You’ve probably heard the phrase “skin barrier repair” being talked about in the beauty world.
You know it has something to do with keeping the outer layer of your skin healthy so that it can hold on to moisture while keeping damaging things out.
But what actually helps your skin do that? And what if your barrier is compromised or damaged? Then what do you need?
Fortunately, researchers now know a lot more about the ingredients that can help than they used to.
What is Skin Barrier Repair?
The skin barrier is the outermost layer of the skin, called the stratum corneum. You can think of it like a brick wall. The bricks are the tough, flattened skin cells. The mortar between them is made up mostly of fats, including ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids. Together, they help keep water inside your skin while keeping irritants, pollutants, allergens, and other unwanted substances out.
When the skin barrier is damaged, certain ingredients can help in several ways. Some replace missing fats, while others attract and hold water. Still others may reduce irritation, protect the skin, or support healing.
CV Skinlabs formulas are all barrier supportive. They were created with key barrier-repair ingredients to strengthen and protect the skin barrier, lock in moisture, balance skin, and support smooth, calm, and healthy-looking skin.
Why Do You Need Skin Barrier Repair Ingredients?
As we age, the skin barrier often suffers some daily wear and tear. This can occur because of changes in the skin that occur with aging, such as the decline in the production of key proteins or other barrier-building components.
How we treat the skin can also damage it in some instances. Using harsh cleansers, for example, can strip away the skin’s natural oils, which can lead to barrier damage. Overusing retinoids or exfoliating acids can overwhelm the skin, leading to reactivity. Cold weather, dry indoor air, sun exposure, hot water, aging, and some medical treatments can also leave the barrier more fragile.
Once that happens, more water escapes from the skin. Symptoms of water loss include dryness, tightness, itching, redness, flaking, or increased sensitivity. Products you usually tolerated may suddenly burn or sting.
Unfortunately, simply piling on more skincare products can make things worse. You may believe that an extra serum or cream will solve the problem, but you have to be careful, as that’s not always the case. Your skin may do better with a simpler routine.
The Best Ingredients for Skin Barrier Repair
1. Ceramides, Fatty Acids, and Cholesterol
Remember we said the skin barrier is like a brick wall, and the mortar is made up of fats. These three fats are the main components.
When your skin barrier is damaged, it may not have enough of these natural fats. That can leave small gaps where water escapes and irritating substances can get in.
Ceramides are particularly important, but studies suggest they work alongside cholesterol and fatty acids. In research on damaged skin, a mixture containing ceramides, cholesterol, and linoleic acid helped speed barrier recovery better than a less complete lipid mixture.
So when you’re looking for barrier support, the key is to find products that contain a mix of nourishing ingredients that help replenish the fats healthy skin naturally needs.
Our Calming Moisture contains several nourishing fats and oils that help support the skin barrier, including squalane, sunflower seed oil, jojoba oil, shea butter, and caprylic/capric triglyceride. These all help soften dry skin while replenishing lost oils and reducing moisture loss.
2. Beta-Glucan and Oats for Skin Barrier Repair
In addition to fats, a damaged skin barrier also needs water and relief from irritation.
That’s where beta-glucan and oats can help. Beta-glucan is a natural substance found in oats and some other plants and fungi. It helps attract and hold water in the skin while also helping to soothe stressed skin. Research suggests it can influence skin cells involved in wound repair while helping to calm inflammation.
Oats can do even more. Research shows that it can help strengthen the skin barrier, improve moisture, and reduce dryness. In one clinical study of people with mild-to-moderate eczema, a one percent oatmeal cream improved skin hydration, pH-balance, and barrier function.
Other research found that colloidal oatmeal may help skin cells fit together more tightly, support healthy fats in the skin, and strengthen the outer layer that keeps moisture in.
CV Skinlabs Calming Moisture contains beta-glucan and oat extract along with aloe, sunflower oil, jojoba oil, squalane, and shea butter to hydrate, soothe, and nourish stressed skin. Beta-glucan and oat ingredients are also found in other CV Skinlabs formulas.
3. Squalane, Plant Oils, Butters, and Waxes Keep Moisture from Escaping
Once you add moisture to dry skin, you want to keep it there.
Squalane, plant oils, shea butter, and natural waxes can help by softening the skin and forming a protective layer over its surface. This helps slow down water loss while giving the damaged barrier time to recover.
CV Skinlabs puts many of these ingredients in their products. Calming Moisture contains squalane, sunflower oil, jojoba oil, and shea butter. For skin that needs even more protection, Restorative Skin Balm contains squalane, shea butter, safflower, soybean, jojoba, sweet almond, sea buckthorn, and rosehip oils, along with beeswax and other plant waxes that help protect against moisture loss.
Richer balms like Restorative Skin Balm are especially useful on areas that are dry, rough, cracked, or frequently exposed to harsh weather.
4. Soothing Ingredients Help Give the Skin Barrier a Chance to Recover
Have you ever noticed that once your skin decides to become irritated, everything seems to bother it? Weather, products, stress, lack of sleep, etc?
That irritation can make it harder for the skin to return to normal. So another part of skin barrier repair is helping stressed skin calm down.
This is where CV Skinlabs’ Tri-Rescue Complex comes in. Found in every CV Skinlabs product, it combines turmeric, alpha-bisabolol, and reishi mushroom.
Turmeric is rich in compounds studied for their antioxidant and soothing effects. Alpha-bisabolol, a natural component of chamomile, helps calm irritated skin. Reishi mushrooms contain powerful antioxidant properties.
These ingredients, working together, help calm skin so that it is more able to repair itself.
5. Antioxidants Help Protect Skin While It Repairs Itself
A damaged skin barrier can also leave skin more vulnerable to environmental stress.
Antioxidants help by fighting unstable molecules called free radicals. These can form after your skin is exposed to UV rays, pollution, and other everyday stresses and often contribute to further skin damage.
One antioxidant used in CV Skinlabs products is vitamin E. It’s a well-known antioxidant that helps neutralize damaging free radicals, while also helping to condition and protect dry skin.
These ingredients don’t rebuild the skin barrier themselves. Rather, they stand by as protectors, defending the skin from additional stress while other ingredients help hydrate and seal the barrier.
Make Skin Barrier Repair a Part of Your Daily Routine
Most of us, as we age, are suffering from a damaged skin barrier. If your skin feels smooth and comfortable and looks flawless, you may be one of the few that has a healthy barrier. The rest of us who suffer dryness, redness, irritation, dullness, fine lines and wrinkles, and more, are typically dealing with at least some damage.
So it’s important to make barrier repair part of your regular routine. Use a gentle, fragrance-free cleanser and lukewarm rather than hot water. Cut back, at least temporarily, on harsh acids, scrubs, retinoids, and exfoliating ingredients.
Apply hydrating products while the skin is still slightly damp, then follow with a nourishing moisturizer. Protect your skin from UV exposure with a broad-spectrum sunscreen, and if certain areas are particularly dry, add a richer balm over them at night.
Most importantly, pay attention to what your skin is telling you. Tightness, burning, flaking, and sudden sensitivity can be signs that it needs more help.
Have you noticed skin barrier damage?
Featured image by Antoni Shkraba via Pexels.