We may love this hectic and rich city life, yet every vacation period or long weekend spent away from the cities, we always make the same observation: we notice to what extent city life seems to have a negative effect on our skin! But what are the causes of the nuisances that we can observe daily on our skin? The whole truth about this phenomenon…
Know The Enemies Of Urban Skin!
City life comes with its share of attacks of all kinds that weaken our skin. Stress, UV rays, pollution, blue light, and even overwork will appear on our faces over the years. We cannot eliminate these factors, but learn to know them to protect ourselves better and maintain our beauty assets. Overall, these stresses, in the broad sense, act on several levels:
- They cause the formation of free radicals, real attackers of the skin.
- Certain pollutants, excellent particles, pass the skin barrier and alter the components that structure the skin.
- The majority of these factors also have an impact on our skin barrier. They damage them. Bottom line: they no longer perform their protective role as well. But other factors come into play and also alter this barrier. Among them, extreme climatic conditions, heating or even air conditioning in offices…
- Damaged barriers will allow more particles foreign to our body to pass. Result: the skin reacts with local inflammation. But it also becomes more sensitive to dehydration because damaged, it becomes less effective in retaining the water contained by the skin cells.
Also Read: How To Take Care Of Oily Skin
What Is The Impact Of These City Lifestyles On Our Skin?
So, of course, these repeated attacks will have an impact on our urban skin:
- The adjectives that most often come to mind to describe it are a “dull, blurred” complexion or even a “gray complexion.” But what is this due to? In fact, light is typically reflected by our epidermis, creating an impression of luminosity. However, attacks such as pollution, blue light, or even stress alter collagen and elastin, essential constituents of our skin. Their denaturation causes it to lose its regularity. As a result, the light no longer reflects as uniformly: the skin appears tired and lacks radiance.
- Another observation: the city environment makes our skin sensitive and reactive. The cause is the passage of molecules that are no longer stopped by our faulty skin barrier. Our skin reacts by setting up an inflammatory process. Redness and skin sensitivity become our daily lot. These irregularities blur our complexion, and our skin loses its beautiful uniformity.
- Have you also noticed that we often have drawn, marked features? This is the consequence of the daily stress we experience but also of the multiple attacks by free radicals that we suffer. Too many of these attacks have the effect of accelerating skin aging. Because the body can no longer neutralize all the free radicals produced, it is overwhelmed.
Simple Actions To Save Your Urban Skin
- Take care of your skin flora: composed of protective microorganisms, also called microbiome, it plays a vital role in preventing “bad” bacteria from developing. This phenomenon, therefore, naturally blocks the appearance of various imperfections or even diffuse skin inflammation, making the skin sensitive. To preserve this ecosystem, we use a gentle cleanser that respects our skin.
- Limit your exposure to blue light. Does our job require us to spend (too) many hours in front of a screen? Take regular breaks during the day. In addition, avoid using a screen again in the evening and prefer to pick up a book or spend the evening with friends. Furthermore, if you work behind a screen, you can install a blue light filter to reduce its harmful effects!
- Bring in antioxidants from within. There’s nothing like taking care of your skin through your plate! Fruits and vegetables are full of antioxidants, these molecules capable of countering the harmful effects of free radicals. Red fruits, citrus fruits, tomatoes, peppers…in addition to being good for the skin, it’s delicious! So, let’s make the most of it!
- Sleep: and yes, nighttime allows our skin to regenerate. In fact, the cells multiply, and the damage caused by the various attacks suffered during the day is repaired! Urban skin, subject to these attacks more than others, will need enough sleep to allow this essential regeneration!
- Adopt suitable cosmetics. If you choose products rich in antioxidants, they will help you fight against these free radicals that attack your skin! The Sensélina Cream containing sea buckthorn extracts or the Défensia Daily Fortifying Radiance Activator treatment is, among other things, a total of them.
In Short
You will have understood our skin is not spared by city life. But it is better to know the mechanisms involved during your attack to be able to adopt the right reflexes! Because ultimately, a good knowledge of one’s enemy always allows one to adopt the appropriate automatisms!
Also Read: Skin Health: False Myths And Truths