Repairing the Skin Surface, What You Need to Know to Protect Your Skin!

Today I want to share a simple breakdown of what the skin barrier is, how we can damage the barrier and finally what we can do to protect and repair it! 

We (mostly) all know that our skin is our largest organ of the body. Our skin acts as a barrier and is meant to protect and regulate temperature from the environment. The stratum corneum is the outer most layer of the epidermis, this is the layer of skin we are able to treat with skin care products.

What is it?

As you can see in the diagram 'the layers of the skin', there are three layers of the skin. In skin care we can only treat the epidermis or the top layer. The barrier of the skin helps prevent harmful particles getting into the body and also preventing evaporation from the skin or transepidermal water loss (TWL) 

How do we damage the barrier? 

Environmental exposure such as sunlight/UV exposure, blue light from screens and even stress can lead to barrier damage. Over-exfoliation is a huge problem with barrier irritation and damage as well. Signs you have damage can include:

• flakiness
• irritation
• redness
• increased fine lines 
• acne breakouts 

How can we protect and repair??

1. Add in Hyaluronic acid! This is crucial for preventing moisture loss on the skins surface because it binds water to the skin. It is great for all skin types and it helps protect. One of my all time favorite ingredients! 
2. Wash your skin at night but don't over-wash and exfoliate with harsh products. *One tip I have is wash your skin when you get home or early in the evening. This way you don't wait until you are too tired before bed! 
3. Get outside but protect your skin! This means, wear a hat, wear your SPF and make sure you are using antioxidants to protect from uv damage. 

I hope this helps and is simple enough to get the basics of how to keep our barrier protected. Once we have a damaged barrier our skin can not look its best and is susceptible to many unwanted skin conditions. Let me know if you have any questions!