Water! Do you drink enough?

Drinking enough water really is so important to allow our bodies to function in a healthy state, it is essential to life. Typically we can not live more then a few days without it. But did you also know that your low water intake could also be possibly responsible for your “dry skin” woes?

So many clients come to me complaining of what they feel is dry skin, when in fact what they have is a build up dead skin cells due to their skin not effectively shedding these cells in a timely manner as it is designed to do.

So what has drinking water got to do with this you may ask?

Well first lets discuss just how a healthy functioning skin has the ability to exfoliate or desquamate itself. The upper layer of skin cells that we refer to as “dead” skin cells is known as the Stratum Corneum and is primarily made up of a protein called Keratin, much like our strands of hair and nails.

For those that come to see me regularly for facials, then you are sure to have heard me rave on about the benefits for enzymes for gentle yet effective exfoliation of the skin due to the enzymes ability to digest the protein that these “dead” skin cells are made up of. Kind of like little pac men gobbling up these redundant cells. Well interestingly our skin itself contains enzymes to do just this, Stratum corneum chymotryptic enzyme and stratum corneum tryptic enzyme.

So why then do some of us need a little more help in the exfoliation department?

These enzymes found in your skin unfortunately are inactive on their own, they need a catalyst to activate them and this catalyst is water!!!!

So if you are not providing enough water to your body internally and maintaining a healthy skin barrier to help keep that water in the skin and prevent too much of it evaporating out into the environment, which is what we experts refer to as trans epidermal water loss or TEWL, then these enzymes can not do their job properly. Meaning you will end up with rough, flakey, dull looking skin. You may even feel your skin is “dry” and will try and compensate by using lots and lots of moisturiser to compensate.

So why not go now and fill up that glass and have a drink, squeeze some fresh lemon in it and be sure to eat lots of “wet” foods to that help to not only hydrate the skin from the inside, but also aids the skin to exfoliate itself by keeping the and reveal a softer, smoother skin that glows . Think high water content fruits and veggies, cucumber is a favourite of mine for this as it also supplies lots of skin, hair and nail friendly Silica, Biotin, Vitamin C and so much more. Limit the coffee and tea unless a caffeine free herbal tea.

Why you ask? Caffeine is a diuretic and will only increase dehydration when ingested in high amounts, one a day wont hurt you though.

Still need a little more help? Topically a good quality hylauronic acid serum such as our Pure Age Defiance serum by O Cosmedics can help to hold some moisture into the upper layers of skin, or for those whose barrier is really compromised our EFA Ultra supplement internally to help waterproof the skin from within combined with our barrier repair super hero duo for topical use; Seba E and Herb and Mineral Mist by DMK will imitate a healthy skin’s acid mantle allowing your skin to repair and rebuild its own, leaving your skin plump and dewy again.

For more help on how to achieve your skin goals book in with our Dermal Clinician for an Advanced Skin analysis by booking online or calling the clinic today on 039379 8585.

I hope you enjoyed this article, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask here by leaving a comment.

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