By: Elizabeth Wang
Introduction
This article highlights various adverse effects of harsh skincare products on the skin, including damage to the skin barrier, changing of the skin pH, contact and allergic dermatitis and the dryness, and scaling or irritation to the skin.
Damage to Skin Barrier
The skin barrier provides many protective and defensive functions, however, the most critical is the permeability barrier which slows down the process of evaporative loss. Due to damage to the skin barrier, there is rapid water loss which allows environmental pollutants to permeate the skin easily. This would allow the facilitation of microbial invasion, making the skin more susceptible to breakouts, and an increased skin pH. Skin barrier damage can be caused by abrasive rubbing of the skin, very alkaline products, over washing, over exfoliating, and harsh ingredients.
Contact Dermatitis
Contact dermatitis is defined as the inflammation of the skin resulting from direct contact of a substance with the surface of the skin. Symptoms can include red rashes, bumps or a burn-like rash on the skin, itchy skin, painful or burning skin, blisters, and draining fluid. The two types of contact dermatitis are irritant contact dermatitis and allergic contact dermatitis. Irritant contact dermatitis is the most common form and is caused by substances such as solvents or other chemicals that irritate the skin. This causes the skin to produce red, painful, and/or itchy patches on the involved skin area. Some practices and items that cause this include rubbing the skin with physical exfoliators with beads, rough clothes or brushes. The second type is allergic contact dermatitis in which a substance, like cosmetics, triggers an immune response. Some examples of ingredients which could cause allergic contact dermatitis include fragrances, preservatives, and dyes that are present in some soaps.
Other Factors Causing Dryness and Irritation to the Skin
Some factors that cause dryness and irritation to the skin are surfactant ingredients, pH of the product, and cleanser residue or rinsibility factor. Firstly, surfactants cause protein denaturation after binding to keratin, which leads to damage of the cell membrane of keratinocytes. Keratinocytes is the epidermal cell which produces keratin.This leads to adverse responses from the skin. Anionic surfactants are considered to have the greatest irritancy potential, but their amount in a cleansing agent and their combination with certain other ingredients modifies the irritation potential. Secondly, the pH of a product may also affect irritation as products with an alkaline pH have been said to cause damage to the lipid bilayer of the stratum corneum, causing dryness to the skin. The stratum corneum is the outermost layer of skin, which is composed of rigid keratin-filled dead cells in a specialized lipid matrix. This continuous lipid matrix provides the main barrier against uncontrolled water loss and invasion of external microorganisms. Thirdly, the irritancy potential of a cleansing agent may increase the longer it is left on the skin and the residual levels of different products on the skin differ, which results in different irritation reactions.
Skin Dryness, Scaling, and Roughness
Skin dryness, scaling, and roughness can be caused by harsh products containing lipid solvents like acetone, alcohols, and non-ionic surfactants which cause dryness. Furthermore, low humidity and cold weather can cause these conditions to worsen as it makes the skin more susceptible to water loss. Wash tightness, specifically for cleansers, is caused by rapid water loss from the skin’s surface after 5-10 minutes of washing the face.
Chemical Exposures
According to the NCBI report, makeup, skin lotion, and other personal care products contain chemical ingredients that lack safety data. Moreover, some of these chemicals have been linked in animal studies to male genital birth defects, decreased sperm counts, and altered pregnancy outcomes. However, there is no definitive evidence for this same effect in humans, but widespread exposure, primarily to phthalates, has been shown to occur.
Conclusion
It is very important to ensure that you do your proper research before buying products, since ‘prevention is better than cure’. Furthermore, taking time out of your day to do research on a product that you are about to buy would take significantly less time than attempting to restore your skin back to its original condition.
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