Part 1: Why Repairing the Skin Barrier Can Lead to Brightened Skin?

If you want brighter skin, it’s important to repair your skin barrier. The skin barrier is an essential part of our skin.

It prevents water loss, protects the body from pathogenic microbes and regulates the passage of nutrients into and through the skin.

In this article, we'll be looking at what it does for us, why it's vital to keep it healthy and what ingredients help to repair it.

The skin barrier

The skin barrier is the outermost layer of the epidermis that protects your body from bacteria, viruses and other environmental factors. In addition, it helps prevent water loss, keeping your skin hydrated.

The protective barrier prevents acne by preventing sebum (oil) from getting trapped in pores. Unfortunately, this can lead to breakouts because it allows bacteria to thrive on your face causing pimples.

Finally, it controls how much oxygen and nutrients get into the deeper layers of the skin, which helps prevent wrinkles and aging by maintaining healthy cells below the skin’s surface.

The importance of protecting and repairing the skin barrier

The skin barrier represents a protective layer of lipids and proteins that prevents the penetration of irritants, bacteria and pathogens into the deeper layers of our skin.

It also helps to keep moisture in, which keeps our skin smooth and supple. However, with age, trauma or environmental factors (like hot showers) can break down this barrier and lead to dryness, irritation and inflammation. Those are all signs of compromised skin health.

When you have damaged or broken-down epidermal barriers like these, you are at an increased risk for infection because pathogens can be more easily introduced into your body through open wounds.

Dryness also increases acne production because it causes pores to clog up with dead cells and  oil on top of sebum (blackheads).

Knowing when your skin barrier needs some help

The skin barrier is the outer layer of your skin, preventing water loss and enabling the skin to retain its elasticity. When this barrier is weak or damaged, your complexion can suffer many problems.

You may have noticed that you have dry, flaky skin that feels uncomfortable or irritated; redness; eczema; acne; rosacea (a condition that causes visible blood vessels on the face); or tightness or pain. These are all signs that your skin barrier needs some help!

The skin barrier is made up of lipids, ceramides and fatty acids. These essential elements are found in your skin but can also be applied topically to help heal dry, damaged or irritated skin.

It’s essential to understand how these compounds work together to maintain moisture levels and protect the integrity of your epidermis.

How to fix it?

Find the answer in the next article.