True Radical Honesty From Our Community

Climate change is a massive concern for everyone, so what better time to clean up your beauty regime than now?

You may think that by recycling glass bottles and composting food waste you’re more than doing your bit for the environment, but did you know that your skincare routine could be causing just as much damage to the world as what does (or more importantly, does not) go in your trash?

Thankfully, a little beauty diligence goes a long way to helping make your world a better place. And great news: the following tips make it easy for you to switch to smarter ingredients and eco-savvy skincare habits.

Let's do this.

1. Steer Clear Of Parabens

Parabens are preservatives that prevent harmful stuff growing in your beauty products – think bacteria, fungi, mold and the like. Granted, this may sound like the kind of ingredient you should totally get on board with, but the problem with parabens is they have way too many faults up their sleeves for their preservative powers to be worth it.

Often found in beauty products containing a significant amount of water (eg. shampoo, conditioner, cleanser and moisturizer), parabens can be very irritating to the skin, but more worryingly they’ve been linked to serious health concerns including thyroid issues, hormone-related cancers, reproductive disruptions and obesity. So, there’s the first red light, right there.

Parabens are also nasty little beasts when it comes to the environment. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), parabens have been detected in surface waters, fish and sediments. Even the lowest levels of butylparaben – one of the most commonly used parabens in cosmetics – can cause significant harm and even kill coral.

The good news is many beauty companies have switched out parabens for cleaner alternatives, but they’re still out there so keep your eyes peeled for any ingredient containing the word paraben in its name. BTW, we’re a totally paraben-free company and use much cleaner preservatives like sodium benzoate and ethylhexylglycerin in our skincare products. You can thank us later.

2. Recycle As Much As Possible

Before you throw your empty boxes, bottles, tubs and tubes in the trash, take a minute to check whether or not they're recyclable. There are many different symbols to look for which indicate a product's recycling capabilities and we know they can be confusing, but a couple of minutes is all it takes to ensure your empties end up in the right place.

Glass is always an awesome, eco-friendly option and all of our serums are packaged in glass bottles that are full recyclable. Not sure about your other beauty products? Then head to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the lowdown on plastics, cardboard and more.

3. Reduce Your Beauty Miles

You might love your K-Beauty skincare creams more than life itself, but has it ever crossed your mind how many thousands of miles those products might have travelled in order to beautify your skin? The answer is many. In fact, it’s just over 6,500 miles from Korea to the US, which equates to a helluva lot of fuel consumption and consequent air pollution.

To help reduce your carbon footprint and lessen the impact of your skincare choices on the environment, stick with home-grown beauty products. Not to blow our own trumpets (again!) but all TruSkin products are formulated and bottled in the US. Group hug.

4. Ditch Those Cotton Rounds

While we’re on the subject of beauty miles, it’s not just those lotions and potions you need to evaluate. Chances are, your trusty cotton rounds have also taken a pretty long trip to reach your vanity. Not ideal. Also, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), it takes around 20,000 liters of water to produce just over 2lbs of cotton. Add all this to the fact that cotton rounds are not compostable and that cotton farming is responsible for around 24 percent of insecticides worldwide and suddenly that innocent looking fluffy stuff starts to look like one hot mess for the environment.

So, what’s the answer to this little conundrum? First up, use spray toners like our Daily Facial Rose Water Toner or Daily Facial Toner because these don’t require the use of cotton rounds (clever, right?). You could also invest in some eco-friendly, reusable makeup remover pads that can be thrown in the laundry after each use. Amazon has plenty of options to choose from or you could try Ecoroots Organic Reusable Facial Rounds.

5. Be A Cruelty-Free, Beauty Vegan

If you care about animals as much as you care about the world (and in fact, don’t they kind of come as a package, anyway?), you have to avoid products that contain animal by-products and ingredients, or have been tested on animals. No question.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), animal products are the key cause of climate change due to the amount of water, land and energy animals require to be farmed, killed, processed and transported. If you'd like to steer clear of animal by-products and ingredients, here's a list of those to avoid, courtesy of People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Meanwhile, around half a million animals suffer and die each year through cosmetic testing according to Humane Society International (HSI).

Frankly, we think this is unacceptable which is why we’re proud to be Leaping Bunny approved – and that includes every single one of our skincare products. The Leaping Bunny logo (below) is the only internationally recognized symbol which guarantees that no animal tests were carried out in the development of any product displaying it.

6. Give Oxybenzone & Octinoxate A Wide Berth

When it comes to ingredients that affect both your health and the environment, oxybenzone and octinoxate are double trouble.

