Your skin barrier plays an integral role in keeping your skin feeling healthy. However, with this barrier sitting on the outermost layer of your skin, it’s very susceptible to damage, which then affects how it works.
Even with the best intentions, it’s so easy to make mistakes that inhibit skin barrier functions. These issues can quickly spiral, leading to skin concerns that can take several months to ‘fix’.
The best way to prevent this from occurring is to ensure that you aren’t accidentally doing anything that could be harming your skin barrier. So, read on as Introstem talks through some of the most common skin barrier mistakes that people make, along with tips on how to restore your complexion after this happens.
Using an Overly Aggressive Cleanser
Let’s start by talking about one of the biggest skin barrier mistakes that people make: using an overly aggressive cleanser. It’s easy to understand why this mistake happens so much. People are often led to believe that their skin needs to be squeaky clean after every cleanse, with no trace of oil or bacteria left behind.
This, however, is not true. Yes, excess oil should be removed, but some of it needs to remain. It forms a crucial part of your skin’s protective barrier. The same can be said of the bacteria that reside on your skin. Yes, bad bacteria need to be cleared away, but beneficial bacteria are needed by your skin barrier.
This is why it’s always better to go for gentle cleansers – formulas that are capable of properly cleansing your skin but without harming your skin barrier at the same time. Make sure that your cleanser of choice is suitable for your skin type too. Dry and sensitive skin will need an extremely gentle touch, like that provided by the Introstem VitisCell Fresh Cleansing Mousse. Meanwhile, oily and combination skin do best with a little more cleansing power. The Introstem VitisCell Foaming Bliss Purifier is loved for how it thoroughly cleanses greasy skin without stripping away the skin barrier.
Exfoliating Too Much
Each time you exfoliate your skin, you remove a small part of your skin barrier. This isn’t necessarily an issue because your skin will quickly recuperate and thrive from the benefits provided by regular exfoliation.
However, exfoliate your skin too often, and it won’t have enough of this much-needed recovery time. You’ll keep chipping away at your skin barrier without giving it a chance to rebuild itself, meaning that it will soon severely weaken.
Again, exfoliating too much is an easy mistake to make. Many exfoliators even state that they’ve been designed for daily use, but more often than not, this isn’t going to be safe for your skin barrier. Instead, the frequency at which you exfoliate should be based on your skin type. If you have oily skin, aim to exfoliate two to three times a week. Dry skin should be exfoliated once or twice a week, and combination skin should sit somewhere in the middle. Sensitive skin, on the other hand, should only be exfoliated once a week, or even less.
The exfoliator that you use will make a difference, too. Even if you stick to the above guidelines, using an overly harsh exfoliator will still compromise your skin barrier. Always go with gentler formulas, such as the Introstem VitisCell Fresh Revive Peeling. It exfoliates with a blend of mandelic acid, bamboo powder, and walnut shell powder, ensuring efficiency with a gentle touch.
Neglecting Sun Protection
Sun damage is usually associated with sunburns, premature wrinkles, and skin cancer. However, skin barrier damage is a major side effect of sun exposure too. Each time your skin barrier comes into contact with both UVA and UVB rays, it weakens a little more. The proteins that hold the various cells of the skin barrier together also lose their structural integrity when hit by UV rays, exacerbating overall barrier damage.
Being diligent about sun protection will go a long way in keeping your skin barrier safe. Ensure that your skin is always covered with SPF 30. An SPF moisturizer that also contains barrier-loving ingredients, like the Introstem PrismaStem Face Shield Cream SPF 30, would be ideal.
Make sure that you aren’t making any common SPF mistakes either. Not applying enough product, failing to evenly cover your skin, or missing out those hard-to-reach areas of skin will all still leave your skin barrier vulnerable to UV damage.
Ignoring the Impact of Pollution
In this day and age, pollution is everywhere. Over 99% of the world’s population lives in an area where air pollution levels soar over recommended guidelines, making it very difficult to escape from the effects of pollution. When it comes to your skin barrier, these effects are extremely detrimental. Particulate matter disrupts the skin barrier, preventing it from functioning as it should, while also triggering widespread inflammation in the skin.
