Is your skin suddenly feeling tight, dry, and a bit sensitive? Or maybe you're experiencing a bout of random breakouts, texture, and even discoloration. These could all be signs that you have a damaged skin barrier.
A damaged barrier can be tricky to deal with especially if you find a lot of your regular skincare products are just not cutting it. Depending on what products are in your routine, you could even be aggravating the problem.
Some skincare products like Retinoids, face peels, or other exfoliants can cause more damage as they can contribute to the dryness and irritation. When using these types of products, it’s important to also pay attention to the aftercare or give your skin a break when needed.
Signs that your skin barrier is damaged
As mentioned before, dryness and irritation are among the signs of a damaged barrier. But the symptoms of a compromised skin barrier don’t end there. Here are some of the signs to look out for:
- Redness & irritation
- Rough skin texture
- Dryness & flaking
- Breakouts
- Burning or stinging sensation
- Itchiness
- Skin infections
Lack of moisture in the skin can contribute to a vulnerable skin barrier leading to that dry, tight feeling that can be characteristic of a barrier in need of some TLC.
And, since the skin barrier acts as a protective layer, when it is damaged, it’s not able to protect the skin as well from external irritants like bacteria, UV rays, and pollution. That’s how some of the other factors of a damaged barrier pop up. Since the barrier isn’t adequately protecting the skin from things like bacteria, you can experience more symptoms like breakouts.
Some treatments that are meant to treat some of these symptoms like acne could also end up causing more damage. For example, if your damaged barrier is resulting in breakouts, you may think that you need to reach for your typical maximum strength Salicylic Acid spot treatment. But, this could end up irritating the skin more.
And for the more severe symptoms like skin infections, seek the advice of a dermatologist or physician to help treat the skin.
How to prevent a damaged barrier
Just like with acne, you want to take a preventative approach to treating your skin barrier. It’s always easier to prevent damaging the barrier than it is to treat one that’s already going through it.
Don’t over-exfoliate
Exfoliating is a good practice in your skincare routine to smooth rough texture, treat acne, and clear up discoloration. But, it can be easy to overdo, especially if you are using exfoliants with maximum strength active ingredients.
Only use exfoliants as directed, which is typically between once to three times a week. And if you have sensitive skin you’ll want to be extra careful about using exfoliants. You can try lower strength exfoliants and patch test the product to make sure it won’t irritate the skin.
Follow a good aftercare routine
When you use certain treatments like facial peels, exfoliants, or Retinoids, aftercare is super important. Since these kinds of treatments can be potentially drying, always follow up with some restorative and hydrating products.
Or, you can also follow a skin-cycling routine. In this type of routine you can separate the treatments you use to different nights. So, one night you use an exfoliant, then the next night you would use your Retinol. Then for nights 3 and 4 you would focus on hydration. This way you ensure that you aren’t overdoing the use of your stronger skin treatments and are giving the skin some time to recover in between treatments.
Our Barrier Support Moisturizer can serve as a great moisturizer to help restore hydration to the skin. Made with a blend of multiple Ceramides and six types of Hyaluronic Acid, rest assured that you'd be getting adequate moisture back into the skin.
Always use sunscreen
Since the skin barrier protects from damaging elements like UV rays, applying a sunscreen daily helps keep the skin barrier operating as it should. The skin barrier helps protect the deeper layers of the skin from UV rays, so you still do need sunscreen to help protect the skin barrier from direct sun exposure.
Protect the skin from harsh weather
Just like you would apply sunscreen during the sunny months of the year, you also have to protect the skin during the colder months. Cold air and harsh cold winds can strip the skin of moisture and leave the skin looking flaky and dry.
During these colder months if you find your skin looking a little cracked, then you can apply deeply moisturizing treatments. It helps to look for products with reparative ingredients like Ceramides, Peptides, and Hyaluronic Acid (much like our Barrier Support Moisturizer).
What if your barrier is already damaged?
If you are far past the option of preventing barrier damage, you can follow a couple tips to restore the skin barrier. The short of it is that you basically have to stick to a short, simple routine until your skin is no longer experiencing skin barrier damage.
This entails using gentle products and sticking to the basics: cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen. Beyond that, if you are unable to get your skin barrier back to normal, then it may be time to seek a dermatologists’ advice.
