Get to Know Your Skin
When it comes to your skin, knowledge is power!
Trying to make the right choices for your skin’s health can be confusing. There is so much information out there that choosing the right products for your skin can be overwhelming. It’s no wonder that things can get confusing when it seems like every week there is a new influencer trending on social media, and each one has their own opinion on what is the best skincare regime for you.
If you want to learn what’s best for your skin, without social media influencing you on every new trend available, just keep reading.
How the Skin Works
If you want to choose the right products for your skin, you firstly need to understand how your skin works!
IT LIVES! The skin is alive, it breathes, and reproduces. It isn’t an aspect of our body that we should overlook or take for granted. If you think of the other organs of your body like your heart or your liver, what you put into your body has a direct impact on the health of these organs. It’s the same with your skin, what ingredients you put in and ON your skin is essential to the health and appearance of your skin. Just like organic, and unprocessed food is best for your heart, certified organic and natural ingredients is best for your skin.
Many people think of the skin as one big covering of the body, but it is actually made up of 3 different layers. The epidermis, the dermis and the hypodermis. Each one serves a different purpose and has different needs. The two most important layers to consider when choosing the right ingredients to use are:
-The Epidermis: This is the outermost layer of our skin that we can see and touch. It is made up of 5 layers. It’s main purpose is to protect our skin from the environment, and to prevent moisture loss. This layer really only requires ingredients that hydrate, nourish and protect the skin from pollutants, climate, central heating and UV rays.
-The Dermis: This layer is also known as the ‘True Skin’. It is the living layer of our skin where collagen and elastin are made to support and strengthen our skin. Most ingredients cannot reach this layer from the outside, so it is essential to nourish this layer from the inside. Think of the ACE vitamins. Consuming vitamin C from citrus fruits and veg boosts collagen production which can reduce the signs of aging, vitamin E from oils, nuts, seeds and greens fights off harmful cells (free radicals) that destroy collagen and elastin, and vitamin A from carrots, fish oils, and liver speeds up skin cell renewal.
The Best Ingredients for your Skin
Now that we’ve discussed how the skin works, it is important to know what ingredients are best to keep the skin working at it’s optimum level!
When choosing what products to use on the skin, it’s best to take a minimal approach. If in doubt, strip your regime back to 3 simple steps. Cleanse. Tone. Moisturise.
Cleansing removes makeup, pollutants and dirt from the atmosphere. Toning rebalances the skins pH after cleansing and soothes the skin. Moisturising nourishes, treats, protects and hydrates the skin.
So now that you have your regime in check, you need to look at what ingredients will best suit your skin. Ingredients should complement and try to mimic the skins composition.
Antioxidants found in vitamins will fight off harmful cells that contribute to aging, pigmentation and other inflammatory skin conditions like acne an rosacea. Hyaluronic acid is very hydrating and is naturally occurring in our skin and allows our skin to hold 1,800 times it’s weight in water. Fatty acids found in natural oils, such as wheatgerm, argan, and jojoba oil, are found in sebum, which keeps the skin nourished.
Taking the Bad with the Good
Prevention is better than cure. Most of us don’t put a lot of thought into the ingredients we use until we are faced with an actual skin issue. However, if we are careful and selective with the ingredients we put on our skin and take into our bodies, we can prevent a lot of unwanted skin conditions from arising in the future.
It is no use educating ourselves on the good ingredients, if we’re not going to consider the bad too. That’s like eating an organic superfood salad, but washing it down with a sugary soda. It is most imperative to our skins health that we know what ingredients to avoid.
Harmful ingredients are often synthetic. Some of which include silicones, parabens, sulphates, mineral oil, phthalates, talc, synthetic fragrances, ehtyl alcohol, and denatured alcohol. These harsh ingredients can disrupt the protective hydrolipidic layer of our skin, known as the acid mantle. When the acid mantle is weakened, the outermost layer can no longer efficiently protect the deeper layers from harmful substances such as pollutants, free radicals, uv rays etc. This can lead to major inflammatory skin conditions such as irritation, redness, rosacea, acne, and dermatitis. They can also contribute to premature aging as they can dehydrate the skin.
You Are What You Eat
Your skin care regime should also include what you eat. The skin is a window into your internal health and If you aren’t healthy on the inside it may show up on the outside. The modern western diet consists of high amounts of salt, sugar, processed foods containing preservatives, synthetic flavours, saturated fats, and alcohol. A lot of the time we are unknowingly consuming these harmful ingredients.
As we discussed earlier, the health of the dermis is largely dependent of the nutrients we consume. Ingesting unhealthy processed foods in excess, such as alcohol and refined sugars increases the production of free radicals.
Free radicals are unstable molecules that literally attack and destroy the atoms in our body. This leads to the destruction of many cells, such as fibroblast cells found in the dermis, which are essential for the production of collagen and elastin. Collagen and elastin is necessary for the skin’s support and strength, and their destruction leads to the increased appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and loss of muscle tone.
To combat free radicals we need to consume anti-oxidants. These are molecules that neutralise free radicals and prevent them from harming our cells. Foods that are rich in antioxidants include organic fruit and veg, such as blueberries, avocados, leafy greens and carrots, nuts and seeds, unsaturated oils, such as avocado and olive oil, and fatty fish like mackerel and salmon.
Put Your Knowledge to Good Use
So When it comes to your skin, knowledge is power! Now that you’re aware of the effects of good versus bad ingredients in products and in foods, and what skincare regime is the best, you can formulate your own skincare regime incorporating nourishing ingredients that your skin will really thank you for.
“The mirror of your health is your skin. If you drink, it shows in your face; if you eat the wrong foods, you have pimples. If you take care of your food and you lead a healthy life, your skin will look wonderful.” – Sophia Loren
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