Ever tried a new skincare routine to help with acne or dryness and found that nothing seemed to work? Or your skin condition gets worse, even if you’re being careful about which products you’re using? This could be because of a damaged skin barrier. so let’s start Repairing Your Damaged Skin Barrier with Repose USA.

There are many different factors that can affect our skin barrier, like environmental damage, using chemical products incorrectly, bad or improper waxing techniques, being too abrasive with our skin, etc. Taking care of your skin is crucial—so we’re here to help you get your skin barrier back to a healthy state!

What is a skin barrier?

Your skin barrier is the most outer layer of your skin. It is literally a barrier between your deeper layers of skin and the toxins and chemicals in the environment. It also works to keep your body’s water.. well in your body! (So repairing your skin barrier is important for keeping moisturized skin and also keeping your entire body hydrated). This barrier is super thin, but it is almost a forcefield when it comes to protecting your skin and other body elements that are close to skin-level.

How to know when your skin barrier is damaged?

It’s usually easy to tell when something’s up with your skin barrier. Things like eczema, acne, dry or rough skin patches, skin sensitivity, redness, and dullness are all signs that your skin barrier is damaged to some degree. An untreated, damaged skin barrier can lead to rashes and create worse versions of the issues already there (like increasingly bad acne)

Here are 4 steps you can take to start repairing your damaged skin barrier!

Step 1: Check your ingredients

The PH of your skin barrier is slightly acidic, with a PH of about 5.7 (most acidic being 0, 7 being neutral, and least acidic being 14). Anything introduced to that slightly acidic environment that is far from that PH level can cause problems. Your skin is super delicate so keeping it at the chemical levels it prefers is crucial. Start by checking the ingredients in the products you have and even go as far as to research the PH of that ingredient. Often times different scents and fragrances can be huge culprits for throwing off your skin’s PH. When in doubt, try to stick as close to 5.5-5.7 as possible!

Step 2: Find the Ceramides

Ceramides are lipids, or fats, that are found naturally in your skin. These are important because they make up a huge chunk of the lipids that are in your skin barrier. Their job? To protect and hydrate! Not only do they act as a barrier against toxins and things you don’t want in your body, but they also fill in microscopic gaps between cells to retain moisture and hydration (for your skin but also your body’s hydration!). Using products that are ceramide heavy can help replenish your skin barrier and give it extra protection while your skin heals.

Step 3: Keep it simple

A compromised skin barrier can even occur from having an outlandishly complicated skincare routine. Despite what many Youtube and TikTok beauty gurus will tell you, not everyone needs a 13-step skincare routine. Sometimes the amount of products being used, and the chemical compounds in each product, cause skin to become more irritated over time and affect the health of the skin barrier. When repairing yours, stick to a few products, like a good (PH approved!) cleanser, a very gentle toner or exfoliator, moisturizer, and definitely sunscreen!

Step 4: Be Gentle

Along with different chemical factors, your skin’s barrier can be affected by physical ones too. Things like waxing incorrectly or too frequently, using really rough exfoliators, and sun damage can all negatively impact your skin barrier’s health. Using products like retinol incorrectly or too often can have adverse affects for that barrier. When repairing your skin barrier, these are some ways to be gentler with your skin:

• Skip the makeup: Wearing makeup can further irritate any problem areas—let your skin breathe while it heals!
• Stick to anything that is soothing related, like our Self-Heating Eye Masks, for example.
• Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen!
• Try slugging
• Apply your products with your ring finger and apply less pressure overall

Your skin barrier is more than just how your skin looks. It can look unpleasant with acne, rashes and dryness, but it also plays a much bigger role in your overall health and keeping you hydrated and protected from environmental bacteria and toxin infections.

Now that you’ve got the steps, go forth with a healthy, thriving skin barrier!