importance of this protective layer, we need to learn how to take care of it. By adding a few changes to your everyday routine, you can help your skin barrier stay healthy and do its hard work!
Improve your skincare routine
There are a few things you can do to help repair and protect your skin barrier. First, it is important to use gentle, non-irritating skincare products that won’t strip away the natural oils that help keep your skin barrier intact. You should also avoid using harsh cleansers, exfoliants, or other harsh skincare products that might cause damage. Instead, opt for gentle, hydrating products that will help restore moisture to your skin.
One of the best things you can do for your barrier integrity is to use ingredients that help support and fortify it.
Ceramides as skin barrier repair superstars
Ceramides are waxy lipids that are found in especially high concentrations on the skin’s surface. They’re crucial for making sure your epidermis functions properly, which means it can keep out irritants like dirt and oil while letting water through to moisturize you from within! Products containing these ingredients may help improve dryness or scaling due poor barrier function as well as strengthen structural integrity of both sebum production/transmission (the amount left over after evaporation) and moisture retention when applied topically- so they’ll leave users feeling happy all over.
Antioxidants-scientifically proven to protect from environmental factors
Antioxidants work as “quenchers” or, better yet, “hunters” of free radicals, which help eliminate their negative effects on the skin. The most commonly antioxidants are vitamin C, vitamin E, resveratrol, vitamin A, coenzyme Q10 and many others.
They are usually extracted from the fruit of plants. For example, hydroxytyrosol is one of the most potent antioxidants naturally found in olives. It has the ability to absorb free radicals fifteen (15) times better than vitamin C and three (3) times better than Coenzyme Q10.
This means you can use a very small amount of this ingredient to achieve big results in everyday skin protection.
Try to include moisturizers containing hyaluronic acid
Hyaluronic acid is a household name in the skincare industry. It works as a humectant, meaning that it draws in water. It can hold up to 100 times its weight in water. When applied to the skin, it forms a protective barrier that helps to lock in moisture and keep environmental pollutants out. This barrier also helps to keep your skin’s natural oils balance, which is why hyaluronic acid is a great choice for those with oily and combination skin types.
Metabiotic skincare for skin barrier integrity
If you’re looking for products that contain all these ingredients, we recommend our metabiotics-infused clinically proven skincare. Metabiotics are a mixture of natural hyaluronic acid, lactic acid, peptides, enzymes, and other organic compounds. A specific enzyme called SMase has a specialized role in metabolizing the protein sphingomyelin. This protein is a building block of ceramides, essential molecules for skin barrier integrity.
To learn more, check our website and social media to catch the whole narrative.
The bottom line
Your skin’s barrier, or outermost layer of our bodies’ protective coat which both defends against environmental factors while also protecting us from water loss in the body. Inflammation symptoms such as dryness and itching can alert you if there has been any disruption to this important defense system so it might be wise to keep an eye out for this kind of changes and to correct what is causing them.
By keeping your lifestyle habits in check, you will significantly improve the quality of your skin health. In eating the right foods, balancing your sleep, exercising regularly, drinking plenty of water are the base of healthy, glowing skin. Including science backed skincare tips and tricks are just a lovely add on!
If you’re performing a complicated daily skin regimen involving a basketful of products, you may be inadvertently weakening your skin barrier. Skincare should be simple and targeted for your specific skin needs.
Consider talking with a dermatologist or another skin care professional about which products are essential and most effective.
To learn more checkout this Skincare Scientists Channel for more science backed content.