If you want to focus on your skin’s barrier as it is a relatively invisible-person who actually maintains your skin’s health and brightness. The skin barrier plays an important role for the skin to be smooth, hydrated and glowing at all times. However, due to the different negative influences such as pollution, crude body soaps, sun, heat among others, the skin barrier is often damaged. If your skin feels tight, dry or even inflamed this is a good indication that you need to give your skin barrier some love.
So, what is this skin barrier and why is it such a big deal? In this blog post I will share with you what skin barrier is, why is it so important and how you can go about repairing it. No matter if your skin tends to scaly or become red or spot-prone, knowing how to treat your barrier properly changes skin health.
What is Skin Barrier?
The skin barrier also referred to as the stratum corneum is the final layer of your skin. Think of it as a brick wall: the “bricks” are skin cells and the “mortar” that is holding all these cells together is made up of lipids such as ceramides, cholesterol and fatty acids. This barrier acts as a barrier just to ensure that foreign objects that may harm the skin do not get in and at the same time to ensure that the moisture of the skin is retained.
A healthy skin barrier will result in a glowing skin, skin that is smooth and well moisturized. If you sebaceous glands are damaged, your skin may end up drying, becoming sensitive, red and even develop acne.
How Do You Know if Your Skin Barrier is Damaged?: While many people believe their skin is healthy, a quick assessment can oftentimes help to determine if your skin’s barrier is in fact compromised.
There are a few telltale signs that indicate your skin barrier is compromised:There are a few telltale signs that indicate your skin barrier is compromised:
Dryness and flakiness: Scales and dry skin on your body suggest that your outer layer is unable to retain moisture, warns Your Skin Site.
Increased sensitivity: When your barrier is damaged, your skin may become over-sensitive and products will make the skin feel sore or burn.
Redness and inflammation: A breached barrier enables the entrance of such things as dirt, oil or any other irritant that would cause skin blemish like redness, blotchiness, or acne breakout.
Tightness: This indicates that the skin’s barrier is compromised and this could be resulting from the stripping effect of the products used particularly during cleansing.
Breakouts: When the barrier is compromised, there is an imbalance in oil production which results to clogged pores and eventually to acne.
Top Contibutors to Skin Barrier Dysfunction
It is essential to note that your skin barrier is vulnerable to several forms of interference coming from various factors, which may be environmental or life style induced. Here are some common culprits:Here are some common culprits:
Over-exfoliation: Although exfoliating is effective in the removal of dead skin cells and decrease skin roughness but over-exfoliating negatively affects skin barrier function, while removing the skin’s natural oils.
Harsh skincare products: Which can cause harm such as when using products with alcohol, sulfate or fragrance because they erode the skin’s natural barrier if used often.
Extreme weather: Cold wind during winter season and hot with high humidity during summer will stretch the skin barrier.
Over-washing: Exfoliation: washing your face with too much frequency or using hot water will have the effect of reducing the skins sebum production.
Pollution: Environmental pollutants have the ability to intercalate into the skin and create havoc in the skin by causing injuries which accumulate with time.
How to Repair Your Skin Barrier ‘The Professional’ Way
Knowing the role of the skin barrier in your skin’s health, it is now time to learn how to heal your skin barrier. Given below are some helpful tips which you should follow to bring your skin to its original health.
1. Simplify Your Skincare Routine
When your skin barrier is damaged, the best thing to do is to lower your skin care regimen’s complexity. Applying too many products on the skin or using products that are containing active ingredients such as retinoids, AHAs or BHAs can worsen the skin.
Instead, focus on the basics:Instead, focus on the basics:
A gentle cleanser
Hydrating toner or essence or any product that has a similar function or purpose
A barrier-repairing moisturizer
Sunscreen during the day
Going back to the basic eliminates stricterOption enables your skin to heal up without putting stress on many ingredients. If you do use active ingredients, you should temporarily stop your regimen, so the skin barrier gets the chance to rebuild.
2. I’d recommend incorporating a mild, which is a gentle and a pH balanced cleanser.
Exfoliation always has to be a part of the skincare regimen; however, it is one of the most dangerous steps if performed poorly. Select a mild soap-free cleanser that will not unduly upset your skin ph balance and thus rob your skin of its natural oils. Sulfates which are present in most cleansers should be avoided since they weaken the skin’s natural barrier.
