What The Heck is in Your Skin?
By Madison Cecil
Seriously, do you know what is in your skin? There are many things that we put on our skin every day. Lotion, skincare, sunscreen, and more! Do you know what the heck is in those products? Or what is good or bad for your skin? These are questions that I would like to answer as a person with not so good skin.
Why should you be looking for ingredients in your skincare? In the US, skincare products don’t need FDA approval. Which means that there are ingredients that aren’t regulated or aren’t subjected to safety testing. Contrary to popular belief, chemicals and skincare ingredients can be absorbed through the skin and into your bloodstream (it doesn’t always go into your blood stream, but blood tests have shown skincare chemicals being in a patient’s blood).
Well, why does it matter? Your skin absorbs what you put on it. There are four layers of your skin: Stratum Corneum (Epidermis), Intercellular Space, Intracellular Space (Both in the Dermis), and Subcutaneous Layer. There are also three absorption pathways. First is Intercellular Absorption, skincare ingredients slip between the cells. This is a pathway you can find on your face where you put your skincare. Second is Intracellular Absorption, this is where small molecules can penetrate through the Stratum Corneum. Lastly Follicular Absorption, where ingredients can enter through the hair follicles. With this, there are many ways to absorb different chemicals and ingredients into your skin.
What is good and bad for your skin? To have this conversation, we need to have the understanding that skin ingredients work for some people and some ingredients don’t work for some people. So, if I list some good ingredients for the skin, it doesn’t mean that it will always be right for the issues you might be tackling with the ingredients. Let’s talk about the bad ingredients because that is arguably more important. There are many reasons for an ingredient in a skin care product to be bad for the skin. Some ingredients can cause irritation, a disruption of the skin’s natural barrier, endocrine disruption (where an ingredient can mimic hormones in the body which can disrupt the endocrine system), a cancer risk, and other concerns. Here are a list of ingredients that can be found in your skincare routine that might cause any of these risks: Acrylates (EMA and MMA), Alkylphenols (like nonylphenol, octylphenol, hectaphenol), Benzophenone, Butylated compounds (BHA, BHT), Carbon black, Diazolidinyl urea, DMDM hydantoin, Parabens, Ethanolamines (DEA, TEA, MEA), Formaldehyde, Fragrance (especially in products you put on your face), Homosalte, Octinoxate, PTFE, Phthalates, o, m, and p-phenylenediamine, Quaternium-15, Resorcinol , Toluene, Triphenyl phosphate (TPP, TPHP). There are many more ingredients to look out for, and I highly recommend doing research into the products you use on your skin. These ingredients and chemicals can affect your skin and bloodstream.
Now what is good for your skin? This is explained by what you need for your skin. There is not one chemical or ingredient that will fix all of your problems. A couple of ingredients that are popular are glycolic acid, lactic acid, salicylic acid, hydroquinone, kojic acid, retinol, L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C), Hyaluronic acid, Niacinamide (vitamin B3), Dimethicone, Copper peptide, and Glycerin. These can be used for various purposes for skin. I highly suggest doing your own research before putting chemicals and ingredients on your face. Doing research is very important when building your own skin care routine. I suggest researching the best ingredients for your specific skin issues, and what ingredients don’t mix with each other.
Taking care of your skin is extremely important. It can be used as a gateway for viruses, chemicals, ingredients, and other unwanted articles in your skin. This is why research is very important when trying new skin care products and mixing these products together. Because at the end of the day, your skin is the one outfit you wear every day.