While it’s no secret that pollution is detrimental to human health, many don’t realize that it can severely impact the skin too. If you live in a polluted environment, you’re likely to end up dealing with a few different skin concerns that those who spend time in cleaner air won’t be affected by.
If you want to keep your skin looking its best at all times, it’s important to understand the consequences of pollution for your skin. So, keep reading as Lavelier talks through this while also sharing the best methods for keeping the visible effects of pollution at bay.
Accelerates the Skin Aging Process
While pollution impacts the skin in a number of ways, its ability to accelerate the skin aging process is perhaps its most significant. After all, nobody wants to look older than they really are, yet this is exactly what will happen if you allow pollution to take its toll. In fact, studies have found that city dwellers who are pretty much constantly surrounded by pollution experience wrinkles and age spots earlier in life than those who live away from a city.
It all comes down to how pollution damages skin cells and protein fibers. By weakening collagen and stimulating oxidative stress in the skin, pollution makes it much harder for the skin to maintain its youthful firmness, elasticity, and radiance.
Weakens the Skin Barrier
The integrity of your skin barrier is key to healthy skin. You need to keep this barrier as strong and efficient as possible. Unfortunately, pollution makes this difficult.
Air pollutants are known for weakening this protective layer. They disrupt the skin’s natural oil balance, damage healthy barrier cells, trigger inflammation, and more. All of this chips away at skin barrier function, which then leads to a whole host of other problems.
Dehydrates the Skin
With pollution damaging the skin’s protective barrier to such an extent, it should come as no surprise that dehydration is one of the consequences of long-term exposure to pollution. With the skin barrier being responsible for moisture retention, a damaged barrier allows moisture to escape at a much faster rate.
Triggers Inflammation
As we mentioned earlier, pollution triggers inflammation in the skin – not just in the barrier layer, but deeper down, too. This is partly due to how air pollution activates inflammatory pathways in the skin while also generating free radical damage. It doesn’t help that the skin barrier also weakens in the face of pollution. This means that pollutants have an easier time entering the skin, allowing them to wreak even greater damage.
This is why people who suffer from inflammatory skin conditions, such as acne, psoriasis, and rosacea, notice that their issues worsen after spending time in a particularly polluted environment.
Causes Hyperpigmentation
While the sun is the most common cause of hyperpigmentation, pollution is playing a growing role in the formation of dark spots on the skin. It all comes down to how air pollutants, particularly those that have been emitted by traffic, triggers oxidative stress in the skin. This stimulates the production of melanin, which is the pigment that gives your skin its color. All of this extra melanin that’s produced in the affected areas of skin build up to give the skin’s surface a discolored look.
This is exacerbated by how pollution makes the skin more susceptible to UV damage. This then allows the sun to create more dark spots of its own!
Contributes to Clogged Pores
Ever wondered what happens to those tiny pollution particles that come into contact with your skin each day? A large number of them end up sticking to your skin’s surface. While some are washed away when you cleanse your skin, others end up in your pores. This increases the likelihood that you’ll end up with clogged pores.
As you likely know, once pores end up clogged, breakouts aren’t usually far behind. In a polluted environment, however, where skin is more inflamed, those pimples will emerge much sooner.
How to Save Your Complexion From the Harmful Effects of Pollution
If you live in a polluted city, don’t panic. Yes, pollution isn’t doing your skin any favors. However, there’s plenty that you can do to counter its visible effects and keep your complexion safe:
Cleanse Your Skin Every Evening
While you should, ideally, be cleansing your skin twice a day, your evening cleanse is the most important. This is the cleanse that removes all of the pollutants that have attached themselves to your skin’s surface over the course of the day. This prevents them from delving deeper into your skin overnight.
What type of cleanser should you use? Foaming cleansers, like the Lavelier Oceana Pore Perfection Polish, are great for lifting pollutants away from the skin. Unlike many foaming cleansers, this formula doesn’t contain any sulfates. This means that you won’t have to worry about it damaging your skin’s protective barrier.
Double Cleanse If Needed
Does your skin still not feel quite clean enough after you’ve cleansed it? While you may be tempted to invest in a more powerful cleanser, the better option would be to give double cleansing a try. Rather than damaging your skin barrier with overly aggressive surfactants, double cleansing involve using gentle formulas, but two of them.
