The biggest favour you can do your skin is to get your cleanser right – it is the cornerstone of your skincare and ultimately the key to healthy skin.
It’s not so much HOW you cleanse but WHAT you use which is really important.
Many cleansers have a foaming action and we have been conditioned to believe that we can’t be ‘clean’ unless it foams.
This foaming action is created by ingredients called surfactants.
The word comes from ‘surface active agents” which describes their action on water and oil. If you pour oil intowater it will form two distinct layers because water is hydrophilic and oil is hydrophobic so they repel each other creating a ‘surface tension’ between them. When you add a surfactant it breaks that tension and allows the water and oil to mix.
A good example of an surfactant is washing up liquid. When you use it on your oily cooking pans it acts like a magnet to “emulsify” – combine – the oil and water into a white emulsion so it can be washed away easily.
So, lets think about this in relation to surfactants in skin care.
Mostly we think of the oil ON our skin, but we also have a delicate system of oils/lipid/ceramides and other fatty substances WITHIN our skin layers that form a major part of our skin barrier mechanism:
SKIN BARRIER TASKS
- Reduces water loss from skin – keeps us hydrated
- Limits skin infections by controlling pathogenic bacteria
- Protects from ultraviolet rays
- Neutralising oxidants reducing their ageing effects
- Allows transfer of substances for healthy skin function
- Protects us from skin irritation
- Controls our immune response
- Reduces sensitivity
- Reduces Inflammation
The oils on and in our skin are super important – especially if we have sensitivity or inflammation. If we use products that contain surfactants regularly, every time we wash our skin, these valuable lipids that reside within the skin layers will be eroded, leaving our skin barrier compromised which can result in dryness, sensitivity, dermatitis, congestion etc
IT IS IMPORTANT FOR EVERY SKIN TYPE THAT THE VALUABLE LIPIDS ON AND IN THE EPIDERMIS ARE PRESERVED TO MAINTAIN A STRONG, RESILIENT SKIN BARRIER.
In addition to this erosion of skin lipids, surfactants often have a much higher pH (7-10) than our skins optimal pH of around 5, which disrupts the naturally acid environment (acid mantle) of the skin, and as a result creates a more conducive environment for pathogenic bacteria.
Find other tips on how to help achieve healthy skin >>> “What can I do to create a strong and resilient skin barrier – in other words achieve REALLY healthy skin!?”