huidtherapeut – Fabienne Konings

You want to rebalance or improve the condition of your skin. So, you start your quest for the right products, using your skin type as a starting point. Products are often selected based on whether you have oily or dry skin. Perhaps you can relate to this. While that’s perfectly fine, to truly see improvement in your skin condition, you should look beyond just your skin type. Let me explain how and why.

When pimples occur, it’s often assumed that one has oily skin. Excessive sebum production, along with the presence of the “P. acnes bacterium,” indeed causes pimples. However, this is not the sole cause of pimple formation or inflammatory reactions.
There are various factors that disrupt the balance of our skin and can lead to an inflammatory response. Some factors that can cause this include:

Incorrect product/ingredient usage;
Using water that is too hot during cleansing (often, people also cleanse their skin in the shower, which may be a few degrees too warm);
Using harsh tools such as a cleansing brush;
lack of sleep;
high amount of stress;
Excessive sun exposure.

These are often the most common factors that I see within my practice that lead to skin problems. Often, the skin barrier is out of balance or damaged, and your goal is to restore it. When your skin barrier is out of balance, the following problems may occur: redness, pimples, extremely dry skin, dehydrated skin, or hyperpigmentation. It’s important to consider all of the above factors if you want to improve your skin condition, but let’s focus on the right skincare for now. Understand that it’s not necessarily the case that if you have pimples, products designed for oily skin will help you. Let alone a standard skincare routine. Finding the right products is personalized. It’s different for everyone because every skin is different. But how do you know exactly which products you need?

Hoe?

In many skin therapy practices, it’s possible to undergo a so-called “skin analysis.” Using devices like the Observ 520, multiple photos of various skin layers are taken. The following skin characteristics are captured:

Redness, circulatory problems, couperose
Inflammation
Sebum production
Dehydrated skin
Superficial and deep pigmentation damage

Just to give an example: what I often see in practice is that many people have dehydrated skin and a lack of antioxidants. As a result, the skin becomes less resilient. These characteristics can be identified in the photos, and based on this, a personalized plan can be developed to improve your skin condition. It’s essential to seek advice from a specialist or a skin therapist to determine which products are suitable for your skin to improve its condition. Many practices offer skin analysis sessions without obligation. So, it’s always worth trying 😉

Voorbeeldfoto’s huidanalyse met de Observ 520

Any questions left? Please ask down below.

Love, Fabienne

Our outer skin layer (the epidermis) forms the skin barrier and plays a vital role. As the name ‘barrier’ suggests, this natural skin layer protects our skin from harmful external influences. To give you a clear picture, you can compare the skin barrier to the building blocks of a house. The building blocks protect the house from external influences such as wind, cold, heat, and rain. Essentially, the skin barrier does the same and shields us from external factors such as:

UV rays from the sun
Light from our phones/tablets, etc. (blue light)
Environmental pollution
Aggressive or incorrect skincare products
Taking showers that are too hot

But also stress, diet, and lack of sleep can disrupt the skin barrier in the long term (internal factors). When the skin barrier is compromised, these external factors can more easily penetrate the skin and cause damage. Additionally, the skin is not able to retain moisture effectively, leading to dehydration.

The characteristics of a disrupted skin barrier include:

red skin
(quickly) irritated skin
comedones
pimpels
hyperpigmentation (pigmentspots)
fine lines
wrinkels
dull skin
dehydrated skin
itchy skin

Often, people have a combination of one or more of the factors mentioned above. But fortunately, the skin barrier can also be restored.

How do we keep the skin barrier healthy?
Start by reversing the factors mentioned above, for example, avoiding hot showers and protecting your skin from the sun using the right sunscreen. Also, it’s good to scrutinize the products you use daily. It’s possible that the products you’re using are too aggressive or not suitable for your skin type. It’s also not advisable to use cleansing brushes as they can be too harsh. If you wear a lot of makeup, it’s better to cleanse your skin twice with a cleanser.

When your skin barrier is disrupted, your skin may also be dehydrated, as mentioned earlier. In that case, it’s good to add a serum with hyaluronic acid to your daily routine. Hyaluronic acid helps retain moisture in the skin, thereby firming and soothing it.

Redness can also be caused by a disrupted skin barrier, but genetic predisposition often plays a role as well. How it develops varies from person to person. For some, it’s genetic, for others, it’s due to incorrect product use. The skin is often red when there are inflammations present, such as pimples. It’s important to soothe the skin well with the right products in such cases.

Hyperpigmentation in the form of age spots or post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) – pigment spots after inflammation, is also caused by a disrupted skin barrier. The sun essentially has “free access” to cause pigmentation damage in the skin when it’s not properly protected and isn’t capable of protecting itself. This also happens when you don’t protect yourself daily with an SPF against the sun.

Wanna check your skincondition? Go to a practice for a consultation and see what your therapist can do for you. Goodluck!

Love, Fabienne

Tag: huidtherapeut

This is why a standard skincare routine doesn’t work.

HOW DO WE KEEP OUR SKIN BARRIER HEALTHY?