Is your skin feeling inflamed, dry, and fragile? Sounds like you may have an impaired skin barrier, bestie.
There are so many products on the market targeted towards a variety of skin concerns: congestion, acne and pigmentation… just to name a few. It seems we’ve all become experts on what to cocktail together in our skin routine. I mean it’s hard not to get carried away on your retinols and AHAs when they promise poreless, even, glowing skin! However, what we all know now is that less IS more when it comes to these types of products, and we need to be careful not to overload our skin with these active ingredients. Why? Because they have the ability to do more harm than good when used too frequently! If you’re noticing irritated, dry, red and sensitive skin, then this might be a massive stop sign in the middle of the road telling you it’s time to work on your skin barrier!
So, how do we work on our skin barrier? We created rebound to solve this exact problem. We realised that there wasn’t a product on the market that offered calming and supportive ingredients, to protect angry skin, that was free from active ingredients all in one easy to use serum. Plus, it’s the perfect consistency for breakout prone skin. It’s super light weight and won’t clog pores like other alternatives on the market will!
Our rebound serum is formulated with the perfect amounts of Ceramides, Panthenol, Cholesterol, Centella, Calming Oat and Copper Peptides to give you the perfect barrier support combo all in one bottle!
What is your skin barrier?
Your skin is made up of three layers: the epidermis (top), the dermis (middle), and the subcutis (bottom). Drawing focus to the epidermis, it’s actually the only layer that is visible to the eye, and has 5 layers within itself. This layer is constantly shedding dead skin cells and replenishing them with fresh ones that have been growing beneath the surface. The top layer of the epidermis is known as the stratum corneuma, aka, your skin barrier.
What is your skin barrier made up of?
An easy way to understand your skin barrier is to liken it to a brick wall, if you think about it this way, the bricks are your skin cells and they are held together by mortar, or in this case lipids, forming your skin barrier. The bricks are made up of natural moisturisers and keratin, and the lipid layer consists of fatty acids, cholesterol, and ceramides.
The role of your skin barrier
It’s important to note that your skin barrier is actually protecting your body from everyday environmental stressors that we are exposed to. Without it protecting us, our bodies would be exposed to a number of harmful germs that otherwise go unnoticed. Our skin barrier also holds onto water, so is a vital part of keeping our skin hydrated. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to hold onto the water and it would evaporate from our skin, leaving our bodies dehydrated and dried out like a prune! Thank god for our skin barrier, am I right?
A damaged skin barrier
Our skin barrier is also our shield, when our shield becomes damaged, it can’t do its job correctly and protect what’s underneath. Like most things in our bodies, our skin barrier is quite fragile. There are a multitude of internal and external factors that lead to a damaged skin barrier. It is also important to keep in mind that everyone's skin is different and has a varied sensitivity level. What one person's skin might be able to withstand, another's may not.
What damages the skin barrier?
A few things that may contribute to a damaged skin barrier include:
- Extreme weather
- Excessive active skincare ingredients
- Pollution
- Over-cleansing the skin
- Sun exposure
- Chemical exposure
- Over-exfoliating the skin
When introducing a new product or changing up your routine, it is recommended to start slow in order to build up your skin's tolerance. An all too common mistake is adding in a product too fast, ultimately impairing your skin barrier and having the opposite effect to what you desired.
What happens when your skin barrier is damaged?
If you suspect your skin barrier may have become damaged, some common signs may be:
- Dry/ rough skin
- Discoloration
- Acne
- Itchiness
- Inflammation
- Sensitivity
- Infections on the skin
These are all signs your skin barrier could be impaired. Another telltale sign of an impaired barrier is the stinging sensation you will feel with the application of non-active products such as your cleanser or moisturiser.
Simple products, like previously mentioned, should definitely not be putting you in any sort of discomfort. If your skin is feeling like you’ve just had a session of skin needling while applying these basic products, bestie, it might be time to consider the current health of your skin barrier.
What to do when your skin barrier is damaged?
Luckily, you’ve come to the right place because, when it comes to damaged skin barriers, here at tbh we’re kind of experts. I mean, as mentioned before, we have a whole product dedicated towards barrier support…
We’ve basically formulated a magic potion to heal your skin, and you don’t need five different products because we’ve combined everything you need into one! YAY!
Rebound was developed in partnership with pharmaceutical scientist and popular skincare influencer Hannah English. Here is what Hannah had to say about the key ingredients in rebound:
“Rebound is all about supporting your skin to its best health, and that means supporting your barrier. If your skin’s barrier is impaired, then breakouts can get worse. We wanted to make rebound the one serum you can trust when your skin is stressed out, whether that means tightness, breakouts, or redness (or the redness that happens after breakouts).
We’ve included ceramides, cholesterol, and phytosphingosine, all of which are natural components of your skin’s barrier. We’re just helping replenish them.
We also included glycerin, hyaluronic acid, electrolytes, niacinamide (vitamin B3), and panthenol (vitamin B5) as these help hydrate and tell your skin to repair the barrier.”
For a barrier support Q&A with Hannah, read here.
Strip back your routine
Simplifying your routine and reverting back to basics will give your skin the best opportunity to repair itself. If you're still applying actives on top of an impaired barrier, you’ll find the healing process to be quite long, and you may even damage your skin further. We suggest ‘resetting’ your skin by implementing a simple routine: a gentle cleanser, our rebound serum, a simple moisturiser, and a non comedogenic SPF.
Hot tip: Don’t rush the healing process, it's expected to take roughly 2-12 weeks for your skin barrier to fully heal.
Post-damaged skin barrier
Once your skin barrier has returned to its usual self, it's a good idea to keep up with your application of rebound on an ongoing basis. Prevention is key, bestie!
If you’d like to return to active ingredients, which is totally fine, once your barrier has healed, we recommend introducing them slowly. Start by using these products 1-2 times a week for 2 weeks and then build up from there.
Just remember bestie, your barrier is such an important element of your skin and we want to protect it at all costs! If your skin starts to feel a little off or it’s reacting a little differently than usual, it’s best to play it safe and take some well deserved rest & relaxation!
Shop our barrier support serum rebound now!
