Beauty Skincare Regime

Beyond the basics

Cleansing, moisturizing and sunscreening may be the keystones of good skincare but department store and pharmacy shelves are festooned with many other skincare products: masks, exfoliators, intensive serums… Do such products fit into the scientifically sound skincare regime? And if so, where?

Face Masks

Your skin won’t suddenly shrivel up or break out in spots if you don’t use a mask on the weekly basis the cosmetics companies usually suggest. But that doesn’t mean they’re not of benefit, and not just psychologically as you take time out to apply one. A very oily skin may well be cleared of greasy debris with a cleansing clay mask, a fraught skin might be soothed by a cool gel mask and a dry skin might feel more supple and look more radiant after a moisturizing mask.

Yet again, be guided by your skin, not by marketing blurb or sales pitches.

If you’re using a heavy-duty moisturizer and still have dry skin, you might like to try a hydrating mask twice a week.

If your oily skins persists in developing spots, try a clay-based mask up to three times a week. If your problem-free skin ain’t broke …

Exfoliators

Exfoliating is another one of those tasks the skincare companies advise you to do at least once of week. But is there any medical basis for the practice? Yes. Essentially, exfoliating involves the removal of dead skin cells and debris. In both oily and dry skins, exfoliation can be a useful aid in the prevention of the most common problems of each type — spots in oily skin, and a dull, flaky skin appearance in dry.

In the past, exfoliating was done quite simply by rubbing off the dead cells, either with a face cloth, with the softer, facial equivalent of the pot scourer, or with a special cosmetic scrub containing abrasive particles such as ground walnut kernel or, more recently, smooth spherical synthetic particles. All of these were physical exfoliators.

Today there are new creams which will remove dead skin cells without recourse to rubbing. Alpha hydroxy acids, chemicals found naturally in, amongst other things, sugar cane, apples, soured milk and pawpaw are incorporated into leave-on face creams. The acid content dissolves the protein bond which keeps a dead skin cell hanging on beyond its useful life, thereby smoothing and clarifying the complexion. As long as the cream doesn’t contain an acid concentration of any more than about 10 per cent, there’s little chance of removing more cells that you can comfortably afford to lose. Most dermatologists now prefer to recommend the use of AHAs over physical sloughing agents largely because the dose is carefully controlled and there is less chance of physical injury.

Overdo exfoliation, however, and things can go wrong. It doesn’t take a mathematician to work out that with a cell turnover rate of 28 days, you can’t force off five layers of the total twenty-odd keratinocytes that make up the stratum corneum without going into the red — which is exactly the shade your face will be if you overdo it. You won’t just rid your face of its dead skin, but of its defensive barrier to the outside world. And that is something your skin finds deeply irritating. If you want a more radical skin smoothing effect, the physicians version of exfoliation is the peel.

Serums

Generally, serums tend not to be particularly moisturizing but are formulated with what the men in white coats at the cosmetic labs believe to be an extra special skin energizing ingredient — a vitamin, perhaps, or an enzyme, an amino acid or an anti-flammatory agent. Each company will have its own clinical data to support the benefits of their own given product but with no independent investigation into the merits of any such formulations you will have to make your own decision as to whether you think your skin could benefit from such a product.

The sum of the parts

There are face creams and eye gels, lip salves and neck firmers, bust gels and thigh toners. It’s very easy to take the cynic’s view and say that skincare companies are openly creating a need for as many different creams as they think the market will tolerate. However, there is a case to be argued for different formulations for different body parts not least because our skincare concern differs with each area. Most women want soft, full lips but taut, firm thighs; gleaming shoulders but matt noses; they want to firm up their jawlines but soften the lines around their eyes.

Many of the decisions you make about the cosmetic preparations you buy are probably partly based on how attractive the product feels to you. This is the right way to consider all areas of your body. Of course, skin is skin. Whether it’s thick, rough foot skin or thin, delicate eye skin, its needs are similar: protection from the sun, gentle cleansing and sufficient moisture. What varies is the degree of protection or moisture each area requires: shins need more moisture; hands need more sun protection.

Eye creams

The worried possessor of a rapidly developing pair of crow’s feet is easy prey for the cosmetics hounds. However, using a specialist eye cream can help. Oil glands in the eye area are less active than those in the T-zone and the skin is much thinner than elsewhere on your face so it tends to be more easily irritated. Eye creams are therefore usually formulated with potent moisturizers but fewer potentially irritating active ingredients.

Sensitive skin

In Britain, 80 per cent of women say they suffer from sensitive skin. The latest understanding of what makes some skins so intolerant of all our best efforts to help it involves the most superficial skin layer — the stratum corneum.

Until recently, the sensitive-skinned used to receive little sympathy from physicians because their mild- to irritatingly-persistent burning, itching or prickling sensations often exhibited no visible symptoms. However, new diagnostic tools, such as Doppler ultrasound, have shown what is causing their problem.The device, which traces blood flow, revealed that when sensitive skin prickles, there is indeed increased blood flow. Further investigation also showed traces of the body’s inflammatory protein, histamine, in irritated areas. This sort of sensitivity reaction was dubbed ‘sub clinical irritation’ and the proof of its existence lead physicians to seek the cause. The vast majority of women who claim to have sensitive skin are those with dry skin and so the stratum corneum came under scrutiny.

In women with sensitive skin, it became apparent that the stratum corundum’s barrier function was often seriously compromised. Deficient in lipids, the stratum corneal was allowing excessive water loss, so the skin was perpetually ‘drying out’, and potential irritants were allowed in. Modern cosmetic dermatologists now believe that sensitive skin is less ‘born that way’ than ‘made’ than that while we might inherit an irritation-prone skin, it’s actually what we do to it on a daily basis that breaks down its defences and lowers its tolerance levels.

Special care for fragile skin In caring for sensitive skin the aim is threefold. Firstly, to ensure you don’t further compromise your skin’s barrier function, secondly, to build up its outer defences and thirdly to use, or do to it, nothing that gives it cause to get upset. Buy only skincare ranges that are made for sensitive skin. They are free of many of the ingredients that can irritate. Wash your face in the evening only, using very gentle cleanser that you feel still washes your face efficiently. Protect your skin from UV rays to help prevent any damage to the lipids of your stratum corneum. If you have problems using a sunscreen, try one containing physical sun blockers as opposed to chemical-based ones – look for zinc oxide or titanium dioxide in the ingredients listed. Don’t use toners or alcohol-based astringents. If you can’t resist using a toner, choose an alcohol-free hydrating one.

Remove flaky skin with a mild AHA product rather than a scouring pad. (AHAs can also help to improve your skin’s moisture-holding ability). But don’t use any products that sting, burn or make your skin itch.

Beauty spot

Cosmetic ranges for sensitive skin are usually marked hypoallergenic and are formulated without ingredients that are well-known to cause either allergic or more mild skin reactions. However hypoallergenic doesn’t mean that you can’t react to it, simply that you are less likely to.