Ever wondered how some people have that clear, super-soft, fresh-face skin? That skin that looks healthy no matter the age or season? Well, a big part of it comes down to a little something called the skin barrier. Think of it as your skin's superhero shield. When it's strong and healthy, your skin looks and feels amazing.
The skin barrier is our number 1 focus at Fresh Face Skin and today, we want to recap why this skin layer is so ultra important, to maintain healthy skin function and appearance, long term.
Lets recap on what the skin barrier is and why its so important
Your skin barrier is basically your outer skin layer, there to protect our skin from all that it is exposed to, daily. It makes sure that the good stuff (like moisture) stays in and the bad stuff (like pollution and UV) stays out. When it's doing its job right, your skin is hydrated, smooth, and bright in tone. If it is weak, your skin might start feeling and looking dry and inflamed or look a bit dull in tone.
How to Make Sure Your Skin Barrier is strong and effective
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Be aware of exposing your skin to Extreme Temperatures: Stick to lukewarm water when washing your face. Be aware that temperatures that are too hot or too cold, will cause barrier impairment, causing potential dehydration and inflammation.
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Calm down your approach to Cleansing: Use a cleanser that is gentle in its approach and ingredient listing; that doesn't strip your skin of its natural oils. If you get a ‘squeaky clean’ or ‘tight’ feeling after cleansing, this is a sign your chosen cleanser is too harsh for your skins barrier.
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Remove abrasive exfoliants: Rough scrubs can do more harm than good, causing micro tears on the skins surface, causing moisture to seep out and redness and inflammation to form, all signs that your skin barrier has weakened.
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Mind the Fragrance: Highly scented fragranced products often contain artificial fragrances that can cause irritation and begin to break down your skin barrier. By opting for either 100% naturally fragranced products (think plant based or essential oil based) or fragrance-free products, you’ll ensure your skins barrier maintains its function long term.
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Cycle your active ingredients: Retinol (Vitamin A), AHA acids, BHA acids, Vitamin C are all essential ingredients when it comes to maintaining and improving skin function and a healthy skin complexion, but when we use too many of these ingredients at once, our skin becomes sensitised - think redness, dryness and burning, tingling sensations. When our skin is sensitised its in a sensitive state, telling us our barrier is impaired. Cycling your more active skincare is key to prevent skin irritation and sensitivity! Think - AHA or BHA product one day and Vitamin A at night, on the other day. This gives your skin time to rebalance.
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Protect your skin from the Sun: Our number 1 tip to maintain a healthy skin barrier and overall skin health, no matter where you live and no matter the season, is to always, always protect your skin from the sun! This means applying and reapplying a suited SPF to the skin, every, single, day - remembering that UVA rays are in the atmosphere from when the sun rises, until it sets and transfers through all glass!
Stay Hydrated
Did you know that our skin is the last organ to receive internal nutrition?
This means, for every 2 litres of water you drink daily, on average approximately only 13% of that water reaches your skin! Keeping up ongoing water consumption is essential to ensure your skin maintains hydration from the inside out, but adding omega 3s to your supplementation and/or diet as well as an external skin oil product to your daily routine, will ensure your skin can hold onto that water internally and externally.
Simple is key:
Remember to always listen to what your skin is telling you and adapt your routine as you need. If you feel any uncomfortable sensations such as heat, tingling or increased dryness and irritation, pull back your products and focus on gentle, calming ingredients. Simple is sometimes best.
When it comes to taking care of your skin barrier, we are here to make it easy. Our 100% natural and toxic free skincare range has been designed to maintain and strengthen your skins barrier function, long term. We don’t believe in ‘quick fixes’, just the use of high quality, natural ingredients that are proven to restore moisture levels, calm surface inflammation, while protecting and improving skin cell function.
These simple tips will help keep your skins barrier strong, allowing your skin to heal and protect itself, while maintaining that fresh face skin glow, long term.
