Is Your Skin Barrier Actually Damaged – or Has TikTok’s Barrier Obsession Just Convinced You it is?
Main image – Fred Duval
Jordan Samuel Pacitti is an aesthetician, skincare founder and regular Live That Glow columnist. He is a go-to source of beauty advice for skincare fans across the world. Here, he advises a reader on how to actually tell if your skin barrier has been damaged. Got a question for Jordan? Send it to columnists@livethatglow.com for a chance to have it featured.
Why is every skincare product suddenly about repairing your skin barrier? I genuinely can’t tell if mine is actually damaged or if TikTok has just convinced me it is. How do I tell?
Jordan says:
In any industry, and especially in skincare, there will always be brands and creators that jump on trends to try to be “of the moment.” This can be problematic though, because while proper skincare advice requires both nuance and an adherence to moderation, trends tend to promote a one-size-fits-all approach that can snowball and become more and more extreme.
First of all, you are 100% correct in feeling that you are now seeing increasingly more “barrier repairing” products on store shelves and in creator content. This is in direct response to the opposing trends that started to take off during the lockdown periods in 2020, which encouraged over-exfoliation.
Many consumers did in fact damage their skin barriers during this time by going overboard with actives, and many brands saw an opportunity in the market to help this new niche of frustrated consumers. As barrier repairing ingredients and products can really help a skin in need, this trend started to pick up steam with brand and creators alike.
In assessing whether your barrier is truly compromised, you have to look at both your routine composition and the state of your skin. Are you using actives regularly? For instance, are you exfoliating daily with a strong scrub or acid? And are you using these exfoliators in conjunction with retinols, etc.? While these ingredients can be beneficial for skin, they can also contribute to barrier breakdown if used in excess.
Additionally, do you feel squeaky clean after cleansing? This could mean that your cleanser is over stripping your skin, which can negatively impact the barrier as well.
If your skin barrier is compromised from overuse of actives and/or a harsh cleanser, the skin may respond in the following ways: it can feel hot, be sensitive to the touch (even sensitive to water), become dry and flaky, bumpy and broken out when normally it isn’t, and/or could be red in certain skin tones. If you are noticing a few of these things AND you feel you may be overdoing it with actives, chances are high you that you might need to pump the brakes on your routine and get back to basics.
The good news is you don’t necessarily need a brand-new set of products to accomplish this, as your skin is naturally very good at eventually getting back to a balanced state with minimal intervention.
You will just need to pare your routine down to three simple steps, which will include a gentle non-exfoliating cleanser, a gentle non-active moisturiser and an SPF that you love using. This will be your routine for the next few weeks. Over time, your skin will find balance again.
Anyone who has been through this process and successfully stuck to the basics has come out on the other side with better skin and a more streamlined routine. When it comes to skincare, it’s important to remember that less really is more. And as I always like to say… everything in moderation including moderation.