What can you do about this? Take cleansing very seriously. That’s the best way to remove pollutants from your skin at the end of each day.
Adding plenty of antioxidants to your skincare routine can help too. Antioxidants neutralize the appearance of free radical damage, which is what exposure to pollution causes. An antioxidant-rich serum is always a good way to lavish your skin with these powerful compounds. Pick a formula that combines a few different antioxidants, just like the Introstem VitisCell Brightening Vita-C Serum.
Overloading Your Skin With Active Ingredients
While it’s good to give your skin access to powerful actives, it’s important that you don’t overdo this. People are often led to believe that combining multiple actives, layer upon layer, is what their skin needs. However, this tends to only overload your skin barrier, leaving it feeling overwhelmed. In the long run, it will struggle to function properly because of this, leaving you dealing with the signs of barrier damage.
If this is a mistake that you’ve been making, try to simplify your skincare routine. Rather than applying multiple layers that each contain a different active, look for multi-purpose formulas that are able to get the job done with fewer ingredients.
Skin cycling is also a good way to keep using actives but in a barrier-friendly way. Rather than using your actives every night, skin cycling involves using them once every four nights. The first night of the cycle involves exfoliation, the second night encompasses actives, and the third and fourth nights focus on hydrating and rejuvenating products. It gives the skin enough of a break from the actives to avoid skin barrier problems, yet it still provides enough consistency to allow those actives to work properly.
Washing Your Face With Hot Water
We’ve already spoken about the importance of cleansing your skin with a gentle cleanser so as not to strip away your skin barrier. However, the temperature of the water that you use to cleanse your face plays a big part in this too…
Hot water is known for melting sebum on the skin. With sebum comprising a large part of the skin barrier, cleansing your face with hot water will soon leave that barrier damaged.
Fortunately, there’s a simple solution – turn that water temperature down! Lukewarm is a good temperature to aim for – there’ll be enough heat to remove excess sebum but not so much that your skin barrier suffers.
Failing to Sufficiently Moisturize Your Skin
Think you can skip the moisturizer because your skin feels oily or you’ve already applied plenty of other skincare products? If you want to preserve the feel of your skin barrier, think again!
A moisturizer keeps the skin barrier feeling supported in a way that no other product can compete with. Moisturizers form a film over the skin’s surface that almost mimics the functions of the skin’s natural barrier. From keeping irritants out to trapping water in, a good moisturizer will leave your skin barrier feeling fortified and more resilient.
The most barrier-friendly moisturizers will contain ingredients that are similar to those naturally found in the skin barrier. Take the Introstem VitisCell Radiance Overnight Cream, for example. Thanks to shea butter, it boasts a blend of fatty acids that the skin readily accepts. It’s also packed with vitamins, plant extracts, and peptides, all of which contain components that help the skin barrier feel stronger.
Allowing Stress to Get You Down
We’re all aware of how bad it can be to feel constantly stressed. It can take a huge toll on a person’s health, both mentally and physically. However, did you know that stress can significantly affect your skin barrier too?
Research confirms that the hormones that are released by the body during times of stress decrease the structural proteins and epidermal lipids that make up the skin barrier. The longer this stress continues, the more damage is caused.
Of course, stress affects the skin in other ways too. It increases oil production, leading to blocked pores and breakouts, while also exacerbating dryness and flaking. The inflammation that it causes can also accelerate the skin aging process, causing premature fine lines and wrinkles.
Although keeping your stress levels down may not be easy, it’s worth attempting for the sake of your skin, as well as your mental health! There are plenty of stress-busting techniques out there to try. Be proactive about seeking these out so that you have a go-to that you can turn to whenever your stress levels start to rise.
Keeping Your Skin Barrier Safe With Introstem
If you want your skin to look and feel its very best, preserving and reinforcing your skin barrier is essential. It’s so easy to make mistakes when it comes to the skin barrier, which is why you should regularly reassess your skincare habits to ensure that you aren’t doing that valuable layer any harm.
Click here to pamper your skin barrier with more bestselling skincare products from Introstem.
0 comments on “The Skin Barrier Breakdown: Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them”