Let’s touch a bit on our nonverbal communication because we are extremely verbal people with our facial expressions and body language. I know being Dominican and Haitian, our facial expressions precede us in conversation. The appearance of our skin, hair, and nails is important in social acceptance, self-image, and our emotional state whether you are having bad hair, bad acne, or scarring.
Your skin is your accessory just like you wear a beautiful handbag, earrings, or necklace, your skin proceeds you!
Your skin is what you wear daily and so it is imperative to cater to your skin as you prioritize all the needs for your survival.
Your skin is just as important!
What is our skin?
We are human form plants. Just as plants need water, sun, and love so do, we. We are plants that react with the sun, which begins the process of Vitamin D synthesis. I hear very often that we should be running from the sun. As if the sun is our enemy and it is not.
This was strategic! Some sunscreen manufacturing company decided to make the sun the bad guy and bought into to lie.
The SUN is not the protagonist in this saga called LIFE.
This is definitely a controversial theme. However, I would like to bring this discussion to this space by first asking:
How many people in the population of melanin-rich have died from the sun? 1.0x 10-5 A very small percentage and genes are just as responsible as the environment. I believe in a duality where both nature and nurture are responsible for the expression of our genes.
We are very much nurture as much as we are nature.
Without the sun Vitamin D could not be synthesized. Vitamin D synthesis is completed by the liver and the kidneys. Therefore, we need the sun.
Your skin carriers out the first step in vitamin D synthesis, which is important for the development and maintenance of our bones.
Some studies suggest that melanin rich Indvidual's have high bone mineral density. Could it be in part because of our unique relationship with the sun?
What I love about science is the art of mystery.
I must interject that if a subject matter lacks conclusively it does not erase the possibility of its truth.
The skin is the most extensive sensory organ equipped with a variety of nerve endings that react to heat, cold, touch, pressure, vibration, texture, and injury. The abundance of these receptors is found on the face, fingers, soles and etc. The skin is responsible for thermoregulation. The thermoreceptors of cutaneous nerve endings monitor your body's surface temperature. For example, in response to you feeling chilly on a windy day, your body retains the heat constricting the blood vessels in the dermis; therefore, keeping warm blood deeper within the body. What happens when you’re overheating from an extraneous workout? In response to overheating, excess heat is lost by dilating the blood vessels.
The skin has 3 layers:
1. Epidermis
2. Dermis
3. Hypodermis.
The epidermis has five sublayers Stratum corneum, Stratum lucidum, Stratum granulosum, Stratum spinosum, and Stratum basle. We are focusing on the layer of the skin called the stratum corneum.
Most people believe that the stratum corneum is the dead layer of the skin. In parts, true. However, most recent studies have identified this layer to be metabolically active, playing a vital role in the structure of the skin. Beginning the process of dequantization through proteases that degrade desmosomes. This process is not visible to you, but it is occurring without you seeing it.
Allowing for the skin to naturally exfoliate by removing the dead skin cells that are on the surface of the skin.
The Stratum corneum is a brick wall, a barrier that is composed of corneocytes filled with keratin. Think of bricks on a wall and call the brick, corneocytes; the brick filling is keratin, and the mortar is the intracellular lamellar lipids.
The Stratum Corneum determines the hydration of the skin because it maintains the skin's water gradient.
This is all important because as people who are melanin rich producers, transepidermal water loss (TEWL) is greater.
Our skin is disrupted in the Stratum Corneum causing a domino effect in the deeper layers of the skin.
What do I mean?
The stratum corneum has a duality because within this layer there is enzymatic activity; although, considered dead skin.
Therefore, facial cleansers, moisturizer, and serums can disrupt the Stratum Corneum if the PH of these products are too high or too low.
Say it with me "Balance".
Everything in our life must have a balance in order to maintain its proper function. If the surfactant's pH is too high or too low this will disrupt the barrier of your skin, the wall.
I hope I did not lose you. If you’re still with me, do not worry, we are going to get to those simple skin care steps soon.
Let us journey in understanding what your skin is so that you can make the best decisions for your beautiful melanin rich skin.
Yours Truly, Your BFFF
True Clarity
Comments