The most significant factors that can impair barrier function include UV radiation, smoking, and chronic exposure to pollution. Physical damage—like that incurred from over-exfoliating—can also affect your skin barrier's health, as can lifestyle factors, like your stress levels and how much sleep you get.
The skin barrier is important to human life. Physically, it protects from external threats such as infectious agents, chemicals, systemic toxicity and allergens. Internally, the skin helps to maintain homeostasis and protects from enhanced loss of water from the body.
We further show that solar UV radiation poses a double threat to skin by both increasing the biomechanical driving force for damage while simultaneously decreasing the skin's natural ability to resist, compromising the critical barrier function of the skin.
With a compromised or damaged skin barrier, sun protection becomes even more critical as exposure can further harm your skin. Therefore, including a barrier repairing sunscreen in your skincare routine will heal the barrier and increase moisture retention.
After all, the barrier is part of your skin! Stay hydrated, exercise for good circulation, and eat nutritious foods rich in healthy oils, minerals and antioxidants. On the skin barrier's list of enemies to avoid are: Too much heat, cold, wind or sun.
Yes. A real concern is the retinol damaged skin barrier, where retinol disrupts the skin's protective layer, leading to increased sensitivity and vulnerability to UV light and pollutants. The skin barrier is essential for retaining moisture and protecting against irritants and pathogens.
When your barrier is weak because you don't have enough lipids in your skin, Vaseline acts as a substitute for these lipids. Remember the brick-and-mortar analogy? Vaseline fills in the cracks in your skin's “mortar” so that your barrier starts to act in a healthy way again.
You should be on the mend within two weeks after sticking to a bland routine. But if you've spent months accidentally breaking down your skin barrier through harsh products, stress, or environmental factors, you might need to change routine for one to two months to get your skin back to normal.
Aloe vera is an Indonesian native plant that is considered to have a hydrating function that strengthens the skin barrier and reduces the risk of dermatitis due to contact with irritant or allergen substances. Aloe vera contains mucopolysaccharides and other substances that help bind the moisture into the skin.
“It is important to avoid any ingredients that can worsen irritation or further compromise the skin barrier such as harsh soaps, abrasive scrubs, benzoyl peroxide, retinoids or salicylic acid.
Natural oils such as sunflower, sesame, or safflower seed oil have been suggested as good options for their use in promoting skin barrier homeostasis [119].
But when overused or not used correctly, exfoliants can disrupt your skin's natural barrier, which may result in redness, flaking, or irritation.
Using harsh cleansers Jaliman says cleansers containing ingredients like sodium lauryl sulfate or any kind of detergent or soap can damage the skin's barrier by stripping the skin of its natural oils.
Most importantly, squalane helps repair and restore a healthy skin barrier, penetrating deeper than other moisturizing oils to deliver lasting moisture and visibly plumping skin.
Antioxidants, such as vitamin C, support the skin's barrier function by enhancing the production of barrier lipids (remember, a damaged skin barrier happens when too many lipids are broken down). Antioxidants also have natural healing properties to reduce inflammation and protect against water loss.
Since retinol can irritate your skin, it's best to start slow. After a patch test, you might use a product once every few days, and then gradually ramp up to once or twice per day. At first, you might experience redness, itching or burning, but these symptoms go away as your skin gets used to the treatment.
Some examples of known skin barrier affecting ingredients include retinoid acid, hydroxy acids, amino fruit acids, and beta hydroxy acids. Also watch for alkaline products that can disrupt the skin's normal PH levels as well as products that contain isopropyl parabens, formaldehyde, and isobutyl.
Our favorite dermatologist-recommended affordable cleansers are: La Roche-Posay Toleriane Hydrating Gentle Cleanser, Derma Made Hydrating Cleanser, or CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser for dry and sensitive skin.