Maintaining a healthy and effective skincare regimen is essential for achieving glowing and youthful skin. Selecting the right products is an important first step, but there are other factors that can help patients significantly enhance the effectiveness of their skincare routines.
The Importance of a Healthy Skin Barrier
Skincare efficacy largely depends on the skin barrier. The skin barrier refers to the outermost layer of the skin, called the stratum corneum, which is composed of dead skin cells held together by lipids to form a membrane that retains moisture, protects against external aggressors, and maintains skin health.
The skin barrier regulates which molecules can enter the skin and which are repelled, so maintaining a healthy barrier is essential to make sure the active ingredients in a patient’s regimen can get absorbed and penetrate for maximum effectiveness. On the other hand, a compromised skin barrier leads to dryness, sensitivity, and poor regimen efficacy.
The secret to boosting an effective skincare routine is to sustain a healthy barrier. There’s five main ways to achieve this.
1. Nutrition – Build and Repair the Barrier
Nourishing active ingredients can provide the essential nutrients needed to sustain a healthy, effective barrier. Vitamins help supply the vital building blocks of the barrier, such as fatty acids and collagen, and aid in fortifying and repairing it. Hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and ceramides can boost moisture levels in the skin, improving elasticity and barrier function while enhancing the absorption of other skincare products.
2. Protection – Prevent Environmental Damage to Preserve the Barrier
Environmental factors like pollution and UV radiation can damage and compromise the skin barrier. Skin should be protected by applying a broad-spectrum sunscreen with at least SPF 30 daily, regardless of the weather, and antioxidants can reduce free radical damage caused by environmental stressors. Antioxidant ingredients such as green tea extract, Lipochroman®, Ectoin®, and niacinamide (vitamin B3) combat environmental damage, leading to a healthier barrier and an enhanced regimen.
3. Exfoliation & Retinol – Increase Barrier Efficiency
Dead skin cells can clog pores and interfere with barrier function, limiting product absorption. By removing the outermost layer of dead cells, exfoliating improves the skin barrier’s efficiency by promoting a smoother skin surface and improving product penetration. Retinol (vitamin A), a gold-standard anti-aging ingredient, leads to natural exfoliation by promoting cell turnover and collagen production and notably improves texture, elasticity, and product absorption.
4. Boost Skin Oxygen – Active Cells Improve Product Absorption
Ultimately, skincare active ingredients are most effective when they penetrate the barrier and are absorbed by the deeper layers of living cells. Especially as patients age, living cells can get tired and less active, but some active ingredients can boost skin oxygen levels, livening them up. More active cells are naturally more absorptive of skincare ingredients, remove toxins faster, and promote elasticity.
5. Always Follow the Basics – Results Take Time
Consistency is key when it comes to skincare, and even the best regimen takes time to show results. Help patients establish an effective routine that they’ll follow every day. Ideally, products should be applied to slightly damp skin to open the pores and enhance absorption, and the regimen should progress from lightweight formulas to heavier ones. A complete, twice-daily regimen of cleanse, exfoliate (night only), treat, moisturize, and protect is the best way to create long-term results.
Use Our New Essence for Better Results, Faster
Our latest product, Boost+ Essence, helps patients improve the effectiveness of their regimen by replenishing and fortifying a healthy barrier. It nourishes with niacinamide and jojoba milk, containing a range of supportive vitamins, emollients, and ceramides, and it protects with antioxidant Ectoin® to enhance long-term hydration and provide global protection against several sources of environmental skin damage.
Boost+ Essence is the first step in treating skin, using an oxygenating complex that instantly livens cells and enhances results from all products that follow.
All in all, Boost+ Essence is a silky, deeply hydrating formula that provides instant comfort and helps patients achieve better results, faster from their entire regimen. Learn more about the essence here.
