Improve Skin Tone & Texture with Anti-Pollution Skincare
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Your skin is your first method of defense against the outside world. Each day, it is exposed to harmful air pollution particulates, environmental toxins, and UV rays that can significantly impact its overall appearance and texture. While you cannot prevent air pollution, you can protect your skin with the right anti-pollution skincare regimen.
Environmental Stressors Can Impact Aging
Our skin gradually loses elasticity as we age, and in addition, certain lifestyle choices and environmental stressors can actually speed up or exaggerate the aging process.
Skin aging is categorized into two causes, INTRINSIC and EXTRINSIC. Intrinsic aging is due to the natural passage of time and is influenced by personal characteristics, such as genetics or metabolism. Extrinsic aging is due to the influence of environmental factors, including stress, poor nutrition, alcohol intake, tobacco smoke, and poor sleeping habits.
Two other very important environmental factors that impact aging are continuous exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) and air pollution. Daily sunscreen and sun protection measures (like wearing a wide brimmed hat) can help protect against UV rays. Regarding pollution, researchers have extensively studied the effects of air pollution on aging and discovered that repeated exposure to nitrogen dioxide, ambient ozone, and traffic-related air pollution can cause facial wrinkles and lentigines. (Lentigines are benign lesions that lay flat and usually appear as tan, brown, or black spots on the skin.) Where intrinsic aging is typically classified by a loss of elasticity and the appearance of fine wrinkles, extrinsic aging generally leads to coarse wrinkles, lentigines, and uneven skin tone.
The Effect of Air Pollution on Skin
Pollutants in the air have a dramatic impact on your skin because your skin is the largest organ in your body and acts as a protective barrier against toxins in the environment. Your skin also contains pores, which can lead to a direct dermal uptake of pollutants that penetrate the skin. Other airborne pollutants are photoactivated, which means they need UV radiation from the sun to penetrate into your skin and cause damage.
Small airborne pollutants can get stuck in your pores or trigger damage in the deeper layers of your skin, where wrinkles and lentigines form. The pollutants decrease oxidation in layers of the dermis and cause a heightened expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP), enzymes that break down collagen and other proteins in the skin. As a result, skin wrinkles and/or increased dark spots can form.
Protect your Skin with Anti-Pollution Skincare
Since environmental stressors are inevitable, the best way to combat pollution-induced skin aging is by utilizing an anti-pollution skincare routine.
Anti-pollution skincare contains botanically sourced enzymes, antioxidants, and fruit acids that help maintain your skin’s ability to protect itself against the aging effects of free radicals, such as traffic-related air pollution and sun radiation.
Some of my favorite anti-pollution skincare products include:
My anti-pollution skincare routine begins from the inside-out. The Heliocare Supplements are gluten-free and vegan, and are my preferred choice for protecting my body from free radicals. I follow-up with the Transformative Collagen Supplements to promote collagen production, joint health and integrity, and skin elasticity, and the Transformative Skin Capsules for truly healthy skin.
I continue my anti-pollution skincare routine with the GeneXC Serum to improve my skin's natural defenses against environmental damage, so I can feel more confident stepping out each day. Then, I finish off with the Youth EssentiA Vita-Antioxidant Defence Creme to improve the appearance of my skin and help repair damage from air pollution and environmental stressors.
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