Why Moisture Retention is Great for Your Skin
Water is the basic foundation for healthy and great-looking skin. There are a number of different ways to increase your water consumption but knowing why it’s so important is the key toward retaining moisture levels and giving your skin what it needs to look and feel beautiful.
Why is Moisture Retention Important?
The skin requires water on a cellular level in order to maintain lipid barriers (which work to ward off the introduction of bacteria and pathogens to the cells), promote blood flow (something that ensures that skin receives sufficient nutrients) and more. Moisture provides the energy necessary for producing the proteins that go into creating firm and vibrant skin. Most important of these proteins are collagen and elastin — the proteins that are responsible for the skin’s fullness and elasticity. Proper hydration acts as a catalyst for collagen and elastin production and slows the breakdown of these substances over time. Moisture also works to stimulate circulation, toxin removal and the maintenance of muscle tone. All of this is extremely important for keeping your skin healthy in both appearance and feel and so, naturally, we all want to make sure we’re retaining moisture. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables, drinking proper amounts of water, using moisturizers, avoiding cigarette smoke and excessive sun exposure can all help to give your skin what it needs to retain moisture.How
Can I Increase My Skin’s Moisture Retention?
There are many different ways to give your body the water it needs to retain moisture in the skin but one of the most effective is found in the filler Juvéderm. The hyaluronic acid that composes Juvéderm allows it to absorb a staggering amount of water (more than one hundred times its own weight). The water that is retained in the product allows it to, not only provide more natural-looking treatment results, but also to increase the affected site’s ability to keep moisture locked into the skin. Hyaluronic acid has an extremely high affinity for attracting water and this is part of why Juvéderm is so ideal as a means for creating better volume and fullness in the skin. Juvéderm treatment is safe, almost entirely painless and is capable of revitalizing skin quickly while its moisture boosting abilities also help to provide longer lasting results. Patients that choose this filler treatment for their skincare needs can expect to see immediately noticeable benefits over a period of time that is much longer than other products, particularly with Voluma (usually upwards of six months to a year). By coupling healthy daily habits that increase your moisture levels with Juvéderm treatment you can give your skin what it needs to retain moisture.
Beware of Long Baths!
We all want our skin to stay smooth and healthy, with as few wrinkles as possible. That’s why Toronto fillers treatments are so popular. But we also want to enjoy the simple pleasures of life — like a nice hot bath after a tough day. If you want to have the best of both worlds then you need to know why water can cause wrinkles — and what you should do to avoid this negative effect while still being able to relax in a bath.
The Problem
All of us are familiar with our fingers becoming “water-logged” after, say, swimming, washing dishes or taking a bath. We usually see it most clearly on our fingertips, noticing that they’ve become extremely wrinkled from lengthy exposure to water. This phenomenon affects the rest of our skin as well. Even though the problem appears to go away on its own after a little while, that wrinkling effect can lead to a change in skin that isn’t so easily resolved.
The reason that our skin becomes wrinkled after being in water is, conversely, because water can take away from our proper level of moisture, leaving the skin drier than it should be. Our skin is extremely porous and when water is continuously applied to its outer, protective layer (the epidermis) it begins to absorb it. The proteins that make up the epidermis layer of skin attract water when the dead cells that usually stop it have been removed. This causes proteins to absorb water and, ultimately, swell (more quickly in the fingers because of their thicker epidermis layer).
Activities like long baths also cause wrinkles because water naturally washes away our skin’s oils or sebum. Our oils protect the inner layers of our skin by resisting intruding water but, after a certain amount of time, sebum washes away and moisture gets in. That’s one of the reasons for why skin returns to normal after it’s no longer exposed to water: our body begins secreting new oils to take the washed off one’s place.If the skin is wrinkled through water contact too often it can cause long-term wrinkling to develop prematurely. Because of this, it’s a good idea to keep a few tips in mind that can minimize damage.
The Solution
Just because baths can cause wrinkling, that doesn’t mean that we should deprive ourselves of enjoying them from time to time. The key is to limit the time you spend in the tub and become more conscious of the effect that soaking has on the skin. Try setting a timer that lets you relax while still knowing what to get out.Balancing the dehydration caused by water with oils is another good idea. Applying a moisturizer immediately after exiting the bath (or using bath oils) helps to make sure that your skin stays hydrated and protected from unnecessary wrinkling.