The skin barrier is important because it is the gate keeper to our external and internal environments.
In the outermost layer of the skin, the stratum corneum, is where the cells link together to form a protective wall. If we imagine the cells are the bricks then the lipids (such as ceramides, fatty acids and cholesterol) are the mortar.
It is important to be respectful to your skin’s barrier because once you disrupt it, and it can’t perform its functions and that disruption perpetuates.
What we mean by this is when your skin can’t perform its functions you get an increase in water loss and an
increase in irritants (e.g pollutants, allergens and pathogens) entering the skin. The result is a worsening of the skin’s barrier function through impacts such as increased inflammation. Once it’s challenged and its function is declined the result is worsening of the problem.
There are many things you can do to look after your skin’s barrier, including; avoiding harsh abrasions, damaging UVA/UVB rays, looking for moisturisers which contain ceramides and responding to physical signals (such as dryness, redness). For example, in winter if you start noticing dryness, respond to this by adding more moisture.