Is our skin dirtier than ever?
Modern life is just rife with irony.Today we keep our breath freash with strips that dissolve on the tangue, we deodorize several parts of our bodies and we ward of germs with antibacterial gels.
Yet - and here's the irony - most of us are walking trought the world with dirty skin. Truly dirty.
Why so dirty?
Reserch conducted at The international Dermal Institute reflects that most women only spend about 20 seconds washing their face, which is odd considering how much time they spend on they hair and make-up in the morning.Simply put,20 seconds is not enought time to get skin clean.
Our skin is actually "dirtier" than it was in our mothers' and grandmothers' times. More recently ,we are seeing that the presence of enveromental pollutants in the air,as well as cosmetics such as sunblock and waterproff make-up,combine daily with the skin's naturally -sticky sebum secretions to from a coating on the skin by the middle of the day.
Understandably ,a spllash of water for 20 seconds of cleansing can't penetrate this layer of oil -based debris that coat the skin's surface. In fact,even a more throught cleansing with a surfactant -based cleanser won't fully dissolve this barrier. The sebum/polutant/cosmetic barier remains on the skin,preventing moisturisers and other skin care products from doing they work while dullig the skin's apperiance and contributing congestion.
What happens when the skin is cleansed?
When we apply a cleanser ,we generally use a gel-based,sudsy or milky cleanser. All contains surface active agents (or surfactants) that provide the primary cleansing action. During the initial cleansing process,surfactants emulsify fat or lipid debris,such as sebum,make-up,enveromental hydrocarbons and sunscreens,allowing them to dissolve in the rinse water.Meanwhile ,the water-based portion of the cleanser dissolves water-sulible debris,namely sweat and some environmental pollutants.
Considering the amount of material that potentially collects on the skin,this innitial cleansing will only remove superficial debris and is centainly not adequate for a thorought cleansing. But there is no needs to resort to a pore-wrenching strip or harsh stripping astrigent.A simple Double Cleanse will throughtly remove oils,dirt and grime from skin.
The only catch: if your double cleanse only with a water -based cleanser,there still may be some oil-soluble substances left behind - pericularly when cleansing oily skin.But if you double cleanse with an oil based cleanser first,you'll get better results.
Why cleanse with oil?
In chemistry it is said that like attracts like.Cleansers that are formulated wit plant based oils (Borage Seed,Kukui Nut, Abricot Kernel,etc.) can better melt the layers of the oil-based debris on the skin: the oil molecules bond to each other, unlike water molecules is non-oil-based cleanser. These oils then emulsify with the addition of water to encapsulate and remove the trapped debris,allowed the second cleanser to penetrate too dry or stripped.
The dermalogica double cleanse routine for ultra-clean,healthy skin.
- PreCleanse attaches to oil-based debris readying it for removal.
- adding water forms an emulsion,encapsulating debris and flushing it from the skin's surface
- Dermalogica Cleanser then cleans deeper into follicles and pores for a proffesional level of clean.
