Do you suffer from dry skin, lack of elasticity, blackheads and / or pimples? The cleanliness of the air has a lot to do with it: Air pollution and smog are real skin killers. We explain why and what you can do about it for your skin..
How environmental influences affect your skin
The fact that air pollution is harmful and severely restricts the quality of life cancer, asthma, you name it should be nothing new to you. What many do not have on their radar: The quality of the air and the amount of pollutants also have a strong effect on your skin!!
We fundamentally differentiate between primary and secondary pollutants. Roughly speaking, the primary ones are pollution caused by industrial emissions, combustion engines and air travel, but also by cigarette smoke. The secondary pollutants, such as ozone, arise as a result of the former. We generally refer to the high ozone level near the ground as smog.
The topic is always acute, especially in summer, because the level of pollution is subject to fluctuations over time: it is more aggressive in summer than in winter!
Why is air pollution so problematic for sensitive skin in particular. In two different studies, scientists compared test persons who lived in large cities, that is Mexico City and Beijing, and their rural surroundings. The people who were exposed to higher levels of smog exhibited the following characteristics:en:
- Drier skin
- Decrease in vitamin E.
- Increase in oxidized proteins
- Increased sebum production
- Disorder in the peeling of the skin
The consequences of these characteristics in turn are wrinkles and cracks, insufficient elasticity and poor self-healing as well as a greater tendency to blackheads and pimples or acne. It can even be life-threatening, because patients in the affected, smoggy areas have often visited hospitals because of dermatological diseases..
Air pollution pimples: Free radicals are the culprit
The main reason for the skin problems is that dirty air contains more harmful free radicals. And they do the following:
- Free radicals dramatically lower the levels of vitamins C and E in the skin. If you spend two hours in polluted air, your vitamin E level can drop by up to 25 percent.
- They damage the collagen structure of your skin and thus activate skin aging.
- Squalene, a component of sebum, reacts chemically to squalene peroxide through free radicals, which is why you will suffer more acne.t.
In addition, the mixture of substances in polluted air destroys the natural protective layer on your skin. As a result, it is less protected against invasive bacteria and more prone to inflammation.
Time to act: 3 protective measures for the skin in dirty air
1. Facial cleansing for clean skin:
You clean your face regularly, ideally in the morning and evening, with a facial cleanser that penetrates deep into your pores. This is how you reliably remove dirt particles from your skin. It is perfect if you use a cleaning product that does not dry out your skin unnecessarily so that you avoid wrinkles..
We recommend the for intensive facial cleansingGentle cleanser von sober : With it you have a particularly mild and effective facial sober that knows the needs of sensitive skin. With kaolin sludge and activated carbon, it cleans pore-deep, removes bacteria and toxins. In addition, facial cleansing with red algae extract protects against dehydration.
2. Face cream for more moisture:
No matter how mild and perfectly formulated your facial cleanser may be, you will want to add more moisture to your skin after cleansing and rebuild the protective layer! After all, what good is a face that has been cleaned down to the pores when it is attacked again by the dirt particles in the dirty air on the doorstep??
When choosing your moisturizer, make sure that it forms an occlusive cell protection and supplies your skin with the nutrients that it has lost through the smog, especially vitamin E. And as it should be for a face cream, it should provide plenty of moisture. Hardly any other active ingredient is more suitable for this than urea..
In our opinion, the Hydra Defense Cream is the best moisturizing cream and perfect for facial care after cleansing. Its formulation takes into account intensive moisturizing with urea, forms an occlusive protective film on the skin and gives it back valuable nutrients that it needs to regenerate and arm itself.
Positive side effect: thanks to the D5 Cell Complex, the Hydra Defense Cream is an anti-aging care product and Face cream and has a positive effect on bags under the eyes and dark circles. Look at youhere the face cream from sober on.
3. Better nutrition for protection from within:
Ideally, you do not take in antioxidants exclusively through skin care products: It is better if you also take them into account in your diet!
Fruits with a strong color, for example, help replenish the antioxidants. These include cherries, black currants and strawberries, among others. Also take a look at various vegetables, salads, herbs and nuts. Just a healthy diet.
Bad environmental influences: It's better not to go outside?
Nonsense. Enjoy life! Just take into account the important information for your skin and maybe you will help to ensure that our air is not unnecessarily polluted Thank you! #staysoberer
Philip