General Guidelines for Skin Care
- Diet, Vitamins and the Skin
- Smoking and Your Skin
- Skin Care Throughout Life
- General Guidelines for Skin Care
- Facial Care
- Skin Cleansing
- Surfactants and the Skin
- Toners
- Moisturizers
- Hand and Body Moisturizers
- Body Lotions and Bath Oils
- Some Special Ingredients of Skin Care Products
- Additional Products
- Differences in Societies
Whatever our nationality or race, our skin care habits have some similarities of objective, even if the degrees of sophistication of the products we use are very different.
In theory 'normal' skin does not need any modification, since it is already well balanced with respect to its physiological and mechanical integrity. Nevertheless, this balance can be unstable to some extent, and therefore two essential approaches to the care of normal skin must be considered:
- maintenance of this balance, and
- protection from external injury.
The first aim is a passive one: it is more particularly concerned with avoiding products that are not active treatments as such, but may be harmful to the skin - harsh soaps, for example. The second plays a more active role, involving the use of photoprotective products and hydrating agents.
Skin care, from the skin scientist's standpoint, means preserving the integrity of the stratum corneum while removing sebum and soiling and maintaining adequate moisturisation.
For most women throughout many centuries, this was achieved by very harsh and primitive means. Even until relatively recently, the only skin and hair care product used by most people was a bar of harsh soap.
Fortunately today's cosmetic industry is providing increasingly mild and sophisticated products at affordable prices which not only scientifically care for the skin, but also help to reduce the visible effects of aging.
For most of us, skin care focuses on hands and face. Increasingly, however, industry is looking at the care of the body both in general and in specific areas, such as the delicate skin around the eyes, and good-quality products for these are now on the market.
In the rest of this chapter, we look at particular types of skin care and the products that are required for them.