The skin barrier is a lipid layer that actively protects your skin, restoring moisture and nutrients where they’re most needed. Taking care of this barrier is the best way to promote naturally healthy and glowing skin. 

If you’re looking for ways to brighten and restore your skin, look no further than your own lipid bilayer. Yep, your skin contains the exact tools (fatty acids, ceramides, and cholesterol) needed to restore. By nourishing this important layer, we support our skin cells in natural regeneration, rather than simply using a moisturizer or serum for temporary results.  

What Is the Skin Barrier?

The skin barrier is the outermost layer of your skin, made up of tough skin cells that are held together by lipids. Your skin barrier’s job is to protect deeper skin layers from environmental harm (dry air, sun damage, pollutants). And it does this by harnessing protein, lipids, and fats. It also functions as a moisture retention barrier, keeping hydration and essential nutrients in the skin.

The skin barrier is made up of three essential lipid nutrients: fatty acids, ceramides, and cholesterol. Properly nourishing these lipids and protecting them from disruption is essential to maintaining a healthy skin barrier.

 

How Does the Skin Barrier Become Damaged?

The skin barrier is often disrupted by outside factors, like environmental pollution, heavy exfoliation, a processed diet, and harsh chemical skincare products.

• Too much retinol. Anti-aging retinoids may cause something called “retinol burn,” which is skin irritation that comes from rapid cell turnover. Heavy use of retinols over time can damage the skin barrier, leading to redness and breakouts.

 

• Chemical skincare products. Common synthetic ingredients (fragrance, sulfates, phthalates, and plastics) disrupt your natural skin barrier and strip the skin of vital nutrients, like the lipids and fats it needs.
  

 

• Environmental elements. You may notice changes in your skin barrier if you live in a polluted city, get excessive sun exposure, have dry winter skin, or apply chemicals and hormone disruptors to your skin. Environmental elements can’t always be helped, but there are nutrient-dense skincare products you can use to resolve the issue.
  

 

• A processed diet. If your body isn’t getting enough nutrients, you’ll see the results in your skin. Cracked, dry, and disrupted skin are all signs of nutrient deficiency, and this can eventually show up in your skin barrier health.
  

 

• Heavy exfoliation. Exfoliation is a beautiful way to remove dead skin cells and take care of your skin. But it’s so important to pay attention to exfoliation best practices. Exfoliating too much or using harsh products (especially on your face) can disrupt the skin barrier.

 

How to Recognize a Healthy Skin Barrier

A healthy skin barrier appears smooth, soft, and even. Redness and breakouts only happen occasionally, and skin sensitivity is minimal. When you try a new skincare product, you’re not afraid it will cause lasting irritation and breakouts.

A healthy skin barrier isn’t too oily or too dry. You should enjoy using skincare for its softening, anti-aging, brightening, and smoothing benefits, but you shouldn’t experience any major side effects if you accidentally skip your cleanser or moisturizer for a day.

 

How to Recognize a Damaged Skin Barrier

A damaged skin barrier isn’t uncommon, but it can be hard to recognize. It often hides behind inflammation, redness, acne breakouts, or dry and scaly skin. You may have even tried more skincare products to eliminate these issues, but they only make the problem worse.

People with a damaged skin barrier are sensitive to new skincare products (and they’ve usually tried them all). You’ll notice that a subtle change of environment, a new shampoo, or even a hot shower will irritate your skin.

 

How to Repair the Skin Barrier

Trust us, a damaged skin barrier is easily reversed. Just consider this a minor hiccup in your skincare journey and an opportunity to become familiar with how your skin barrier works. To repair a damaged skin barrier, you’ll want to stop using chemical ingredients, restore lost nutrients, and simplify your skincare routine.

 

Stop using chemical products

The skin barrier is made of fatty acids, ceramides, and cholesterol — not chemicals. These harsh ingredients were never meant to interact with your delicate skin barrier and strip the skin of nutrients. Remove fragrance, sulfates, microplastics, hormone disruptors, and any unrecognizable chemicals from your routine, and let your skin breathe.

 

Don’t strip the skin

Less is more when it comes to skin barrier repair. You’ll want to pare down your skincare routine to just a few nourishing products, like an oil cleanser, serum, and moisturizer. Find your staples and stick to them.

 

Use hydrating oils

If you have a damaged skin barrier, your skin probably isn’t producing the right amount of oil. By introducing an oil cleanser, you can rebalance oil production and resolve either dry and flaky or acne-prone skin. This works by introducing nutrient-dense oils back into the skin and training it to produce the right amount for your body.

 

Restore lost nutrients

To truly repair your skin barrier, you need to restore lost nutrients. This means you’ll use skincare products that contain lipids (aka natural fats) to hold together those tough skin cells until your body can start replacing them naturally. We love tallow skincare for this, but you can also use plant-based oils and moisturizers.

 

How Long Does It Take to Repair the Skin Barrier?

Depending on your skin’s resilience (and the extent of the damage), the skin barrier can repair in a few weeks or a few months.

Most likely, you’ll notice reduced symptoms within a few weeks. Your skin should even out with less inflammation, redness, and breakouts. But when it does, we recommend you stick to your skin barrier repair efforts for a few more weeks. This gets your skin used to having those vital nutrients.

 

Your Skin Barrier Repair Kit

Natural skincare is skin barrier repair. Whether you have a damaged skin barrier or not, your skin uses nutrients (not chemicals) to repair. The best thing you can do for your complexion is support it with nature-inspired formulas that provide your skin with the nutrients it needs.

Trust Toups and Co for Natural Skin Barrier Repair

Step 1: Cleanse with our Seabuckthorn Cleansing Oil

Step 2: Nourish with our Glow Serum

Step 3: Moisturize with our Frankincense Face Balm