In a perfect world, the skin can protect and repair itself extremely well. But in our modern environment, sunlight, pollution, and chemical exposure can cause untold damage.
Each day, the world exerts a certain amount of trauma on your skin. Just as you do your best to adapt to changes that come your way, your skin does its best, too. As you sit at your desk, eat lunch in the park, or walk down the street, your skin is working hard to regulate heat, excrete water and salts as sweat, and provide oxygen to the body. But it is prevented from functioning at its best by routine exposure to environmental stresses. For a healthy, glowing complexion, skin needs to be buffered against potential damage. So, what assaults skin? And what can we do about it?
Sun: 90% of premature ageing is linked with overexposure to UV rays. The solution: shield your skin from the sun with natural skin protectors.
Smoking: another skin enemy – even passive smoking. When tobacco burns, as many as 4,000 different chemical compounds are produced: these may be absorbed via your skin. These chemicals affect your internal health, causing lung, heart, blood, and stomach disease and can cause a variety of visible problems, including skin discolouration or irritation and blackheads. More worryingly, the chemicals can also cause skin cancer. The solution: creams featuring antioxidant ingredients, such as vitamins C and E, can help to protect against – and may even reverse – some of the damage triggered by smoking.
Pollution: skin can be exposed to hundreds of chemicals a day. The solution: switch to natural cleaning materials. To protect your skin, also choose body and face creams featuring antioxidant ingredients.
Alcohol: it dehydrates the skin and leads to broken or swollen capillaries, especially on the nose and cheeks. It also destroys the vitamins and minerals needed for a healthy complexion. The solution: cut down to one or two glasses of good wine a day, and maintain an adequate intake of Essential Fatty Acids.