Defend Your Skin From Pollution

WHAT DOES POL­LU­TION DO TO MY SKIN?

Small dirt, dust and soot par­ti­cles, as well as gas­es such as car­bon monox­ide and nitro­gen diox­ide, can harm and pre­ma­ture­ly age your skin. Skin does its best to act as a bar­ri­er to such envi­ron­men­tal fac­tors, how­ev­er, it is not com­plete­ly impen­e­tra­ble. Pol­lu­tion can break down the lipids and col­la­gen found in your skin, weak­en­ing its abil­i­ty to com­bat exter­nal fac­tors. When your skin’s bar­ri­er is bro­ken down, pol­lu­tants gain bet­ter access to it, mak­ing you more sus­cep­ti­ble to clogged pores, irri­ta­tion, rash­es, break­outs and pre­ma­ture fine lines and wrinkles.

HOW CAN I RESTORE MY SKIN’S HEALTH?

You can improve the way your skin reacts to harm­ful envi­ron­men­tal fac­tors and pol­lu­tion by tak­ing the time to tend to your skin with a thor­ough skin care reg­i­men. A con­sis­tent reg­i­ment will restore the nutri­ents you need for healthy, youth­ful skin. Sim­ple steps to incor­po­rate into your skin care rou­tine include:

WASH YOUR FACE DAILY

Wash­ing your face twice a day (morn­ing and night) with a mild cleanser can flush away harm­ful dirt and tox­ins while reduc­ing the strain pol­lu­tion puts on your skin. Apply an alco­hol-free ton­er after wash­ing to help elim­i­nate any left­over or stub­born particles.

NEU­TRAL­IZE YOUR SKIN WITH ANTIOXIDANTS

Pol­lu­tants found in the air cre­ate free rad­i­cals, or chem­i­cals, which can cause your skin to oxi­dize. This can lead to pre­ma­ture aging and irri­ta­tion. Prod­ucts includ­ing antiox­i­dants, such as Vit­a­min A, C or E, can halt this process and fight oxi­da­tion. Diet also plays a role, as incor­po­rat­ing antiox­i­dant-rich foods such as blue­ber­ries, leafy greens and beans into your diet can help repair your skin.

MOIS­TUR­IZE

Pol­lu­tion can remove mois­ture from your skin, so it is impor­tant to drink plen­ty of water and use a light mois­tur­iz­er each day to replen­ish the mois­ture you are losing.

SHIELD YOUR SKIN

Wear­ing sun­screen and mois­tur­iz­er dai­ly pro­vides an addi­tion­al pro­tec­tive lay­er to your skin, shield­ing you from harm­ful sun rays, air tox­ins and dirt par­ti­cles that may irri­tate and age your skin.

Being aware of your envi­ron­ment and keep­ing up with a thor­ough skin care reg­i­men will improve the look and feel of your skin, allow­ing you to con­tin­ue the activ­i­ties you love, regard­less of pollution.

Meet with one of our expert estheti­cians to learn more about what you can do to com­bat the effects of pol­lu­tion and to find prod­ucts that are right for you.