Oxybenzone and octinoxate are organic compounds that absorb light very effectively. This makes them two of the most common UV filters used in chemical sunscreens. They’ve been used and approved by the FDA since the early ‘80s, but after a bill to ban their sale and distribution in Hawai’i was passed in 2018, the world became blatantly aware of their potential damage to marine life and in particular, coral reefs.

“Oxybenzone and octinoxate cause mortality in developing coral, increase coral bleaching that indicates extreme stress… and cause genetic damage to coral and other marine organisms,” cites the bill. Yikes.

Furthermore, oxybenzone is just as nasty to your health as it is to marine life. For one thing, it’s the most common skin irritant in suncare, but even more scary is that it may seriously disrupt hormone production, potentially causing all manner of problems like thyroid issues, certain cancers and reproductive harm. The fact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that oxybenzone can be detected in the urine of almost all the population makes this a very worrying prospect indeed.

The good news is the FDA are continually working towards confirming (or rejecting) the safety of oxybenzone, octinoxate and 10 other chemical sunscreen ingredients. In the meantime, stick with products containing zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide. These are the only two active sunscreen ingredients currently deemed safe and effective.

7. Reduce Your Shower Time

Climate changes like soaring temperatures and rising sea levels play havoc with the world’s water supplies, so do your bit to conserve water and you’ll be helping to protect the future of your planet – just like that.

Fun fact: the average shower uses around two gallons of water per minute. This means an eight minute shower (the average duration for an American adult) uses a solid 16 gallons per day, or 480 gallons per month. Now, let’s say you were to cut your shower time by one minute – just one minute, that’s all we ask. This would save 60 gallons of water every month, which is a significant amount of water for one person to save, if you ask us. Set the timer on your phone to seven minutes next time you take a shower and see if it's manageable. We bet it totally is.

Come on people, your world needs you.

Winter’s a cruddy time for your skin, so if you’re feeling pretty bummed about your dull complexion, it’s time to get your glow on.

Glowing skin is very much ‘in’ right now. It’s always of huge importance if you ask us, but it seems that natural radiance, rather than full-on makeup, is a major beauty prediction for the new year. 'Prove it,' we hear you shout. Sure. The Pinterest Predicts annual report was recently released and guess what topped the list for upcoming beauty trends for 2021? Yes, ‘effortlessly chic,’ radiant skin – aptly being coined Skinimalism. This is all thanks to a massive increase in Pinterest searches for terms like ‘glowing skin how to get naturally,’ ‘face yoga exercises’ and ‘natural everyday makeup’ which shows that maybe (just maybe) the years of facial contouring and graphic brows might be coming to an end.

All hail real, glowing skin. Yay. Gotta love that.

The problem with this trend, however, is that skin radiance doesn’t always come easy – especially when cold temperatures and low humidity are totally working against you. Yes, natural skin means you can say goodbye to hours of makeup application, but if you want to allow your skin to really shine through, you’d better start looking after it. So, if you’re craving ways to enhance the complexion nature gave you, here are some trusted tricks for ditching winter dullness and amping up your dewy skin game.

Work Out Your Skin

Facial massage is one of the simplest and most important things you can do to boost radiance as it instantly improves circulation and encourages the removal of waste and toxins through a process called lymphatic drainage. And the best time to do it? While cleansing your skin in the morning (two birds and all that). Here’s how:

1. First, wash your hands, then wet your skin with lukewarm (never hot) water.

2. Squeeze your favorite cleanser into the palm of your hand, then smooth it all over your face and neck.

3. Place your fingers in the middle of your forehead, spreading them from your eyebrows up your forehead. Work your fingers out towards your hairline a few times, pressing the skin gently.

4. Next, place your fingers over the center of your nose and work them out along your cheeks, rubbing the cleanser into your skin in large circles. Do this a few times, then continue with the same motion over your chin and jawline.

5. Finish by smoothing your fingertips up your neck a few times, then rinse thoroughly and gently pat your skin dry with a clean towel.

Another great way to give your skin a bit of a morning workout is to try your hand at facial yoga. And excellent news: not only will a committed routine of morning exercises boost circulation and add radiance to your skin, but it’ll help strengthen facial muscles to reduce sagging and make your skin look firmer and more youthful in the long-term.

One of our favorite facial yoga exercises (mainly because it’s so easy!) is to pout then smile repeatedly as fast as you can and for as long as you can stand it. Just do it in private, yes? You don’t want to scare the neighbors.

