Skinspiration… What is skin & how does it work!

*Disclaimer; All work produced in this skinspiration blog is owned by Nicole Webb, with copyrights to La Beauté Ltd.  

What is skin? Simply it could be said that skin is a tissue that forms the outer layer of the body.
How does it work? It just does.

But skin is much much more than that!

It is an extremely complex web of cells that are communicating, functioning and co-habituating together to make up the tissue that covers our whole external body.

The way skin works:
There are three key layers that make up the skin (Hypo-Dermis, Dermis and Epidermis) 90% of the time we are only working in the Epidermis layer.
The Epidermis consists of 5 sub-layers. These sub-layers are defined by the notable changes to the cells lifecycle.

Skin cells are born deep down in the base of the Epidermis via the process mitosis (cell division and replication). Each new cell is given everything it requires to complete it’s entire journey, from “The Provider Cell” – Fibroblast. The Fibroblast is like a petrol station, it gives the new cells the required ‘fuel’ from the nutrients gained from your blood, for the big journey ahead.

The cell then migrates up through the layers, changing form as it goes. These changes include flattening out; squeezing its internal lipid ‘fuel’ to surround the outside of the cell, as a form of protection; and communication to cells below, on what is needed above.
When the cell makes it to the top it is completely flat, contains no ‘fuel’ and is completely reliant on what we topically apply to it.

This process described above will happen wether you look after your skin or not, it is just another automatic process that happens within the body.

BUT
The appearance of the skin is up to you.

If at any stage during the process the cell becomes ‘upset’ then the surface of your skin will indicate it.
Bumps, discolouration, dryness … every abnormality on the surface is a result of a malfunction during the cells lifecycle.

Why do these malfunctions happen?
Malfunctions happen for a number of reasons and it is my job when treating and looking at the skin to establish why and provide you with support to ensure these malfunctions do not occur in the future.

Below are some of the most common reasons for a malfunction in the cell.

• Often the issue can be that “The Provider Cell” – Fibroblast didn’t have the right ingredients to fuel the new cell on its journey, so it has to do the journey lacking in what it needed to perform. This is why having a balanced diet full of all the vital nutrients is so important, as what you eat does impact on the skin’s appearance!
• You maybe lacking in lipid ‘fuel’, these are omegas or EFAs, cells need these as they protect the cell and create the skin bilayers, a mixture of water and oil in the top layer. You need lipids to lock in water/hydration, without them your skin will become severely dehydrated and you will not have a balanced bilayer mix.
• You are not externally hydrating the skin – you must hydrate the skin both internally (deepest 3 layers) and externally (top 2 layers). The bottom three layers will gain water from what you drink and eat. The top two layers are completely reliant on topical hydration. It is this topical hydrating that will determine if the skin surface looks hydrated. Topical hydration also increases cell turn over by stimulating enzyme activity in the top layer of skin, meaning you get rid of old cells in a timely fashion.
• You have removed your ‘oldest SAS solider’ – the top surface skin cells are the old guys, they have been around for a good period of time, they know their roll and are ready to protect the younger cells. If you remove these prematurely through wrong product usage or stripping treatments, you are exposing the less prepared cells and putting the skin into complete havoc.
• You are not topically supporting the skin with good skin care that supports not only the top cells but the whole cycle. Skin cells need topical support for them to look and function at their best.

These are just some of the reasons. The skin is 3D and its treatment must include the whole cell cycle for you to see optimum results on the surface.
Be kind to your skin, it’s an amazing organ. It is washable, stretchable, self-mending and comes with a lifetime guarantee, and all you need to do is give it a little care!