Avoid harsh soaps that tend to dry your skin and instead opt for products that include, glycerin, hyaluronic acid, and ceramides.
3. Incorporate Ceramides and Lipids
In order to restore the skin barrier function, there is a need to replace the lipids which are responsible for skin coherence. Learn that ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids are skin barrier natural components, and applying products containing those substances can enhance the skin.
Read the label of the moisturizers you want to use, and preferred products containing ceramide and natural oils such as jojoba, squalane and sunflower oil. These ingredients are useful for supporting your skins outer barrier function, and sealing in water while shutting out nasty things.
4. Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate
The first way of restoring the skin barrier is by moisturizing it; this is due to the factual observation that one of the major causes of a compromised skin barrier is dryness. When a barrier is damaged it is hard to keep the skin moist; therefore, it is necessary to apply products that would lock in moisture.
This is a great product to use because it the product functions as a humectant, and its primary ingredient is hyaluronic acid. After washing off the face cleanser, seal in that moisture with a nutrient-dense moisturizer. Never let the internal dryness happen as much as possible, so make sure to take water or other fluids constantly in a day.
5. Avoid Harsh Exfoliants
Even though the process of exfoliating is so effective in elimination of dead skin cells, it can actually do great harm to the skin if it is done too often. If your barrier is getting disrupted it is best to avoid scrubs or even more so, if you are using higher percentages of glycolic acid.
This can however be achieved by gentle exfoliation using products that contain lactic acid or even the PHAs (polyhydroxy acids) which are relatively mild and won’t cause any skin irritation. These should be used sparingly, not more than once or twice a week and it is always advisable to accompany it by a good moisturizer and skin lotion.
6. How to protect your skin from sun.
This means that sun exposure is one of the most significant detriment to the skin barrier and thus daily protection is highly important. UV radiation can easily go through the skin barrier and can cause irritation and skin dry and skin aging.
A sunscreen containing Dowloaded from: https://www. aad. org/public/spot-skin-cancer/skin-cancer-symptoms-suna/tips-to-avoid-skin-cancer 10/16/2018 some precautionary measures skin cancer/protecting-skin-from-sun rays. html Down loaded from: https://familydoctor. org/treatment-care/skin-protection/sun-protection-uva-uvb-what-you- But, especially for the sensitive or injured skin, the mineral sunscreens containing zinc oxide or titanium dioxide are highly effective because it forms a physical barrier without harming your skin in any manner.
7. One common way on how we can incorporate Antioxidants into our lives is the following:
It is thus obvious that antioxidants protect your skin from environmental harm. They assist in combating free radicals that poses threat to skin and can cause aging in advance. You can use serums, which contain antioxidants such as vitamin C, niacinamide or green tea extracts to strengthen your skin barrier.
Then there is Vitamin C which is great when it comes to lightening and improving the skin tone and there is niacinamide which assist in reducing irritation on the skin and also helps in building up the skin strength. These ingredients can also assist the skin to work on some damage that may have been caused by pollution and other external aggressors.
8. So today’s message is simple: Be mindful of the hot water.
Although taking a shower with hot water is beneficial, mainly, because it feels good, hot water also reduces the skin’s sebum and weakens the skin’s protective barrier. While washing your face in the morning or showering use water that is not very hot. This small change goes a long way in helping to avoid breakage of the skin’s barrier and loss of moisture.
9. Still, don’t dismiss the night routine just yet.
The skin of your body renews itself overnight and therefore; the need to pay closer attention to your skin during evening is imperative. When done, put on a nourishing serum that contains adequate moisture and then put on a heavy moisturizer before going to bed.
This is why it’s good to look for night creams that contain Squalane, Peptides, and Ceramides, which help repair and fortify this skin barrier as you sleep. It is also strongly recommended to use a sleeping mask for it can serve as an extra layer of moisture and layer of protection while sleeping.
10. Focus on Barrier-Friendly Ingredients
While choosing skin care products, it is advisable to go for products which have ingredients that do not irritate the barrier and c(dtype).
