The Three Things Pollution is Doing to Your Skin that you Didn't Know About
We are all becoming increasingly exposed to a changing environment. Air pollution is an ever-present, ruthless skin damager, even if you can't see it. Here are the top 3 things you need to know about how pollution is damaging your skin:
- It is damaging the lipids in your skin barrier, allowing pollutants to enter skin and cause cell damage that leads to skin cancer, cell death, chronic inflammation and redness.
- It stops your skin cells from being able to self-repair. It also inhibits the production of powerful intrinsic skin antioxidants such as SOD (superoxide dismutase) and Coenzyme Q10, so skin is unable to neutralize the onslaught of free radicals created by this inflammatory state. Cell turnover slows down and your are left with unhealthy skin in a sluggish state.
- It causes hyperpigmentation to happen early, and with more prevalence. Any skin damage that may not have shown itself until later in life will start to appear earlier, especially sun spots and hyperpigmentation.
As the environment continues to change, it is more important than ever to learn how to nourish and protect skin through these changes.
Protecting skin against the deleterious effects of pollution is as simple as providing a baseline of ingredients that can target the source of the damage it causes!
Anti-Aging Essential Fatty Acids:
Free radicals target the skin barrier first. The skin barrier is mostly made of a mixture of lipids and cholesterol. Essential fatty acids help provide the building blocks to restore the skin barrier. Restoring the skin barrier has short term and long term benefits. The short term is preventing water loss, and also preventing free radicals from entering skin. The long term is that when skin is provided with these essential nutrients, skin is able to heal itself. This slows down the appearance of pollution-related damage.
Vitamin C:
Antioxidant protection from free radical damage. Pollution exposure creates an onslaught of inflammation that not only damages our cells, but goes right after cellular DNA and mitochondrial function. Vitamin C works hard at the deepest cellular levels to help neutralize this inflammation, and also gives a bonus: it stimulates collagen production!
Niacinamide:
Helps reduce pollution-induced hyperpigmentation. Early-onset pigmentary changes linked to pollution exposure can be notoriously difficult to treat. Niacinamide is one of the most powerful ingredients we have that can target this type of hyperpigmentation directly at its source. This is why it is in our Anti Pollution Mist. Daily use of niacinamide helps protect against pollution-induced discolorations.
At Amethyst Skincare, we take time making our formulas. We hand select ingredients that are meaningful for the needs of skin.