Get Your Vitamin C

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that, here at TruSkin HQ, we think vitamin C is the absolute cat’s whiskers as a skincare ingredient. A clinically-proven antioxidant, vitamin C is well-known for helping prevent accumulated skin damage by neutralizing attacks from environmental and lifestyle nasties. Think sun, pollution and cigarette smoke that love to do a real number on your skin, causing everything from fine lines and wrinkles to dullness and discoloration.

Vitamin C is also mildly exfoliating, so when you apply it topically and regularly, it works to effectively reboot collagen and elastin production to help strengthen, firm and smooth your complexion. Couple all this with its ability to help reverse UV-related skin damage and it’s a big fat ciao to uneven skin tone and dark spots. Boom.

The thing is, not all topical vitamin Cs are created equal. This means you could see it listed on your skincare label in many forms including l-ascorbic acid, ascorbyl palmitate and sodium ascorbyl phosphate. We use sodium ascorbyl phosphate – or SAP as we like to call it – in our popular vitamin C products because it’s a) stable, b) less irritating and c) very effective. Literally everything we want in a skincare ingredient, right there.

Try A Professional Chemical Peel

For an extra high-powered boost of radiance, treating your complexion to a professional chemical peel is a great shout.

Chemical peels work by using potent (but safe) skin acids to injure the top layers of your skin which makes them fall off – taking any dead, dull skin cells and unwanted dark patches with them. The first three to five days following a chemical peel procedure aren’t pretty because your skin literally does flake and peel away, but after a week your skin will be visibly smoother, clearer and your glow factor will have gone through the roof. Trust us, we’ve been there.  

Ask your skincare expert about medical-grade peels that contain hard-working, glow-inducing ingredients such as salicylic, trichloroacetic or glycolic acids as these are particularly effective for fading discolorations and brightening an uneven skin tone. We love truly professional chemical peels from medical-grade skincare companies like SkinMedica or PCA Skin as these have been proven to offer results and can often eliminate new discoloration issues in just one session. If you have older, deeper pigmentation issues, however, a series of three or four appointments is usually recommended, followed by maintenance treatments on a less regular basis.

Use Makeup To Enhance (Not Hide Behind)

Embracing the Skinimalism trend is all about making your skin look lit from within, but that’s not to say you should dismiss those extra finishing touches. Makeup, after all, is a great way to enhance your natural glow, so if you’ve already nailed your radiance-boosting skincare routine, invest in a brightening primer to apply after your skincare and before (or even instead of) makeup. A great primer will help blur fine lines, smooth pores and add instant radiance without looking like you’re caked in makeup.

If you’re in the market for a natural-looking base, we suggest choosing a mineral, powder foundation that you can buff and swirl over your skin, rather than a cream or liquid-based formulation. How so? Because creams and liquids are often more tricky to keep light and streak-free.

And for a little extra red-carpet glow? Try a subtly shimmering highlighter. But we mean subtle shimmer, people  – full-on glitter is never cool. Apply this to the parts of your face that naturally catch the light such as your cheekbones and brow bones and keep it as natural-looking as possible by going for warmer, golden shades if you have olive or dark skin, and pinker tones if you’re pale.

Gorgeous.

Pores are super important, but if yours are way too big for their britches they can really kill that ‘flawless complexion’ vibe you’re trying to give off. The good news is, with the right skincare tricks, you can significantly improve any enlarged pore situation.

Your skin is your body’s largest organ. According to the National Geographic Society, an average adult’s skin weighs in at around 8 pounds, measures a grand total of 22 square feet and without this vital protective barrier? Well, you’d literally cease to exist. Your skin is continually battling pollution, controlling your body temperature, fighting infection and protecting your body from injuries. And that’s just the start of it.

It’s no wonder then, that your skin is the cause of so many concerns. From dryness and itching, through to acne, fine lines, wrinkles and annoying dark spots that seem to creep up on you literally overnight, skin has a lot to contend with. Not least of which are pesky, enlarged pores.

Enlarged pores might not be up there with more serious skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis, but if you’re a sufferer you’ll know just how annoying they can be.

But first, let's have a look at what they are and why you need them.

What Are Pores?

Pores are tiny openings in your skin’s surface that allow microscopic particles to pass in and out. The human body has two types of pores: ones that produce sebum and others than produce sweat. Let’s stick a pin in the sweat-producers for now and concentrate on the ones that produce sebum (AKA oil) because these are the ones that get clogged and can ruin your notions of a smooth complexion.

