The Essentials of Skin Hydration

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We all know that hydration is absolutely vital for healthy, beautiful skin. What does a proper skin hydration regimen actually look like?

Lamelle Medical Trainer Karen Bester says that skin hydration plays a huge part in getting your ideal smooth summer glowing skin, and breaks it down into two main areas of focus: A hydrated outer layer of skin (corneum) and plump, water-filled deeper layers (dermis).

Here’s how hydration works in these parts of your skin, what’s needed to max hydration in each, and the best products for each:

THE ESSENTIALS OF SUMMER SKIN HYDRATION

1. A HYDRATED CORNEUM FOR SMOOTH SKIN

A hydrated corneum gives you beautifully smooth skin. Although the corneum is made up of “dead” skin cells, ensuring they’re well-hydrated allows your skin’s exfoliating enzyme Cathepsin D to keep skin cell turnover at its optimal levels, that helps stimulate new cell production in your epidermis (slightly deeper layer of the skin), ensuring happy, healthy skin.

Now, your skin traps water in the epidermis (top 4 layers of skin cells) in three ways.

  1. Amino acids inside your cells, called Natural Moisturising Factors (NMF), bind water into the skin cells.

  2. Outside of the cells, the lipid-bilayer (a complicated structure of free fatty acids, cholesterol, and ceramides that makes up your skin barrier that keeps water in and foreign substances out), is interspersed with quantities of water.

  3. Also outside the cells, there’s Hyaluronic Acid (HA), a carbohydrate produced by your cells that has the ability to trap water.

HOW TO (RE)HYDRATE YOUR CORNEUM

There are two components to keeping your corneum hydrated (or fixing a dry corneum). You need to keep both the water levels in your skin, and the lipids and oils that keep the water inside in mind. Usually, if you keep the lipid layer intact, it will help your skin retain water – but it’s always a good idea to add a little bit more water to plump up your skin.


THE BEST PRODUCTS FOR HYDRATING YOUR CORNEUM

The unique Ceramide P in the Serra range and Dermaheal Renewal Cream will replace depleted lipid bi-layer (skin barrier). “You can’t just add any oil to do this,” Karen says. “The lipids in the oil need to be compatible with your skin. Most oils will just lie on top of your skin because the molecules are too big to penetrate and trap water. Our special ceramide P, however, is specially made to work with your skin.”

For the ultimate hyaluronic acid boost, Correctievs HA Plus not only replaces lost HA but also stimulates the production of more HA in your skin.

For the inside of your cells, we’ve added biocompatible NMF that will enter skin cells and bind water around them to our Nourish range.


2. A PLUMP DERMIS FOR OPTIMAL SKIN HYDRATION

Inside the deeper layers of the skin, hydration is vital for your overall skin health. You want this part of the skin to be plump, nourished and filled with water so that every cell can do its job with ease

WHAT A PROPERLY HYDRATED DERMIS NEEDS

For the optimal skin hydration, your dermis needs three things:

  1. HEALTHY, ACTIVE FIBROBLASTS
    Fibroblasts produce collagen, elastin and vital skin structures (among other things) and they ensure that your cells produce their own hydration, but they “shut down” or become depleted with sun damage and as you age. When that happens, you usually need to kickstart fibroblasts again with growth factors.

  2. ENOUGH HA IN THE DERMIS
    You need good-quality HA inside the deeper layers of skin, too. And that’s normally where most conventional HA products fail: they only penetrate the first few layers of skin. See, the dermis requires a differently sized molecule of HA than the epidermis. So it’s essential when introducing HA to make sure you’ll be feeding the dermis, too.

  3. HEALTHY SKIN STRUCTURES
    Strongly associated with fibroblasts, the overall of your skin plays an important part in how well it can keep itself hydrated. Fibroblasts make new cells structures, but they’re also connected to the structures themselves: Collagen, elastin, HA – all of these form physical structures in the skin, almost like a scaffolding. If any parts of these become broken or separated from each other, that’s when hydration problems develop (and when deep furrows and wrinkles start to appear).

THE BEST PRODUCTS FOR A HYDRATED DERMIS

“We maintain or fix the healthy plump dermis with the special blend of growth factors in the Dermaheal range, or in Correctives Intensive Growth Factor serum,” Karen says.

“Ascorbic acid is also phenomenal and you see very quick results. And it has the bonus effects of brightening the skin and delivering antioxidants to sun-damaged or aged skin. It also helps protect the structures of the skin, including fibroblasts, collagen and elastin.”

Joao De Freitas