Your skin’s water loss and why you need to maintain it *A Thread*

Okay SO you’ll see in cosmetic journals or articles about water loss. So what the heck is it. TEWL also stand’s for transepidermal water loss! It’s when water in your dermis goes through all of your epidermis and evaporates off the surface of your skin! IT IS SUPER IMPORTANT

Your skin needs to maintain it’s water content! Too much of it is bad and too little of it is bad! You can NOT stop this process and you shouldn’t want to stop this process as well because it is directly related to how your skin maintains moisture and hydration

Because the skin loses water consistently, the goal is for you to maintain a DECREASE in water loss! You do not want water loss to INCREASE in the skin and I’ll explain why in a bit. REMEMBER: DECREASE GOOD, INCREASE BAD. READ IT AGAIN

Now what happens if there is TOO MUCH of an increase in TEWL? Your skin will get dry, dehydrated, dull, irritated, flaky and even more problems. What are the factors that affect TEWL. Here are just a few

Since we all love skin care here let’s talk about why using the right products is important. For example, let’s say I use a harsh cleanser and my skin feels squeaky clean after. That doesn’t mean the skin is clean. It means you stripped your skin and when you do that TEWL GOES UP

If you go outside without sunscreen, TEWL will go up. You overexfoliate your skin, TEWL will go up. You impair your skin barrier, TEWL will go UP. Do you see how these little things may cause BIG problems? but wait there’s more

Continually allowing your skin to increase it’s water loss will exarcebate other skin concerns and as a result it will leave your skin open to invasion from PATHOGENS AND POLLUTANTS. They will be coming through lookin like

and when all those pollutants penetrate your skin, it’s going to cause PROBLEMS. Acne, inflammation, skin will lose lipids and natural moisturizing factors just to name a few.

So for everyone that loves ABS and Dr. Bronner’s and all those harsh ass soaps and want healthy skin? LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING

okay so now you’re like...how do I maintain water loss. TWO THINGS. HUMECTANTS AND OCCLUSIVES! THEY ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND

Humectants are going to draw moisture into the skin and occlusives are going to SEAL that moisture. Examples of humectant ingredients: Allantoin, glycerin, hyaluronic acid, sodium hyaluronate, urea. Even lactic acid can act as a humectant!

The two types of occlusives you will mainly see are petrolatum/Vaseline or oils! Y’all see @MakeupForWOC promoting glazed donut gang! It’s because y’all are sealing your routine with an occlusive! Oils are good too because they SEAL. OILS DO NOT HYDRATE

Humectants and occlusives are not going to STOP water loss but they are going to help you limit it. The other two important ways to maintain water loss is using the RIGHT cleanser (nothing too harsh) and wearing SUNSCREEN. NO EXCEPTIONS

And when you’re doing your skin care routine, do NOT APPLY your products on DRY SKIN (with the exception of Retinol, prescription creams, exfoliants). Your estheticians say to apply your products on DAMP SKIN FOR A REASON. By doing this you are maintaining the moisture!

TEWL is so important to keep track of! If your skin is feeling dry or dehydrated or even if your skin barrier is damaged that means it’s time to re-evaluate your routine so you can maintain TEWL before things get worse! Thats all I got