Skinstitut

5 Skin Need States

• Anti-Ageing – We all age. It’s something to celebrate rather than freak out about. Especially considering smart skincare choices can help to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Signs of premature ageing are exacerbated by environmental and lifestyle factors, as well as structural changes such as the thinning of the epidermis over time, the slowing of sebum production and cell turnover, and the skin’s compromised ability to retain moisture.

• Brightening – At the base of the epidermis (our outermost layer of skin), melanocyte cells produce the protein melanin, which not only determines our skin colour, but is also our skin’s natural protective mechanism against UV damage. When melanocytes produce too much melanin (often in response to immediate or prolonged stressors), it can cause hyperpigmentation, which manifests as patchy, uneven skin tone, or dark spots.

• Calming – Characterised by hyperreactivity, sensitive skin is the result of your immune system responding to a perceived threat. For many, it’s caused by a thinner-than-average stratum corneum (the skin’s outermost layer) and compromised hydrolipidic film (the skin’s external barrier). This impaired barrier increases the skin’s permeability, which leaves its lower layers more vulnerable. Sensitive skin often manifests as dry, itchy, stinging, red, rough and bumpy skin.

• Clearing – When dead skin cells mingle with dirt, toxins, makeup and other impurities – topped off with overproduction of sebum – they create a kind of ‘debris’ that gets trapped in the skin’s pores. As a result, our overfilled pores produce whiteheads and blackheads. When a clogged pore becomes infected, a pimple is born. Congested skin can look and feel oily, rough, dull and even dirty.

• Hydrating – Dry and dehydrated skin are easily confused, but fundamentally distinct. Dry skin is influenced by biological factors and characterised by lack of sebum production. Dehydrated skin manifests when our skin loses moisture, which happens when the epidermis, the skin’s outermost layer, is compromised. Dry skin might look and feel tight, patchy and rough, whereas dehydrated skin often appears dull with more perceptible lines and wrinkles.