Oil-producing pores are the openings found at the top of your hair follicles and sebaceous glands where they release sebum at a surface level to help naturally moisturize and soften the skin. Sounds important, right? Well, yes, it is. The problem, however, starts when your sebaceous glands get over-excited and produce way too much sebum than your skin really needs. This excess can cause blockages (more on that later) which stretches your pores and leads to breakouts. Sigh.

While your pore size is determined by genetics and you can neither shrink them (sorry about that) nor make them physically grow, many factors come into play where their general appearance is concerned. And yes, the following will sound super familiar because they’re everything in life that your skin truly hates – namely aging, sun damage and other lifestyle and environmental nasties such as a poor diet, lack of sleep and pollution. All of these contribute to enlarged-looking pores by breaking down collagen and compromising the strength, firmness and suppleness of your skin.

But all is not lost because, thankfully, you can take steps to keep your pores looking as trim as the day they were born. OK, that might be pushing it, but you know what we mean…

Herein, our five favorite tricks for climbing the ladder to pore perfection.

1. Make Good Cleansing Choices

Keeping your skin clean is one of the most important steps for maintaining good pore health. How so? Because oil loves to bind itself to bacteria, dirt and makeup, so if you let excess sebum sit around on the surface of your skin your pores end up stretching to make room for all of that extra debris. This is seriously bad news for the appearance of your complexion and can raise total havoc for acne-prone skin.

That being said, over-cleansing your skin with a routine that’s packed with chemicals is never a good idea, either. It’ll do nothing but compromise your skin’s natural protective barrier and dry out your complexion. Yes, it may strip away all those oils in the short-term, but in the long-term it’ll simply make your sebaceous glands think your skin needs more oil, so they'll continue to produce more and more of it. Vicious circle.

Instead of stripping your skin of every last inch of oil, choose gentle, effective cleansing products that harness the power of ingredients like tea tree oil, coconut charcoal and kaolin. Wash your face in lukewarm, never hot water, and use a light massaging technique to thoroughly cleanse without over-stimulating your pores.

2. Don’t Dismiss Toner

Potent, alcohol-laced toners that promise to rid you of oily skin forever often just suck all the life out of it. So one word: avoid. Gentle, balancing treatments, however, that are formulated to help unclog your pores and prevent breakouts should never be written off.

Our Daily Super Toner, for example, contains one of the best ingredients for cleaning and exfoliating your skin, glycolic acid. Glycolic acid is an alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) that works by loosening the ‘glue’ that binds dead skin cells together and holds them to the surface of your skin. Dead skin cells that hang around for too long spell disaster for your pores, so gently sloughing them off is key for avoiding any excess flakes that block your pores and cause inevitable breakouts.

Keep your eyes peeled for toners and products containing salicylic acid as well. Salicyclic acid is another great choice for keeping your skin clean and clear while boosting cell turnover at the same time. It can be a little drying, however, so make sure it’s either blended with lightweight moisturizing ingredients, or follow with a non pore-clogging moisturizer…

3. Never Forget To Moisturize

Adding more moisture to an already-oily complexion might seem foolhardy, but it’s actually vital for balancing your skin and stopping your sebaceous glands from filling up your pores with even more excess oil. Obviously heavy oils, waxes and butters are out of the question, but a light moisturizing routine will work wonders for the health of your pores and skin.

Awesome ingredients to look out for are ceramides, glycerin and one of our favorites, hyaluronic acid (HA). HA is a super lightweight but powerful humectant that draws water into your skin like a sponge. It’s clever and very effective – especially for oily complexions, enlarged pores and acne-prone skin.

4. Choose Non-Comedogenic Makeup

Your skincare isn’t the only part of your routine that might need a little adjustment if your pores are giving you real grief. In fact, pore-clogging makeup can be just as much to blame.

Most liquid foundations, for example, contain a whole bunch of oils that pores loathe. Creamy concealers, blushers and bronzers can also have a similar effect, so our advice? Stick with mineral, powder formulations and look for the term non-comedogenic on the label of all your cosmetics. Non-comedogenic means a product and its ingredients have been formulated and tested to reduce its risk of clogging your pores. It doesn’t mean it hands-down won’t clog your pores, but it’s less likely to.

We’ll take that.

5. Be Super Sun Savvy

As you all know, overexposure to the sun breaks down collagen in your skin and is a killer for fine lines, wrinkles, pigmentation and sagging. Well, the damage does not stop there as it also causes the walls of your pores to lose elasticity, sag and appear much bigger as a result.

