6 Tips to repair your skin barrier

So you’ve damaged your skin barrier?

Welcome to the “you’ve probably overused your skincare club”, take a seat. Luckily all is not lost and with care and consistency, you can get your barrier back to good health with these six tips.

First, I’ll quickly explain what your skin barrier is. This is not just the outermost protective layer of the skin, but the “glue” that holds our cells together. Mostly made up of fatty acids, cholesterol, and ceramides. You can already tell where this is going…

The skin barrier is responsible for retaining our moisture levels and preventing pollutants from entering. It can be damaged by sun and UV exposure, environmental/ pollutant stressors, or our favourite physical damage from over exfoliation.

Signs that your barrier is damaged are noticeably dehydrated skin, an appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, breakouts, redness, and feeling a stinging sensation even when using gentle non-active products. You may also notice hyperpigmentation forming.

If you think you might have damaged your skin barrier, follow these six (6) skincare steps below to help repair your skin barrier:

1. Stop All Actives including Vit C:

A damaged skin barrier means that your skin cells are already breaking down and we do not need to add further exfoliation.

2. Switch to gentle face cleansers:

Especially if you are acne prone, you may have active or acne treatment cleansers which will be too harsh to use with a damaged skin barrier. In fact, I highly recommend sticking to a gentle cleanser even after you have repaired your skin barrier.

3. Add hydration into your skincare routine:

Hydration is going to play a critical part in repairing and maintaining your skin barrier health. Using skincare products like hydrating toners, essences, or serums that contain humectants like glycerine or hyaluronic acid. Will aid in keeping your skin hydrated and healthy. Seal in your hydration with a moisturizing cream containing ceramides and omega fatty acids.

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4. Try red light led therapy:

Red light therapy is gaining popularity for at home treatments. The low heat generated by red lights is said to be absorbed by skin cells triggering them to begin repairing and building more collagen. Resulting in faster wound healing like breakouts and a damaged skin barrier. I personally use the Omnilux Face Contour and Neck devices, my code WITHSAJ10 saves you 10%.

5. Wear sunscreen every day:

UV rays continue to play one of the biggest roles in skin barrier damage. Applying sunscreen daily and most importantly, reapplying every 2 hours will help prevent continuous damage to the skin.

6. Maintain a skin nourishing routine consistently:

A damaged skin barrier doesn’t heal overnight. In fact, it could take anywhere from 4 weeks to 3 months to truly repair your skin barrier. Staying consistent with a gentle skincare routine will get your barrier back to peak health.

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