Written By Mira Aguirre
Article Summary
- Skin hydration is essential
- The hydration process
- Supporting the skin
- Introducing aqua factory
Our skin works hard to stay hydrated. But even the smallest changes within the skin or its environment can increase water loss and influence hydration status. That’s why Stratia Skin formulated Aqua Factory, a toner with 7 humectants to make skin hydration simple.
We previously dived into the skin barrier and how its perfect design keeps water in and our environment out. But our skin doesn’t just hold onto water to stay hydrated, it maintains water levels and rehydrates itself through the careful regulation of a number of complex processes, structures, and substances.
This blog will dive into all of these underlying mechanisms as well as what impacts skin hydration and how we can best support these hydration processes. But first, let’s set the stage by looking at why skin hydration is so important to the health and function of our skin.
The Impact of Skin Hydration
Skin Repair. When the skin is injured, this disruption to its structure increases the rate of water loss. Dehydrated skin corresponds to higher rates of inflammation, delayed wound healing, and scab formation (which can create scar tissue). Maintaining a moist wound environment allows for repair processes to be carried out faster while inflammation is reduced.
The Skin Barrier - AKA the surface layer of the skin - consists of rows of dead, keratin-containing cells called corneocytes and water is needed to keep them supple. The skin barrier needs to be flexible so that we can move freely without the skin cracking. Water loss is also one of the signals to the skin to initiate barrier repair.
Desquamation is the shedding of dead skin cells and occurs naturally over time as cells move up to the surface and become corneocytes. Once they’ve served their purpose within the skin barrier, the “glue” holding them together is broken down so they can shed. Because the enzymes that dissolve this glue are hydrolytic (requires water), dehydration can cause cells to accumulate on the skin surface.
Appearance. While you may have heard how hydration can temporarily plump skin and make it look smoother, it goes beyond that. Increasing the water content of the skin actually changes how the light interacts with it and both more hydrated skin and youthful skin will reflect light from deeper within the skin for a “lit from within glow.”
The Hydration Process
There is a common misconception that the skin barrier is dead, rendering applying an occlusive agent (think petroleum jelly) pointless without hydrating skincare underneath. But because hydration is so important to the health of our skin and its ability to function, it has a number of mechanisms in place to ensure the necessary water levels and can actually rehydrate itself.
Waterproofing
The lipid matrix between the dead, flat cells of the skin barrier provides waterproofing and allows it to trap water inside. However, the skin barrier is the most exposed to our environment and its health directly corresponds to how much water it can keep in. Keeping the barrier healthy and repairing it quickly is key.
Diffusion
Underneath the top layer of the skin that we call the epidermis, there is another skin layer called the dermis. The water rich dermis has blood vessels that allow it to be easily rehydrated by blood circulation where the epidermis has to rely on diffusion of water and nutrients from the dermis.
Water Transport
Because the skin barrier is designed to keep everything out, that can also make it difficult to get beneficial things in. That’s why we have little channel proteins called aquaporins to help facilitate the movement of water and small molecules like glycerin into the skin.
Building Blocks
A protein called filaggrin helps contribute to the physical structure of the skin barrier and its integrity while also helping to flatten the skin cells that will become corneocytes. It’s then degraded into what will become our Natural Moisturizing Factor, the humectants inside corneocytes that help keep the skin barrier hydrated.
Water Binding
In addition to the Natural Moisturizing Factor, we have hyaluronic acid throughout the skin layers as well as the collagen and elastin fibers. Anything capable of hydrogen bonding helps keep water in the skin as “bound water” while “free water” is lost through the skin barrier through trans epidermal water loss (TEWL).
Supporting Skin Hydration
When our skin is happy and healthy, there’s very little you need to do other than just help keep it that way. Most people find sun protection, gentle cleansing, and using a moisturizer as needed to be sufficient.
But being the outermost layer and a barrier against our environment takes its toll. Our skin barrier is usually the first to experience the effects of changing weather, mechanical injury, or other stressors.
Top 3 Barrier Disruptors:
A good skincare routine is usually a great start… Stratia’s Velvet Milk Cleanser and Lipid Gold preserve barrier health and water holding capability. But if you’re still feeling dry and tight, adding a water based hydrator may be just what you need.
Introducing Aqua Factory
Stratia Skin’s new toner release focuses on one thing: hydration.
To achieve a highly effective hydrating product, they’ve combined over 7 different humectants. Aqua Factory also addresses multiple causes of dehydration so it can deliver results:
- Glycerin, urea, sodium PCA, and sodium hyaluronate mimic the Natural Moisturizing Factor.
- Urea and glycerin can be transported through the skin for better hydration.
- Urea and panthenol support the skin barrier.
- Allantoin and panthenol decrease irritation, one of the biggest stressors on the skin barrier.
- And all the humectants contribute to immediate hydration.
Aqua Factory is light in texture and layers beautifully without stickiness while still packing a punch of hydration. If you’ve felt like you just can’t keep your skin hydrated, this is the product for you.
References
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022202X15528819
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5608132/
Mira is a skincare educator, blogger, and the content creator behind Skin Science by Mira and The Skincare Forum on Facebook. While skincare keeps her busy, she’s also pursuing her degree in Nursing and loves to spend her free time hiking. As a content writer for Stratia Skin, Mira shares her evidence-based approach to skincare topics and a passion for making science accessible.