To combat UV damage, apply an antioxidant serum every morning (we love vitamin C), then after moisturizing, finish with a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30. Just remember, as with your makeup, choose sun protection that’s oil-free and non-comedogenic to avoid any chances of clogging your perfectly protected pores.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could turn back the clocks and retain the skin you had in 2005? Well, sadly we live in the real world and time machines just aren’t an option. However, with some effective skincare and a few tweaks to your lifestyle habits you can definitely delay the visible signs of aging.

Wrinkles, dark spots, dullness and sagging skin are four of the most common signs of aging skin. And while the likes of Botox, dermal fillers and microneedling are extremely effective ways to reduce these concerns and nail younger-looking skin, needles aren’t everyone’s jam. But skincare is. Granted, you’ll never get the same dramatic results from skincare that you would from aesthetic treatments at the doctor’s office but that’s OK, because we know some of you don’t even want such dramatic results. Just to soften those fine lines, add radiance and fade discoloration would be nice, right?

Done. Here’s how.

1. Wear Sunscreen ALL YEAR ROUND

According to the Skin Cancer Foundation around 90 percent of all external skin damage is caused by the sun. Scary, huh? And the main culprits? UVA and UVB radiation. UVA radiation is the real skin ager as it penetrates deep into the skin where it breaks down and damages vital proteins such as collagen and elastin. UVA can also increase your risk of developing melanoma skin cancer which is nasty business. Meanwhile, UVB is the one that tans and burns your skin while potentially increasing your chances of developing non-melanoma skin cancers like basal and squamous cell carcinomas.

All in all, there may be no better feeling than the sun on your skin, but it's seriously bad news so we cannot stress enough the importance of year-round sun protection. We like to think you’re savvy enough to slap it on every day during the summer months when that big ball of fire in the sky is a constant reminder to look after your skin. But fess up, are you as vigilant in the winter when the days are cold and miserable? Thought not.

The thing is, the sun can be just as intense on cold days as it is in summertime. Yes, clouds work to partially block the sun’s damaging rays, but according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), up to 80 percent of UV radiation can still penetrate your skin on cloudy days. And that’s a lot. 

Most derms will agree that your best defense against aging is to wear sunscreen every day. And not just any sunscreen. Stick with a formulation that’s broad-spectrum (this means it offers protect from UVA and UVB), never go lower than SPF 30, apply it vigilantly and you’ll be golden. Oh, and don’t scrimp when you apply. You’ll need a dime-size amount for your face and another one for your neck, chest and hands if these are going to be exposed.

2. Get On The Retinol Train

After sunscreen, a retinol product is arguably the second most important weapon you can have in your skincare arsenal. Especially if you’re in the market for an ageless complexion and, well, who isn’t?

Retinol is an active form of vitamin A that gets converted into retinoic acid by the skin. Here, it works to fight environmental damage, increase collagen production and stimulate cell turnover. It’s one of the most researched ingredients in skincare and is a huge favorite with dermatologists, skin experts and beauty editors alike for its powers to thicken, firm and brighten the skin. In fact, studies have shown that regular use of retinol offers a significant improvement in fine lines after just 12 weeks of use.

Full disclosure: retinol is a potent, active ingredient so it requires a lot of respect. Always do a patch test before applying then introduce it slowly into your routine. Retinol is best applied at night to reduce dryness and redness from exposure to the sun, so start by applying a low concentration such as 0.5 or 1 percent every third night to clean skin before bed. As your skin acclimates, you can up your application to every other night, then after a few weeks, if your skin is tolerating it well, move to every night. If you start to experience redness or peeling, go back to twice a week, or try layering your favorite moisturizer on top.  

3. Fight Free Radical Damage With Antioxidants

After years of abuse from the environment, it’s no wonder the skin you had in your teens is not what it used to be. Overexposure to light, heat and pollution produces free radicals which work like demons to damage everything from DNA to collagen and elastin.

One of the most effective ways to battle the effects of environmental skin damage such as dark spots and wrinkles is to add an antioxidant serum into your daily routine. Antioxidants fight free radicals by diverting their attention away from damaging the good stuff in your skin. And they work. Boy do they work. Super effective antioxidants include vitamins C, E and B3 (niacinamide) – all of which you’ll find in our fabulous serums. Again, just make sure you patch test any new product before getting too slap happy with it.

Also, don’t forget to include as many antioxidant-rich foods in your diet to help your skin and body fight free radicals from the inside. We’re talking berries, kale, spinach, asparagus, carrots, beans and (let’s have a round of applause for…) dark chocolate.

4. Stop Eating All That Sugar

OK, so you know that sugar’s the actual devil when it comes to dental health and your weight, right? Well, it’s also a real contender for skin enemy of the year. And here’s why: it ages your skin like crazy through a process called glycation.

