"Stay up the latest night and apply the most expensive facial mask", although this sentence is a joke on the Internet, it is a true portrayal of many young people. Another meaning is that young people are willing to spend money on cosmetics, so manufacturers will come up with various explanations, and exfoliation is one of them. Today, letâs take a look at the term exfoliation.
What is the stratum corneum
The stratum corneum is the outermost part of the epidermis and is mainly composed of 10 to 20 layers of flat, dead cells without nuclei. When these cells fall off, the underlying cells in the basal layer of and are pushed up to form a new stratum corneum. Taking the human forearm as an example, for every 5 square centimeters of epidermis, 1,300 cuticle cells will fall off every hour, forming fine dust. So keratin is actually what we call dead skin. Its main component is what we often call soft protein. This component itself has a relatively strong water-absorbing effect and can help the surface layer of human skin to prevent the penetration of external irritants. .
What is the function of cuticle?
The stratum corneum is the outermost layer of the skin, which can protect the skin. It is a moisturizing barrier for moisture in the skin and can block the invasion of foreign bacteria. The stratum corneum is the key to maintaining the skin barrier structure and can protect internal tissues from external physical, chemical, microbial and other related insults. There are a large number of lipids between keratinocytes, mainly including sphingolipids, free fatty acids and cholesterol . Frequent exfoliation in daily life will reduce the skin's immunity and cause red blood filaments. When exposed to ultraviolet rays or slight irritation, it can cause skin allergies.
Whether the skin is good or not depends entirely on the stratum corneum?
The stratum corneum is the main part of the skin that absorbs external substances, accounting for 90% of the skin's total absorption capacity. Under normal circumstances, the water content of the stratum corneum accounts for 10%-20%, which is the key for the skin to retain moisture. When the water content of the stratum corneum is less than 10%, the skin will appear dry and flaky. The stratum corneum is the key to the appearance of the skin. "Bright and beautiful" skin is because a healthy stratum corneum can reflect light regularly, so it looks bright and attractive. Dull, rough skin is caused by the dry and scaly stratum corneum reflecting light in a non-specular form, making the skin appear gray.
Therefore, the stratum corneum itself is a very important part of maintaining skin function, but donât think it is bad when you mention the stratum corneum.
What is exfoliation? Why exfoliate?
Exfoliation is the process of removing the outermost layer of the stratum corneum using physical or chemical methods.
Since ideally the cuticles will fall off naturally, why do you need to exfoliate?
With age, life stress, staying up late and other bad habits, the condition of the stratum corneum will change, the arrangement will be irregular, and it will not be able to fall off naturally. The unshedded stratum corneum and the accumulation of pigment dust will also make the skin rough, dull and dull, and will also affect the skin's absorption capacity. At this time, proper exfoliation becomes necessary. From the influence of accumulation of old keratinocytes and the function of normal keratin, you can judge whether you need to exfoliate. In short, exfoliation is to better improve the skin and keep the skin firm, delicate and smooth.
How to exfoliate?
According to the mechanism of action, there are three main types of exfoliation methods: physical exfoliation, acid exfoliation (keratin dissociating substances and natural exfoliants) and enzymatic exfoliation. Physical exfoliation is to mechanically rub the skin to remove dead skin and make the skin smoother and finer. The most common one is scrub . Acid exfoliation includes common fruit acids, salicylic acid . Enzyme exfoliation mainly relies on papain to decompose the protein components in the stratum corneum and cut off the connections between keratinocytes and cells, thereby achieving the effect of shedding old stratum corneum.
Repair of the cuticle
After the cuticle is shed automatically or artificially, the epidermis will rapidly proliferate keratinocytes and convert the keratinocytes into dead anucleated keratinocytes and transport them to the surface of the skin. The total process takes about 14 days.Excessive exfoliation of the stratum corneum will cause the stratum corneum to become very thin, making the skin sensitive, and in severe cases, redness will appear. If it is caused by simply using exfoliating products, it will go away after you stop using it.
Generally speaking, exfoliating once a month is a more reasonable frequency, but in fact it still has to be decided based on the actual situation of the individual. Excessive exfoliation will not only make the skin look delicate, but will also cause damage to the skin barrier, causing redness, skin sensitivity and other problems.
Information: Zhongshan Qingpu Branch
Editor: Hu Xiaofan
