Importance of your Skin Barrier

The Skin Barrier

What is the skin barrier and why is it the missing link to ultimate skin health?

Our skin is made up of layers, with the skin barrier being the outermost surface. Considering it’s what protects our skin from external factors like environmental stressors, harmful bacteria and pollution, we know it has an important job to do.  

It’s also responsible for our skin’s ability to retain moisture and prevent moisture loss, which is why when it’s not working properly, our skin health goes down the toilet. Without a strong skin barrier, your skin stands no choice at fighting off all the environmental stressors our skin is exposed to each day. 

Your skin barrier includes the stratum corneum, which is the outermost layer of the epidermis and is composed of lipids, skin cells, fatty acids and amino acids. Have you noticed how lipid serums and creams are now ‘trending’? 

Well they are naturally found within our skin, but with all the lotions and potions we use, we do a great job at diminishing them. So why not let the skincare industry sell us a product to replace them, after originally selling us the product to diminish them? Oh, the irony! 

Over the years we’ve become obsessed with the act of cleansing and stripping our skin morning and night (apparently, we need two types of cleansers now), exfoliating the heck out of our skin (from scrubs to acids) and going too hard on vitamin A. No wonder we’re now starting to pay the price—we’ve over-washed, over-exfoliated and overworked our poor skin barriers into nothing. 

Over-exfoliating and using aggressive ingredients such as fragrances, PEG-based emulsifiers and preservatives places a lot of stress on the skin, leading to dehydration. When your skin is dehydrated, it can’t hold onto water – which makes it flake or even crack! You’ll know if you’ve gone too hard on the cleansing and exfoliating if you’ve experienced redness, flakiness, tightness, itchiness, rough texture, fine lines, breakouts, rashes or severe irritation such as psoriasis and eczema. An impaired skin barrier can also worsen acne. 

There are other ways your skin barrier can be compromised in ways you can’t really control. The changing weather is one contributing factor, especially during the winter. When humidity is low during these colder months, it’s more likely to dry out your dermis (the deeper layer of the skin) and cause moisture loss, further weakening your skin barrier. Using aggressive ingredients on top of all this further exacerbates the problem.  

So how do we respect and nourish our skin barrier? 

For starters, use less skincare. Put a screaming halt to daily exfoliating, calm it on the vitamin A, ditch the morning cleanse and become a label sleuth by knowing which ingredients to avoid. Email us if you're not sure! 

MOTHER likes to stay away from chemical UV actives (use a mineral-only SPF – like ours!), emulsifiers (watch out for PEG in the ingredient list), preservatives (look for phenoxyethanol) and fragrance (avoid parfum). 

All of which are NOT in our most coveted Face Barrier. This broad-spectrum formula not only protects, hydrates & primes but also rebuilds your skin barrier function. If multitasking is out, MOTHER missed the memo

Your skin will be happy and healed in no time! We are always an email away if you need help with reading cosmetic ingredient labels or recommendations.