Are you searching for information about skin hydration in winter weather? If so, you have come to the right place!
With winter around the corner, it’s time to start gearing up your products to protect your delicate skin from drying out.
In this blog post, we will be taking a deep dive into everything concerning skin hydration in winter :
- the largest organ role and functions,
- changes in hydration during cold months
- nutricosmetics to keep skin looking and feeling healthy throughout the cold season.
This blog post will equip you with all the knowledge needed to create effective hydrating skincare products for winter.
What is the largest organ in the human body?
The skin is the largest and heaviest organ in the human body, with an average surface area of 30 m2 in adults.1,2
It is not only the envelope that surrounds us. The skin plays several roles, including:
- Protection against external aggressions: As a barrier, it preserves from physical intrusions and keeps microorganisms and other environmental toxins out!
- Interface with the external world: Our skin is colonized by diverse microorganisms – including bacteria, fungi and viruses. This microflora can prevent attachment and invasion by pathogens when healthy and balanced.
- Maintenance of body temperature: Sweat is produced by the skin when it is hot, but blood flow to the skin is reduced to preserve heat in cold temperatures.
- Preserving water: Skin lets water flow freely in most of its thickness until it reaches its outermost layer. There, specialized waxy lipids called ceramides form a tight barrier that prevents water from leaving the body.
- Perception of the exterior: With its numerous nerve endings (Merkel receptors, Meissner receptors, Ruffini receptors, Pacini receptors), skin sensitivity allows us to feel our environment.
- Participation in immunity: Antigen-presenting dendritic cells of the epidermis have an important role in immune protection. However, they are not considered to be epidermal cells in the strict sense of the word since they are produced in the bone marrow before migrating there and intercalating between the keratinocytes.
- Blood supply: The dermis is particularly rich in blood vessels. This high level of vascularization alone accounts for nearly 10% of the total blood volume.
- Synthesis of vitamin D, thanks to exposure to UV rays.
Why is it essential to prepare our skin for winter?
As you’ve probably already noticed, our skin changes with the seasons, which is why it requires different care at different times of the year. We often talk about preparing our skin before the summer for sun exposure, but it is also important to prepare it for the winter.
The effect of a seasonal transition from winter to summer on the mechanical and physical properties of the skin was studied in vivo in fourteen volunteers with healthy skin aged 22 to 42 years.
Results indicated a 22.15% decrease in transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and a 34.29% decrease in average epidermal roughness (AER) in summer compared to winter. A 25.48% increase in average epidermal hydration (AEH) was also observed.3
Nutricosmetics designed to prepare skin for winter
Supplements claiming Beauty-From-Within benefits are designed to maintain skin health and/or improve the appearance or health of the skin.
InnoVactiv carries two clinically-tested ingredients with skin health benefits:
Myoceram® is a natural rice ceramide ingredient clinically proven to increase skin hydration and reduce transepidermal water loss over the entire body surface. Unlike topical moisturizers with only a local and limited effect, ingestion of 30 mg of Myoceram® stimulates endogenous ceramide production in the skin to effectively support optimal skin barrier function.
Learn more about Myoceram®
Naturally composed of collagen peptides and glycosaminoglycans (chondroitin, glucosamine, hyaluronic acid) resulting from the upcycling of marine co-products, Cartidyss® has been clinically-shown to fight wrinkles and support optimal properties of the skin (hydration, viscoelasticity, etc…) by promoting the densification of the dermis and the extracellular dermal matrix.
Learn more about Cartidyss®
Do you want to create effective hydrating skincare products for winter?
Our team of experts is passionate about finding the best solutions for your customers.
Don’t wait any longer; contact us today!
References :
1 Gallo (2017).Human Skin Is the Largest Epithelial Surface for Interaction with Microbes. Journal of Investigative Dermatology. 137. 1213-1214. Doi : 10.1016/j.jid.2016.11.045.
2 Grice and Segre (2011). The skin microbiome. Nat Rev Microbiol. 9(4).244–253. Doi:10.1038/nrmicro2537
3 Uchegbulam et al (2022). Effect of seasonal change on the biomechanical and physical properties of the human skin. Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials. 127. 1050-1058. 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2021.105058