Your Skin, Believe It Or Not, Is Rather Intelligent - Part 1
Your skin is, believe it or not, rather intelligent. It can not only recognize harmful triggers and irritating substances, but it plays an active role in immune vigilance, where it recognizes allergens or germs and acts as your first line of defense. Why is Skincare Important? One usually thinks of ‘skin’ as a vanity organ. This is far from the truth, as our monthly educative articles will clearly illustrate.
The following article will shed light on this marvelous regenerative organ so that you know exactly why it’s important to practice skincare as part of your holistic well-being. In the words of Anderson and Parrish, ‘the skin is a complex, dynamic, variable and multidimensional optical medium’.
The Protector: The skin acts as a highly effective barrier against environmental insults, keeping us safe from harmful microbes, irritating chemicals, and UV radiation. It acts as a tough waterproofed protective sheath holding precious substances in and preventing ‘leakages’ of important molecules like water out.
Your skin sheds daily, taking unwanted substances and pollutants away with it! Every month you are greeted by a fresh new layer of skin so that you are protected throughout your life. The intact stratum corneum is your savior, and it’s the very reason we developed C-Lightful Day Soufflé , a triple Vitamin C ester skin-healing moisturizer that will protect, add glow and envelope the barrier with nourishing and sun damage repairing botanicals, allowing daytime skin-health maintenance.
The Temperature Monitor: The skin plays a highly important role in body thermoregulation. Special thermoreceptor cells (cold and warm), the rich dermal blood supply coupled with complex vascular & neurological pathways, allow the skin to constantly maintain inner body temperatures in response to changing environmental conditions. Another way the skin maintains temperature homeostasis is by loss of heat through convection, radiation, conduction, and evaporation. In places of high environmental temperatures, the main type of heat loss (to maintain inner body temperature) is via sweating (evaporation). The oil secreted by the skin oil glands (sebaceous) also possesses natural anti-bacterial properties. One must avoid using excessively harsh face scrubs, drying face masks, or soaps that will deplete this protective layer of oil. Clear Day has been meticulously formulated to keep this important barrier deeply cleansed but intact without stripping the surface of the skin of epidermal surface fats that are essential for maintaining a healthy microbiome.
The Detector: The skin, to an extent, warns us of mechanical injury by way of pressure receptors in our dermis. This helps in protecting us from potential injury since mechanical pressure is processed by the skin and interpreted by our brain as a threat. Therefore, the injury can be minimized and prevented in time.
Warning System: Many internal diseases externalize themselves onto the skin. This fact is of great significance to all health care professionals and skin caregivers. They should be aware of these signs, and if there is any doubt or suspicion, they must investigate further to rule out internal disease.
In part two of this vital series, we will discuss the remaining lifesaving functions this miraculous organ performs.
Peace & Health
Scientific Correspondents at Clinical Botanic
Europe and Canada
