Читать книгу Skincare Decoded - Victoria Fu - Страница 43

SKINCARE DECODED • 48 MOISTURIZERS • 49

DEHYDRATED

IRRITATED

AGING

Allergens

All the Woes of

Dehydrated Skin

Your stratum corneum

has it pretty rough: The

beatings of external

allergens, pollutants,

UV rays, weather

changes, and just

plain aging can really

take a toll on the SC

and prevent it from

doing its barrier job

properly. When these

stressors impact your

barrier function, water

loss leads to dehydrated, irritated

skin—and dry skin has long-term

consequences. Neglecting to moisturize leads your poor stratum corneum

into a vicious cycle: increasing water loss, letting in outside aggressors,

causing inflammation, and leading to more dehydration and less absorption

of moisturizers. Uncorrected, this cycle may lead to short-term nuisances like

itchy, flaky skin—which turns into fine lines and wrinkles in the long term!

This means that a solid moisturizing strategy that evolves with age and the

season is one of the most important steps to keep your skin in tip-top shape.

The Takeaway

As boring as skin moisturizing may sound, without this basic step, the stratum

corneum’s job gets a lot harder: Layers below the SC are left not as hydrated,

our bodies end up less protected from outside toxins, and further skin damage

inevitably escalates the aging process. If you don’t have time for all the other

serums, elixirs, or masques, just grab that jar of lotion and slather away.