Dry skin? Nah fam, you need the right skincare ingredient for the job! Allow us to introduce you to your winter skin’s NBF – ceramides. Quench your thirsty skin and say hello to a stronger protective barrier and smoother, plumper complexion with fewer premature lines and wrinkles. Yas!
What are ceramides?
In a nutshell, ceramides are fatty acids that occur in high concentrations in the top layers of the skin, and make up over 50% of the skin’s composition. Think of them as your skin’s warriors or building blocks.
Ceramides play a very important role in protecting your skin from environmental factors. Basically, they bond the skin cells together to create a barrier and protective layer within the skin’s surface, that plumps the skin and locks in moisture.
Our skin actually already has ceramides, but similar to collagen, they start to deplete over time as we age. In fact, by the time we reach our thirties, we would have lost about 40% of our skin’s ceramides. This increases to 60% by the time we reach our 40s. Yikes! Apart from age, other factors like cold weather, hot water, over exposure to the sun and over-exfoliating can also affect your ceramide levels.
The result of losing ceramides causes your skin’s barrier to stop functioning properly, leading to moisture loss within all the skin’s layers. This causes rough, dry, and often dull skin.
Benefits of ceramides
Most importantly, ceramides restore and help protect the skin’s barrier, ensuring it stays strong. Secondly, they lock in moisture and prevent water loss from occurring, which causes dry skin. This combination is a winning anti-ageing formula that prevents fine lines and wrinkles, and gives us firmer, smoother, brighter skin.
Who should use ceramides?
Similar to hyaluronic acid, ceramides suit pretty much everyone since they are naturally occurring in our skin already. However, they are especially beneficial to those who suffer from dry, sore or uncomfortable skin conditions such as eczema, rosacea, psoriasis.
Incorporating ceramides into your winter skincare routine
As the seasons change, so should your beauty routine. In the colder months, it’s more important than ever to retain moisture and double down on nourishing skincare. Here’s a basic guideline of how to incorporate ceramides into a winter skincare routine:
Step 1: Cleanse – A calming aloe vera cleanser works best for all skin types, while a grape seed oil cleanser works wonders for dry and sensitive skin types.
Step 2: Tone – Choose a gentle milk toner with baobab extract to hydrate skin and improve your barrier functioning.
Step 3: Serums – For winter, we particularly love hyaluronic acid (to trap moisture in the skin), vitamin C serum (to boost your skin’s protective barriers), squalane (an instant boost of hydration and skin barrier protection), and niacinamide serum (to ramp up the production of ceramides). Thankfully, you can layer all of these skincare ingredients together to pack a real punch.
Step 4: Moisturise – Pack away your lightweight moisturiser until summer, and opt for a richer face cream with ceramides instead, that will help protect your skin’s barrier and block water from escaping. TIP: Ceramides work best when applied immediately following a shower to lock in extra moisture.
Step 5 (morning only): SPF – yes bestie, you do still need to lather on the sunscreen in winter! There’s simply no escaping those rays, indoors or out.
Load up on ceramides
So, do your barrier a favour and add this superstar skincare ingredient to your daily routine and then say hello to a brighter, calmer, plumper and less reactive complexion.
Ready to try ceramides for yourself? Shop Fundamentals 1% Ceramide Face Cream online now.