Glycation is a natural process in which sugar in your bloodstream attaches itself to collagen and elastin to produce free radicals called advanced glycation end products, or AGEs which is a clever acronym in itself, don’t you think? These nasty little AGEs cause your collagen and elastin to become weak, stiff and rigid which ends up manifesting itself in dullness, sagging, fine lines and wrinkles. Before you put every ounce of the glycation blame on sugar, however, it’s worth nothing that glycation is a fact of life and always happening within your skin as you age thanks to hormones, sun damage and the other usual suspects. It’s just that a high sugar diet unnecessarily speeds up this process and prematurely ages you up with little to no warning.

The obvious answer is to avoid refined white sugar and simple carbs, but don’t forget the more hidden sweet stuff like high-fructose corn syrup which is often used to sweeten soda, bread, breakfast cereals and salad dressings. Corn syrup is quite possibly the worst of the lot.

5. Look After Your Eyes

Never forget, the skin around your eyes is way thinner, drier and more fragile than the rest of your face which means it’s one of the first areas to show signs of aging such as fine lines (crow’s feet), puffiness and dark circles.

To be honest, crow’s feet are kind of inevitable, but this doesn’t mean you should admit defeat and let nature take its course because there are many way to slow down this particular aging journey. How so? Stop squinting at your computer (maybe an eye test is in order?), wear sunglasses as much as possible, get more sleep (preferably on your back) and up your skincare game with a targeted, moisturizing eye cream that contains ingredients like hyaluronic acid, green tea, ceramides, peptides and antioxidants – yes, those again.

One last thing: remember to apply your eye cream with as little force as possible – rubbing it in too heavily will do nothing but drag and damage the skin. Instead, use your ring fingers to tap it gently around the orbital bone and then let it sink in on its own.
 
Who needs Botox, anyway?

If you have sensitive skin, your best defense isn’t to overload it with a gazillion products in an attempt to ‘cure’ your sensitivities. Instead, it’s all about going back to basics to strengthen and care for your skin’s barrier function.

It's a fact, the uppermost layer of your skin really gets put through the mill. From constant cleansing through to the daily grind of heat, cold, sun, wind, pollution and central heating (need we go on?), its job to protect and defend your body comes under so much stress it’s a wonder it copes.

But that’s the thing: oftentimes, it doesn’t. And this is when problems like inflammation and flare-ups set in.

So, let’s have a look at the skin barrier to see what we can do to keep it at its very best, shall we?

What Exactly Is The Skin Barrier?

Your skin consists of three main layers. At the lowest level is the hypodermis (also known as subcutaneous tissue) which keeps your skin attached to your bones and muscle, supplies it with blood, and pads and insulates your body. Next, you’ll find the dermis which is where you’ll find your hair follicles, sweat glands, blood vessels and connective tissues. And at the very top is the protective layer, the epidermis, which serves primarily as a barrier to things like water, pollution, infection and damage.

The epidermis is split into many more layers but the uppermost layer is the one we’re concerned about here: the stratum corneum. Why? Because when we talk about your skin’s barrier function, the stratum corneum is where it all happens.

The stratum corneum is your body’s first line of defense and it works super hard to protect you from the environment and everything it throws at you. It’s kind of like a brick wall, built from around 20 layers of cells – although this is different for everyone and varies in certain areas of the body. These layers are made primarily of keratin, held in place by lipids such as ceramides, cholesterol and fatty acids. Together with your skin’s NMF (natural moisturizing factor) these work to keep the skin soft, supple, healthy and moisturized.

What Happens When Your Barrier Function Is Compromised?

Simple: if your stratum corneum is thin and/or weakened it won’t work as efficiently as it should to retain moisture and block out irritants. Cue dryness, dehydration and sensitivities such as itching, inflammation, redness, rashes and so on. And that's not all. Skin disorders like eczema, psoriasis and rosacea are also thought to be exacerbated or even triggered by an impaired skin barrier.

But why do some people have a weaker barrier function than others? Well, everyone’s skin composition is different (hello genetics), but there are a few factors to take into consideration when determining how strong and healthy your personal barrier function is. For starters, pale skin generally has a thinner stratum corneum than darker skin types which means its barrier doesn’t function as well and it’s more prone to irritation. Oh, and guess what? Your skin barrier weakens as you age, so while your skin might have been super strong and resilient in your 20s, by the time you hit your 30s this might no longer be the case. Aging. Ruthless.

