Ever so often certain terms, words or products become popular in the skincare world. It’s like all of a sudden everyone’s talking about it. For example, Acids or Niacinamide or Glutathione…. and then there was ‘Skin Barrier’. It’s like our Instagram Esty’s & Skincare Influencers were all sharing about ‘Damaged Skin Barrier’ or ‘Repairing Skin Barrier, along with this assumption that everyone just knew what that meant. Well as always, we are here to demystify the complexities in this our ever-expanding beauty space, with a super-short and simple breakdown of the term ‘Skin Barrier’ and what it all means.
WHAT DOES SKIN BARRIER MEAN?
The ‘Stratum Corneum’, or outermost layer of skin is what is known as the Skin Barrier. It’s job is to protect the other layers of skin beneath. The Skin Barrier is designed to be impermeavke, meaning it keeps water in and bacteria & microorganisms out.
HOW TO KNOW WHEN YOUR SKIN BARRIER IS DAMAGED
- BLEMISHES & ACNE FLARE-UP
- DRYNESS
- DEHYDRATION
- PRODUCTS STING WHEN THEY NORMALLY DON’T
- UNUSUAL REDNESS
- ITCHING
- TIGHTNESS
- PEELING/FLAKING
- DULLNESS
- LESS ELASTICITY
- ROUGHT SKIN TEXTURE
WHAT CAUSES SKIN BARRIER DAMAGE
- OVEREXFOLIATION
- OVERCLEANSING
- ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS (Pollution, Weather & UV Exposure)
- APPLYING STORNG ACTIVES
- PICKING and/or SCRATCHING
- POTENTIAL IRRITANT EXPOSURE (Fragrance, Essential Oils, etc.)
HOW TO TREAT SKIN BARRIER DAMAGE
- AVOID STRONG & POTENTIALLY IRRITATING ACTIVES
- AVOID OVERCLEANSING
- AVOID TOUCHING/PICKING
- SIMPLIFY YOUR SKINCARE ROUTINE
- CONSISTENTLY MOISTURISE SKIN (use moisturiser with an optimal blend of ceramides, cholesterol & fatty acids)
Hope you enjoyed this post and let us know in the comments or on Instagram if there’s a beauty term/concept you’d like demystified!
