Your skin is your first line of defence. Think of your skin as the unsung hero, defending you from daily stressors and environmental aggressors. At the heart of this defensive stronghold lies your skin barrier. An intact skin barrier is important for maintaining skin health. In this article, we would explore the skin barrier, its role in skin health. And reveal how you can fortify this essential stronghold for a lifetime of that healthy, radiant glow we all crave.
What is the Skin Barrier?
The skin barrier refers to the outermost part of the skin called the stratum corneum. The stratum corneum is a complex network of skin cells called “corneocytes” and lipid membrane. The corneocytes is composed of proteins (keratin) and natural moisturising factors (NMF). The lipid membrane is primarily composed of ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids.
Your skin barrier serves five main barrier functions.
- Permeability barrier: keeps moisture in and bad stuff out.
- Antimicrobial barrier: fights off microbial organisms like bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
- Antioxidant barrier: neutralises free radicals and those pesky environmental pollutants.
- Immune response barrier: helps respond to threats effectively.
- Photo-protection barrier: reduces the effects of exposure to UV rays and gives your sunscreen a helping hand.
Your skin barrier is literally keeping you alive. It is essential for your overall health and needs to be maintained so your body functions properly.
How Does the Skin Barrier Get Damaged?
Our skin barrier gets compromised when there is damage to the lipids and proteins in the stratum corneum and a decline in natural moisturising factors. This damage can be caused by a host of things, some we can control, others not so much.
External factors that contribute to skin barrier damage are aggressive and improper daily skincare like aggressive exfoliation and too many actives, exposure to skin irritants and allergens such as fragrance, extremely dry or humid environments. Skin barrier can also be compromised by topical and systemic medications such as steroids.
Internal factors that contribute to skin barrier damage are genetics, ageing, and underlying skin status and disease states such as atopic dermatitis, dry skin type, psoriasis, diabetes.
Signs and Symptoms of a Damaged Barrier
When your skin barrier is compromised, there is a disruption of your permeability barrier functions. This results in increased trans epidermal water loss, decreased hydration, and hyperkeratosis. This then manifests as dull, rough, fine scaling skin with exaggerated skin lines.
Your skin feels dry, tight, and itchy with a lack-luster appearance. You may also be dealing with sensitivity, tingling, or burning sensation, rashes and inflammation since a damaged skin barrier increases you chances of infections. It also leads to flare-ups of existing skin conditions like acne, eczema, rosacea, and psoriasis.
How to Prevent Skin Barrier Damage
Given the importance of your skin barrier, it is vital to prevent damage. Here are some tips on how to prevent damage to your skin barrier.
- Minimize exposure to allergens, irritants, and your typical triggers: Exposure to allergens can result in irritation and inflammation. This inflammation leads to rashes and itchiness which can be both a symptom and contributor to a compromised skin barrier. This is where the cycle of skin barrier dysfunction kicks in. Your compromised skin barrier allows more allergens and irritants, which damage the skin barrier further.
- Simplify your skincare routine: Using too many skincare actives may over sensitize your skin and cause damage to your skin barrier. Rotate your skincare active rather than layer them to avoid over sensitizing your skin. Consider consulting with a dermatologist or skincare professional about what products are essential and would be most effective for you.
- Use lukewarm water: Regular cleansing helps remove dead skin cells and pollutants so your skin barrier can work to repair itself. Use lukewarm water to bath or shower for 10 to 15 minutes. If the water is too cold, it may not cleanse your skin properly, if the water is too hot it may damage your skin’s natural oils. Also, 10 to 15 minutes is enough time to rehydrate the skin without affecting lipid barrier and compromising your skin barrier.
- Pay attention to pH: Your skin barrier is slightly acidic. This acidity helps create a barrier against the growth of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Your skin’s acid mantle is around a pH of 4.7, so seek products with pH around 4.0 to 5.0. Protecting your skin barrier’s acidity is important for biological processes like wound healing and in preventing worsening of skin conditions like dermatitis and acne.
- Use mild cleansers: Use mild cleansers that take off dirt and dead skin cells without stripping your skin of its natural oils and causing damage to your skin barrier. Seek gentle cleansers with hydrating ingredients like glycerin and hyaluronic acid.
- Don’t over exfoliate: While exfoliation promotes skin cell regeneration which helps your skin barrier repair itself. Over exfoliating by scrubbing to hard with physical exfoliants or overusing chemical exfoliants can damage your skin barrier.
- Hydrate and moisturize: Hydrating and moisturizing your skin is an essential step in maintaining a healthy skin barrier. Seek products that don’t just contain humectants like glycerin, hyaluronic acid, urea, and snail mucin that attract and bind water to the skin barrier, but also contain occlusives like petrolatum that coat the surface of the skin with a water-repellant lipid layer,locking in water and moisture.
- Use sun protection: Excessive sun exposure can is one of the leading causes of damage to the skin barrier and continued exposure prevents skin barrier restoration. Ensure you are using a sunscreen that is broad spectrum and is at least SPF 30.
- Proactively strengthen your skin barrier: Instead of waiting until damage has occurred, opt for ingredients that strengthen your skin barrier. Seek ingredients like antioxidants like vitamin c and green tea that increase the skin’s resilience, prevents dehydration, and help the skin barrier repair itself.
The Skin Barrier Fix: Operation Restoration
Depending on the extent of damage it can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to repair your skin barrier. First things first, ditch any products or habits you suspect are causing problems. Also remove products from your skincare routine that may be irritating like retinols and alpha hydroxy acids. Now let’s rebuild.
Here is a guide on picking the right skincare products that desensitise the skin and accelerate skin barrier repair:
- Try plant oils to replenish your skin barrier: Plant oils enriched with essential fatty acids (linoleic acid) like sunflower, safflower, borage, corn, and sea buckthorn oil help improve barrier function. They also reduce inflammation and provide nutritional benefits.
- Look for skin barrier repairing ingredients: Choose formulations that contain skin barrier repairing ingredients like the big 3 phospholipids (ceramides, cholesterol, and free fatty acids). Ceramide-dominant moisturisers restore barrier function even after disruption of normal skin. Also, seek ingredients like natural moisturising factors (urea, lactate, amino acids and PCA), and niacinamide that stimulate ceramide formation.
- Seek skin soothing ingredients: Skin soothing ingredients from natural extracts like aloe vera, chamomile, oat, centella asiatica, calendula and honey help calm things down while your skin heals.
Best Picks
- elta MD Barrier Renewal Complex
- KraveBeauty The Great Barrier Relief
- La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturizer
- Paula’s Choice Barrier Repair Advanced Moisturizer
- First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream
Bonus Tip: A healthy diet rich in good fats like nuts, seed and fish supports your skin from the inside out.
Final Thoughts
Your skin barrier is a warrior, but it needs your TLC. A healthy barrier equals healthy, glowing skin but a compromised barrier is a recipe for irritation, breakouts, and a dull, lack-luster complexion. Don’t ignore the signs of a compromised barrier. While your skin barrier is damaged, it’s not the best idea to try new products. Ingredients have a greater chance of irritating your skin therefore, avoid trying out new products during this period. With a little love, your skin would be back to its strong, radiant self.
