The skin is said to be our biggest organ. This superstructure envelops all of your body, helping you keep your moisture and temperature constant and all harmful agents at bay. Without this soft tissue mesh, you would have no shape, freeze or overheat with the outside temperature, and your organs could just dry like an autumn leaf!
But let us look closer at this wonder of evolution.
We learned to hate fat, but you might be surprised to learn that lipids are essential to all our cells and the proper function of our body.
The first rule for healthy skin is healthy natural fats, so drizzle that fantastic olive oil all over your food. Another rule is our dark leafy greens. Some of us go for supplements, but if you get your portions a day of greens and healthy oils, you will not need to enrich the big pharma more. The last and most important is water, not coffee or tea but water; if you do not have enough of it, you can put all the hyaluronic acid creams you might find around, and you will still be like a dry cod fish.
Each cell, as you can see below, has a layer of fat and phosphorus which make it robust and impermeable to most bigger substances and agents, only allowing for water and more minor nutrients to go through via diffusion and osmosis.
You will also see mechanisms to assist the transportation of bigger substances through active transportation (in purple) or filtration - hydrostatic pressure.
Other skin functions include eliminating toxins (including the acid mantle) and water through sweat - a safety mechanism to keep our skin cool and "free" of harmful agents and pathogens.
The sensation function is important here as we tend to love the sun on holiday. Very important for vitamin D formation, also a process of the skin, though excess exposure - typically means more than 10 minutes daily - is harmful, especially at the higher hours of the day. This accelerates skin desquamation - a natural shedding of the skin and can cause burns and what we in beauty kindly call permanent skin pigmentation. You might have heard of ageing spots - something that stays on your face even after your tan fades or your melanin cells stop producing melanin.
I'm not even touching on cancer, but we all know this is on the up, up, up.
Therefore, we ask you to care for your lovely face and body skin. Factor 30 is a must; factor 50 is the best, even if you look like Snow White. If you go in the water, apply after again. If you lie down in your towel, rub it again. You can always ask your partner or that sexy person around you to help you rub the cream. Head out of the gutter, boys!
We really recommend a facial when coming back from holiday or even during the summer. It will help to stabilise your skin and remove all that dry, dead skin. Yuck! NO, no noooooooo!
So remember, have a good cleansing routine and have a facial once in a while, especially if you go in the sun. The best thing for you, and the most relaxing treatment promised!
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