5 Ways To A Better Skin Barrier Function

The good news is there are plenty of ways to care for your barrier function, strengthen your skin and therefore reduce sensitivities. Here are five simple ways to do all of the above.

1. Ditch The Harsh Cleansers

One of the worst things you can do for your skin’s barrier is to strip away all of its natural oils when washing your face. Be kind as you cleanse by using lukewarm, never hot water and choose your ingredients wisely. Surfactants like sodium laureth sulfate (SLS) and sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES) are often used in cleansers because they’re very good at cleaning the skin. But we think they’re a little too effective and this can end up leaving your barrier dry and compromised. This is why sulfates get a big no from us. Instead, look for gentler surfactants in your cleansers like disodium laureth sulfosuccinate and disodium 2-sulfolaurate. We use these in our cleansers as they’re known to be much kinder and way more skin-friendly than SLS and SLES. 

2. Don’t Over-Exfoliate

As with the downsides of over-zealous cleansing, exfoliating your skin too much or too often can also damage your poor old stratum corneum. Skin cells have a life cycle of around 28 days in which time they form, mature and shed. This cycle often becomes sluggish and needs a little kick up the butt with things like exfoliation and chemical peels, but if you go too crazy you can end up causing more harm than good.

If you’re a fan of chemical peels, ask your derm to recommend the best frequency plan for your skin type and when it comes to at-home exfoliation? Replace super harsh scrubs that contain damaging particles like ground nut shells with gentle chemical exfoliators like lactic acid.

3. Embrace Antioxidants

Environmental stressors such as pollution and sun exposure are massive threats to the skin’s barrier function which is why we truly believe that protecting your skin is just as important as treating it well. Make sure you wear a daily, broad-spectrum sunscreen that has an SPF of 30 or above and never underestimate the powers of a good antioxidant serum to help counteract the damage caused by free radicals. Vitamin E and niacinamide are great options because they help repair barrier function and are tolerable by most skin types.

4. Boost Your NMF With The Right Ingredients

Your skin’s natural moisturizing factor (NMF) is a clever and very efficient way for your skin to keep itself naturally hydrated and healthy – but as you get older and subject it to the daily grinds of life, it needs help with some choice moisturizing ingredients.

Most derms and skin experts will tell you that ceramides are some of the most important ingredients for helping to up your NMF and restore your skin’s barrier. Ceramides are lipids that hold everything together in the stratum corneum but they’re greatly reduced by aging and environmental damage, so it totally figures that adding extras into your skincare routine will be beneficial in the long-term.

Similarly, humectants like hyaluronic acid, glycerin, aloe and urea are great ways to draw water into the skin, while emollient or occlusive ingredients like jojoba oil and colloidal oatmeal will seal it all in to help your barrier heal and repair itself.

5. Eat Well, Sleep Well & Try Not To Stress

This may be easier said than done but leading a healthier lifestyle in which you keep stress to a minimum, get eight hours of sleep and eat a balanced diet will go a long way in protecting and repairing your skin’s barrier from the inside out. Stress and lack of sleep have both been proven to weaken the skin’s barrier by slowing down its healing process, so do everything you can to be more zen and get your zzzs on a regular basis. This is important stuff, OK?

When it comes to what you eat, avoid refined carbs and sugars which are the devil and introduce more healthy fats such as omega-3 into your diet. Omega-3 is vital for a top dollar barrier function, so up your quota by eating more fatty fish like salmon and mackerel.

Finally, if your skin is causing you real concerns, it probably needs more help than you can offer it at home, so never hesitate to seek advice from a skincare professional. It may be that you’ve become intolerant to a certain ingredient in a product or become allergic to a specific type of food. And these are not things you can easily diagnose at home. Trust us, we've been there... 

Good news: at night, while you catch up on valuable zzzs, your body and skin go into overdrive to repair damage from the day. And this, dear friends is why we truly believe that sleep is one of the most important players in your skincare arsenal. 

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, there are very few skincare tricks as effective as a good night’s sleep. Yes, daily broad-spectrum sunscreen is imperative for warding off the signs of premature aging, and if you skip moisturizer on a regular basis, especially as you get older? Well, you can say goodbye to that baby-soft skin you took for granted in your teens and early 20s.

But when all is said and done, if you deprive yourself of quality sleep time, you might as well throw the rest of your skincare routine in the trash.

Here, we lay out the facts about beauty sleep and why you 100 percent need it – if nothing else but for the sake of your wrinkles.

