With summer well and truly over and we start to really steam into winter months, I thought it would be a good time to maybe explain are you dehydrated or are you lacking nourishment?
They are not the same thing!
You might be surprised to learn that if you don’t have enough of one, you will definitely be experiencing the other.
What is Hydration?
This is exactly as it sounds, it’s the free water in the skin. I like to explain to my clients that the water in our skin are like river beds with free flowing water. All the skin cells sit in the rivers just gently bouncing and bobbing up and down.
We get most of our free water from our dermis (lower layer of skin)- that gently releases water up in the epidermis. (Top most highest layer)
Did you know that only 7% of the water in our skin is made up of the water we drink! I am not saying you can stop drinking water but what that does mean is we need to ensure our dermis and epidermis are in beautiful working order to keep our skin river beds full.
You can tell when you’re dehydrated as your skin starts to show really fine lines. Those river beds I spoke about become dry and empty. Your skin doesn’t bounce back as fast when you give it a little pinch and you can look really dull. Your skin will normally try and absorb your cleanser as soon as you put it on your skin and you will feel like you have to use alot of moisturiser, like you just can’t apply enough on.
Nourishment:
This one will surprise you.
If you are lacking nourishment then you are lacking Essential Fatty Acids. EFA’s for short. Our skin cell is made of this really fine lipid (oil). As our cell makes its way up to the surface it releases this oil and this creates our skins acid mantle,
Unfortunately 97% of Australians are essential fatty acid deficient! Meaning we don’t have a very good healthy acid mantle. When we don’t have this very thin fine layer of oil protecting our skin, that is when free radicals can enter the skin and cause inflammation, redness, breakouts and whole range of skin issues.
But the biggest thing it causes is dehydration! see…. if your are lacking one you will certainly have the other.
I like to think of it like a salad dressing. The oil is all on the surface and all the juicy goodness is down the bottom.
Well its exactly the same for our skin! If we don’t have our oil – our free water in the epidermis literally evaporates straight up and out. Making our skin super dehydrated and prone to inflammation, dullness, fines and so many other things.
To resolve this we should really look at adding nourishment to almost every skin routine especially now we are heading into winter.
A good quality fish oil tablet will help to start nourishment from the inside out and to help balance back out the acid mantle with a oil that contains rose hip, jojoba or triglycerides.
Apply this every night and it’s like you adding a healthy seal over the skin so the water can stay in the river beds keeping the epidermis and your skin cells happy, healthy and bouncy. Our top picks for this is O Cosmedics Youth Oil and Jadea Anti-Stress Serum or Jadea Skin Barrier Repair.
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