Healthy skin starts, and stays, with the barrier. The integrity of the skin barrier is the first line of skincare defence, and protecting, repairing and restoring it is essential for maintaining long-term skin health.
Skin health is synonymous with skin beauty, vitality and glow, so employing strategies to protect and repair it in both personal and professional practice is the cornerstone of skincare excellence.
Known as the stratum corneum, the skin barrier, or outermost layer of the epidermis, plays a vital role in protecting the body from both external and internal threats.
It defends against environmental aggressors, harmful pathogens, pollution, allergens and mechanical injury while preventing transepidermal water loss (TEWL), regulating the skin’s natural pH, supporting a balanced microbiome, reinforcing the skin's immune function and reducing inflammation and sensitivity.
The skin barrier acts as the body’s biological armour, defending and preserving multiple functions essential for resilient, healthy skin.
What happens if the skin barrier is compromised?
Compromise the barrier, and you’ll ultimately compromise results. Despite being the first line of defence, the skin barrier can be easily damaged or disrupted by harsh products, over-exfoliation, environmental factors, such as temperature extremes, UV exposure and pollution, stress, poor sleep, and certain skin conditions such as eczema, rosacea, or psoriasis.
When damaged, the skin becomes vulnerable to TEWL which depletes hydration and can lead to a variety of skin concerns including sensitivity, redness, inflammation, breakouts, and dryness.
How can you protect, repair, and restore the skin barrier?
Whether through a client’s at-home skincare routine or an in-clinic professional treatment, protecting and repairing the skin’s natural barrier function should be a top priority.
A compromised barrier can diminish the efficacy of even the most advanced treatments, and maintaining a healthy, intact skin barrier is therefore essential for optimising the performance of skincare products and clinical interventions.
An in-depth personalised consultation is therefore essential to design a tailored treatment and homecare plan that aligns with each client’s individual barrier condition and overall skincare goals.
A weakened skin barrier also increases susceptibility to free radical damage. These unstable, electron-hungry molecules attack the skin at a cellular level, accelerating skin ageing and contributing to long-term damage.
How can you minimise the effects of free radicals?
Beyond SPF: the antioxidant advantage
Sun protection is the non-negotiable of fundamental skin health. Our knowledge of UV exposure and skin damage is now vast and widely understood.
Yet Vitamin C is a hero ingredient that is similarly potent in its defence of skin ageing, oxidative stress, and cellular protection.
A proven antioxidant that helps neutralise free radicals, stimulate collagen production, and strengthen the skin’s defence mechanisms, incorporating Vitamin C into both home routines and professional protocols is a powerful way to protect and rejuvenate the skin.
Your daily pro-ageing protector
Clinically proven to provide antioxidant protection against environmental and UV-induced damage*, Skin Rocks’ The Antioxidant combines a highly stable, effortlessly-absorbed form of vitamin C amplified by acetyl zingerone – a next-generation antioxidant that works synergistically with tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate to boost its efficacy and improve the skin's defences, acetyl tetrapeptide-2 – a brightening peptide that is shown to boost the skin's antioxidant ability, and green tea seed extract – a fermented plant extract naturally rich in antioxidant phenols and tocopherols (vitamin E) – to help protect the skin from free radical damage.
Formulated to reinforce the skin barrier, defend against oxidative stress, and maintain long-term skin health, it's an excellent choice for those seeking instant radiance, a reinforced skin barrier, collagen preservation and supreme environmental protection.
*Based on an independent clinical ex-vivo study. This serum is not a sunscreen.
Discover more about Caroline Hirons’s Skin Rocks Pro at skinrockspro.com
This is a sponsored post in association with Skin Rocks Pro.