1. If you’re anywhere between the ages of 18 and 64, the National Sleep Foundation recommends between seven and nine hours of sleep every night. This means if you’re up every day at 7 am to workout before work or take the dog for a walk, you need to be turning in at midnight at the very latest – but preferably by 10 pm.

Why do we need so much sleep? Because it ‘powers the mind, restores the body and fortifies virtually every system in the body,’ explain sleep experts at the foundation.

2. What does this mean specifically for your skin? Well, as your brain goes into rest mode, your skin does the exact opposite. Blood flow to the skin increases which nourishes it with valuable nutrients; cell turnover accelerates to bring fresh, healthy skin cells to the surface, and collagen production revs up big time. Collagen is a super important protein in your body that works like glue to hold everything together. When it comes to your skin, collagen is basically responsible for its structure, firmness and plumpness. In short, lots of collagen is very good. Short supplies, not so much.

Aging, a cruddy diet, too much sun and smoking are all major enemies of collagen, but sleep is its BFF. So, beauty lesson number one? More sleep = more collagen = more youthful-looking skin. 

3. Plenty of other things are also going on while you sleep, so let’s talk about hormones for a hot minute.

First up, is cortisol, or as it’s otherwise known, the stress hormone. Cortisol not only regulates your levels of stress, but also your blood pressure, immune system and metabolism. Levels of cortisol vary throughout the day, being high in the morning and gradually decreasing into the evening. When you fall asleep these levels drop dramatically, which means if you miss out on valuable sleep your body continues to produce cortisol. This puts unwanted stress on pretty much every important internal bodily function, and spells disaster for your skin as too much cortisol completely wrecks its ability to heal and regenerate. It can also cause flare-ups and exacerbate skin conditions like rosacea, eczema and psoriasis.

4. While we’re on the hormone topic, melatonin also needs a mention. Melatonin – often thought of simply as a sleep supplement you buy from your local CVS – is actually a hormone produced naturally by your body when it’s dark to help it repair itself as you sleep. It has awesome antioxidant properties, so just like vitamin C and niacinamide, helps reduce skin aging by fighting damaging free radicals that are caused by those environmental bad guys: namely UV radiation and pollution. 

Beauty lesson number two: lack of sleep = less melatonin = more skin damage.

5. The last hormone we’d like to bring to your attention is HGH, the human growth hormone. Like melatonin, this is produced naturally by your body during deep sleep to help maintain your organs and build strength in your tissues and muscles. HGH production decreases with age which is why it becomes increasingly harder to build muscle, bone density and exercise stamina as you get older. It’s also one of the reasons your skin becomes thinner over time.

Note to selves. Up your sleep levels to help your body produce as much HGH as your age will allow.

6. As we previously mentioned, sleep is vital for maintaining a balanced metabolism. Well, it also helps regulate your blood sugar levels which is super important for reducing sugar cravings.

A diet that’s high in simple carbs and refined sugars results in a process called glycation which leads to inflammation in your skin and a significant disruption to your collagen and elastin production. Glycation also produces skin damaging free radicals which drive a further nail in the coffin of your hopes for a long-lasting youthful complexion.

7. If you’ve ever woken up after a night of poor sleep (wine, what wine?) only to be faced with puffy eyes and dark circles, you’ll be more than aware of how much the skin around your eyes feels the hit of sleep deprivation. But why? Unfortunately, the exact science is a little unclear, but lack of sleep definitely makes eyes dry and irritated, so this could be one reason for the inflammation and/or swelling. It also causes the blood vessels under the thin skin around your eyes to dilate which increases blood retention and creates that infamous dark tint.

Too much cortisol may also be partly to blame for eye puffiness. High levels in your bloodstream change the salt balance in your body which makes it retain water and cause unwanted swelling.

8. The process of repair and regeneration that happens as you sleep also helps strengthen your skin’s natural, protective barrier. If your skin barrier is compromised – which may happen if you keep up a shabby sleep routine – it fails in its job to hold the good stuff (water) in as well as to keep the bad stuff (chemicals, UV, pollution and bacteria) out. 

And there's life lesson number three: lack of sleep = poor barrier function = dry, dehydrated skin.

So, what should you take away from all this sleep intel? Simple. Number one, never underestimate the power of a good night's rest. If your skin is looking particularly sad or your under eye circles are out of control, turning in early should be an absolute priority. No arguments. And number two, overnight is a great time to help boost your skin's natural healing and repairing processes with some quality skincare products. Look to ingredients like retinol to amp up your anti-aging game, try hyaluronic acid to moisturize or go for salicylic acid to help unblock pores and improve cell turnover.

Trust us, your skin will be super grateful come the morning.