A world without skin care...

...would be a world of ugly people!

It's the question that the majority of Americans ask every time they hear about skin care: What's the big deal?

Your skin is the largest organ of the human body. Its purpose is to protect the musculature and systems underneath from the sun, from airborne pathogens, and dehydration. Taking a vitamin supplement or detox concoctions may fortify and enhance the performance of our internal organs, but what about the skin? It is abused far worse than any other organ on a daily basis.

Skin health, endurance and longevity are somewhat genetic, with people from warmer climates and darker skin tones getting the better genes. Heredity, though, is not a fail-safe for younger looking skin. External factors, like environmental pollutants and lifestyle, affect face value as well.

Environmental:

The sun has a great deal to do with the decrease in face value. Spending time, unprotected in the sun, depreciates your skin the same way that driving a classic car in a smash-up derby depreciates its value. UVA (aging), UVB (burning) and UVC (cancer) radiation are all bombarding our skin each day. While they may lead to a darkening of the melanin in our skin, leading to a beautiful tan, which is actually a safety protocol to keep the radiation from reaching our internal organs, other effects are also taking place.

Collagen production decreases, elastin proteins knit together creating wrinkles on the skin's surface, and melanin production can become irratic, leading to hyperpigmentation (sun spots) or Hypopigmentation (when melanin is no longer produced leaving pale white splotches on the skin, which cannot be corrected). All of these lead to skin that looks older than it is... and a decreased face value.

Environmental pollutants can also cause skin damage, like burning and cancers.

Lifestyle:

Medications, legal and otherwise, can cause skin damage by dehydration, hormonal imbalances and severe breakout. Alcoholic beverages don't just leave you with a dry mouth in the morning, but can severely dehydrate your skin as well. When the body is lacking moisture, it will take it where it can... even reallocating it from one organ to another.

Your skin requires a healthy balance of oil (lubrication) and water (hydration) to function properly.

Tanning and cosmetic procedures can also lead to skin damage. If the sun causes the most damage to the skin, imagine the damage that is being done when you increase the exposure to UV radiation to 3x the amount of the sun in order to tan faster. The perfect analogy for vising a tanning booth is placing a grape in a food dehydrator. This does nothing to increase your face value.

Some products that are found in the current skin care market are developed for the ideal skin type: normal/combination, tending toward oily in the T-zone. However, these ingredients are not strong enough to treat oily skin types, and are too astringent for drier, sensitive skin types. Other treatments, which may be marketed to solve acne and the like, may dry up the blemishes, but also strip your skin of oil and moisture, which leads to dry, sensitive skin, and in some cases even more oil production.

If redness or irritation that last longer than 5 minutes occurs after the use of any product, discontinue use immediately! In a professional setting, with an esthetician or dermatologist, therein lies the exception, although they too should be providing treatment maintenance products that would reduce the redness, irritation and swelling caused by the treatment.

The Big Deal...

Skin care is important to our overall health, because skin that cannot or does not function can lead to serious illness. It is one of the keystones to living a better, healthier life. Proper skin care fortifies the barrier function of the skin, which allows the skin to accept moisture, but keeps moisture from evaporating, and assists in the healing of breaches in the skin. It also provides avenues for the enrichment of the skin with topically applied vitamins and minerals to calm, soothe, and promote more efficient organ function. Skin care also provides the opportunity to add moisture to the skin, and to apply additional SPF protection.

Proper skin care is the most powerful ally in increasing your face value!