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Ceramides Are Skincare Heroes; Here's Why...
At Age restore, skincare ingredients are vital. From classic staples like retinol and vitamin C to revolutionary discoveries like bakuchiol (a real game-changer!), they serve as the basis of every single one of our formulations.
Ingredients can make or break a skincare product. Applying moisturizer with an artificial fragrance could exacerbate dry skin issues further; similarly, washing with powerful cleansers filled with harsh sulfates could leave skin dehydrated, irritated, and inflamed - not great!
What are your thoughts on ceramides? While they might be less celebrated than retinol and less eye-catching than hyaluronic acid, ceramides play an integral part in any effective skincare regime, helping improve complexion no matter the skin type or tone. Ceramides truly offer all benefits with no negative impacts whatsoever.
Learn the ins and outs of these unassuming but extremely powerful skincare boosters by continuing reading.
What Are Ceramides?
Contrary to popular belief, ceramides aren't just fancy-sounding ingredients advertised in skincare commercials - they're essential lipids found naturally within your skin's structure, making up approximately 40-50% of it! So they play an essential role.
Your skin contains many different kinds of ceramides that all play an essential part in its barrier function. Not only do they bind cells together - like mortar on brick walls - they provide strength and stability in its entire structure as well as prevent water loss from environmental pollution, thus supporting its entire functionality - a crucial role they all play! As we said: this stuff matters.
Idealistically speaking, your level and quality of ceramides would remain optimal throughout life - alas! Unfortunately, due to factors like stress and environmental damage, aging compromises the integrity of ceramides causing them to decrease rapidly from mid-20s onwards - something which compromises vital barrier functions like moisture regulation as well as leading to dryness, redness irritation rough skin dehydration (among others) that compromise skin barrier integrity resulting in dehydration as a result of reduced barrier function integrity compromises which compromises barrier function integrity (bad news!) leading to all kinds of issues including dryness redness irritation rough skin dehydration (also bad news!).
Ceramide Benefits in Skincare
But there's good news - ceramides can also be found in skincare products! Artificial versions mimicking natural ones found within your body work hard at supporting its structure. Furthermore, topical ceramides have proven very well tolerated across all skin types (dry, oily, and sensitive alike) with some offering amazing advantages as your skin matures...
1. Ceramides Increase Moisture To Your Skin
Ceramides' main task is to seal moisture into the skin by strengthening and maintaining its barrier function - its natural protective, outermost layer. In doing this, ceramides work hard to decrease transepidermal water loss (TEWL), the amount of moisture that evaporates daily through transepidermal water loss from the skin surface. Research estimates this water loss averages 300-400ml daily but if your barrier function starts breaking down rapidly it could skyrocket into dehydration and dryness that leads back up again.
Upping the ceramide content in your skincare routine helps restore those lost through age or environmental causes such as sun damage, thus keeping skin hydrated and moisturized.
2. Ceramides Can Strengthen Sensitive Skin
Sensitive skin often results from an ineffective barrier function that's failing at keeping moisture in while keeping out irritants. Your barrier function resides at the uppermost layer of your skin (the stratum corneum), and its integrity plays an essential role in how it responds to external stressors like harsh skincare products, sunlight, and pollution - any measures that strengthen it could help manage sensitivities and lessen irritation.
Studies show that many individuals living with chronic skin conditions like eczema tend to have lower levels of ceramides in their skin than healthy people, yet experience significant improvements when topical ceramides are added to their skincare regime. Because of this evidence, we consider ceramides essential products for sensitive skin types.
3. Ceramides Are Essential for Aging Skin
Dry skin tends to highlight fine lines and wrinkles more clearly than normal or oily skin, so keeping it properly hydrated and moisturized can be key in delaying signs of aging - moisture makes for plumper, firmer, and smoother skin! It's science.
Ceramides attack aging from another angle by fortifying your barrier function and providing extra protection from free radical damage caused by smoking, UV radiation exposure, and poor diet habits. Free radicals are one of the primary culprits behind skin aging; they damage collagen and elastin supplies in your skin's surface layers and should be dealt with quickly to preserve youthful, vibrant-looking skin. A stronger barrier function will give more effective protection to your skin - essential ingredients in creating stunning, healthy-looking complexions! With topical antioxidants added along with topical antioxidants applied to daily sunscreen use together, they'll make sure you achieve gorgeous, youthful-looking complexions!
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How To Include Ceramides In Your Skincare Routine
Ceramides are versatile skincare ingredients, found in everything from eye treatments and cleansers to lotions and night creams. Their gentle nature coupled with their ability to work well with other active ingredients gives ceramides major points.
At our skincare center, we believe the most effective way to incorporate ceramides into your routine is through leave-on products like serums and moisturizers. That's why we've packed three essential ceramides (NP, AP, and EOP in case it comes up at trivia night!) into our Firming Collagen Day Lotion and Smoothing Collagen Serum as an ideal combination to protect, repair, and hydrate skin simultaneously - this duo promotes healthy aging while taking care of both collagen and elastin production while simultaneously increasing ceramides at surface level!
That is exactly the definition of a win-win scenario!