Dermoi!s Chief Scientific Officer outlines how to revive a stressed complexion
Finding it hard to maintain healthy skin this season? Changes to colder, dryer weather and busy holiday schedules can cause dull, red, lacklustre skin.
Eve Casha holds an MSc in Pharmaceutical Formulation, and is the current CSO at Dermoi – a cosmeceutical skincare platform that offers advanced facial treatments and skincare products directly to your home. Below Casha outlines her top five tips to revive a stressed complexion for quick glow:
1 | Fight Inflammation with Active Ingredients
Stress, poor sleep, poor diets, cigarettes, UV radiation, pollution, allergy, and weather changes can all cause inflammatory reactions within the skin, and this tends to develop into excess redness and blotchiness. Adopting powerful anti-inflammatory active ingredients that can calm inflammation at a cellular level to instantly soothe the skin. Some examples include actives such as Ginkgo biloba as it has anti-redness, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidant properties or Endothelyol as it will reduce inflammation, blood vessel dilation, and histamine release.
2 | Repair Skin Barrier with Occlusive Agents
The skin barrier is composed of dead skin cells (anucleate corneocytes) surrounded by a lipid matrix. With harsh weather, alcohol, stress, cigarettes, and/or poor diets, it is very easy to disturb this barrier. This not only leads to inflammation, but also causes increases in transepidermal water loss (TEWL) leading to dullness and dryness. Moisturisers containing effective occlusive agents that will form water resistant layer over the skin can repair skin barrier function. This will restore suppleness and glow.
3 | Exfoliate… but not too much.
Even if the skin is in optimal health, an accumulation of dead skin cells on the surface can give a rough, flaky, dull finish. Exfoliation will remove dead cells to reveal smoother, younger-looking skin, however, exfoliating too frequently or with aggressive exfoliants will have the opposite effect. It will dehydrate and thin the skin barrier, increasing TEWL. Try exfoliating only once per week with enzymatic or chemical exfoliators to see how skin reacts. Products containing lactic acid at a concentration of 10% or less can be helpful as that is also a natural moisturising factor in the skin. Always balance exfoliation with occlusive moisturisers.
4 | Add Water Back into Skin with Humectants
The skin is naturally structured to bind and store water molecules; however, depending on skin health, this water can easily be lost through the epidermis.
Humectants are ingredients that bind water and draw them into the skin. For example, hyaluronic acid is a well-established cosmeceutical active that can bind 1000x its weight in water, but other humectants such as sodium PCA or glycerin will work. The trick is to always combine humectants with occlusive agents to lock in hydration, otherwise TEWL can increase.
5 | Supplement Antioxidants Topically and Orally
We are constantly exposed to free radicals (highly reactive molecules in pollution & UV radiation) that change gene expression and damage our lipids, proteins, and DNA. While our body naturally produces protective antioxidants, it’s easy for our natural defences to become overwhelmed during the holiday season.
Daily supplementation with bioavailable nutraceutical supplements, topical use stable antioxidant serums, and investing in antioxidant-rich facial treatments, will support our bodies’ defence mechanisms, preventing dullness and premature ageing.