The first cleanse should be done with an oil-based cleanser. This will get rid of any oil-based impurities on your skin, which a large number of pollution particles are. This is then followed with a water-based cleanser, like the Lavelier Oceana Breezy Facial Cleanser. This removes water-based impurities. The combination of the two results in a much more thorough cleanse that leaves the skin feeling refreshed and pollutant-free.
Make Regular Exfoliation a Priority
Of course, even if you cleanse your skin every evening, those pollutants that jumped onto your face in the morning are, by that point, going to have worked their way into your pores. Cleansers only clean the surface of the skin, which is why exfoliation needs to be a regular part of your routine too.
Exfoliators leave the skin feeling cleansed on a much deeper level. They draw out impurities, including pollutants, from within the pores, saving those toxins from causing deep damage.
Due to how pollutants adhere to the skin, you should ideally be using an exfoliator that combines physical and chemical exfoliants, just like the Lavelier Oceana Refining Coral Peel. With a blend of mandelic acid, bamboo powder, and walnut shell powder, it will efficiently exfoliate your skin without causing any additional damage. Better yet, it’s packed with antioxidants. As you’re about to find out, these are key when dealing with the effects of pollution…
Pile on the Antioxidants
What’s so great about antioxidants? They neutralize the appearance of free radical damage, which is exactly what pollution causes. From hyperpigmentation to wrinkles, it’s the free radical damage generated by pollution that’s to blame.
This is why having plenty of antioxidants in your skincare routine is crucial. Antioxidants work best when combined with other antioxidants, so don’t be shy about adding lots of them in! Aim to have antioxidants in every stage of your skincare routine.
It would also be worth investing in an antioxidant serum, like Lavelier’s Oceana VitaGlow C Serum. Vitamin C is known for being one of the most powerful antioxidants around, and this serum contains two forms of it. It’s filled with other antioxidant-rich ingredients too, including grape stem cells, vitamin A, and coral seaweed extract.
Focus on Your Skin Barrier
As we discussed earlier, your skin barrier really comes under attack from pollution. Ignore the problem and your skin will seriously suffer.
Instead, you should be giving your skin barrier plenty of TLC. Look for products containing ingredients that keep the skin barrier feeling supported. Shea butter, vitamin E, sodium hyaluronate, and plant oils would all be great choices.
You’ll find all of the above in the Lavelier Oceana Restorative Night Moisturizer. Not only will it leave your skin barrier feeling bolstered, but it’s also infused with numerous antioxidants to further counter the visible effects of pollution.
SPF is Essential
With pollution leaving your skin more susceptible to UV damage, SPF becomes even more important. The last thing that you want is for pollution and UV rays to join forces. Your skin won’t stand a chance!
Since you also want to ensure that every layer of your skincare routine contains antioxidants, look for an SPF product that’s formulated with them. The Lavelier Divine Day Defense SPF 30, for example, contains green tea, vitamin A, vitamin E, aloe vera, and coral seaweed. All of those ingredients boast powerful antioxidant properties! Not only will it keep your skin protected from the sun, but it will also help to undo some of the visible damage that pollution has already caused to your skin.
Keep Inflamed Skin Feeling Soothed
It doesn’t take long for pollution to trigger inflammation in the skin. This then leads to a whole host of other problems.
Fortunately, there are several ingredients out there that are known for soothing the feeling of inflammation in the skin. Add a few of them to your skincare routine and you’ll be able to calm your complexion before that inflammation can really get going.
Which ingredients are best? Aloe vera is a classic. Chamomile extract is also known for how it leaves the skin feeling soothed, while seaweed extract has the same effect. Give the Lavelier Oceana Pure Balance Toner a try and you’ll be able to enjoy all three. This formula also contains a few other ingredients that will keep your skin feeling balanced, including cucumber extract and allantoin.
Summary
Pollution affects the skin in a number of ways, many of them pretty serious. The more time you spend in polluted environments, the more of a toll this will take on your skin. This is why it’s worth doing what you can to keep your skin feeling healthy. Follow the tips that we’ve shared above and you’ll not only be able to ensure that your skin always feels safe when faced with pollution, but you’ll also be able to repair the appearance of any damage that pollution has already caused.
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