My skin is dry in winter, should I apply a facial mask every day?

My skin is dry in winter, should I apply a facial mask every day?

gossip

Many advertisements say that celebrities have very soft and hydrated skin because they apply facial masks every day to replenish moisture to their skin. Many people will follow this practice and apply facial masks every day in the dry winter to moisturize their skin.

Rumor Analysis

This statement is not rigorous.

Facial masks do have a moisturizing effect, but they should not be used every day. Using facial masks every day may not only destroy the water balance of the skin, but improper selection of facial masks can also harm the skin, resulting in skin damage instead of skin care.

Everyone knows that babies have very soft skin. The skin care goal of beauty lovers and the advertisements of skin care products are often to have "skin as soft as a baby's". One reason why babies' skin looks so good is that the stratum corneum of babies' skin is very thin, and another reason is that the water content of babies' skin is very high, even up to 40%. For adults, even women with better skin, the water content of their skin is usually only about 20%.

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If the water loss is not replenished, the skin will naturally become dry and flaky. In dry seasons like winter, the skin is particularly prone to water loss, so moisturizing and applying a facial mask can indeed help, but facial masks should not be applied frequently. Let's start with the skin's own moisturizing mechanism.

How to moisturize your skin?

The skin is like a wall that separates the inside of our body from the environment. The "bricks" that make up this wall are tiny keratinocytes, but the bricks are square, while keratinocytes are irregular hexagons.
Of course, the "bricks" between these bricks are not made of cement, but a variety of lipids. Ten to twenty such "walls" of stratum corneum constitute our stratum corneum, which is also the outermost layer of our skin. The stratum corneum itself has a very dense structure, and it is difficult for water to evaporate through the stratum corneum. The skin also contains a variety of natural moisturizing factors that can bind water and reduce water loss.

The stratum corneum will continue to age and peel off with external forces such as our exercise and clothing friction, but fortunately new keratinocytes will continue to grow to fill the gaps. In this way, under normal circumstances, our skin can always remain intact and not give germs and other dirt a chance to invade.

Why not apply facial mask every day?

As mentioned earlier, the higher the water content of the skin, the more beautiful it looks. So is it okay to use a facial mask to hydrate the facial skin every day?

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Under normal circumstances, the water content of the stratum corneum is not high, lower than the average water content of our body, and this has its physiological significance. We can recall that after swimming or taking a bath, our hands and feet will become wrinkled and the skin will become soft due to soaking in water? This is the result of the stratum corneum absorbing too much water.

Nowadays, some people apply facial masks every day. Some masks are expensive and they don’t want to waste them, so they apply them for a long time each time. This can easily cause the stratum corneum of the facial skin to absorb too much water, causing the stratum corneum to become fragile and easy to peel off, affecting the normal barrier function . Some people may exfoliate their faces first to increase the absorption effect of the mask, which has a greater impact. When the skin barrier is damaged, bacteria, allergens, etc. may take advantage of the opportunity to enter, causing redness, swelling, itching and other problems on the face.

Therefore, it is recommended that you apply facial masks in moderation and avoid using them frequently and for long periods of time .

This mask has great hidden dangers

Some facial masks add glucocorticoids for quick results. This steroid hormone regulates the biosynthesis and metabolism of sugar, fat and protein, and also has significant anti-inflammatory, immunosuppressive and anti-allergic effects. It is widely used in clinical practice, but long-term and large-scale use has various adverse reactions.

Adding glucocorticoids to the mask can inhibit fibroblast proliferation, reduce the formation of serotonin, and shrink capillaries. Using this "hormone mask" can indeed make the skin smoother and whiter at first, but if used for a long time without restraint, it may cause hormone-dependent dermatitis.

Specifically, facial masks containing glucocorticoids can reduce the activity of facial skin cells, inhibit immune cells, and reduce sebum secretion. Once you stop using facial masks containing glucocorticoids, your face will be prone to erythema, desquamation, pain, itching and other problems. In addition, long-term topical use of glucocorticoids may also cause skin atrophy and aggravate infections.

It is for this reason that the cosmetics regulations promulgated by the state clearly stipulate that glucocorticoids are prohibited ingredients in cosmetics. When buying facial masks, please be sure to keep your eyes open and do not choose miscellaneous products, especially brands that claim to have immediate effects and are unknown.

However, I would like to add that some topical medications do contain glucocorticoids, so there is no need to reject them. If you have the corresponding symptoms, you can use them on time and in the right amount according to the doctor's advice. The use of this hormone in cosmetics is prohibited because it does more harm than good to healthy people and is unnecessary.

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Winter skin care

The skin tends to be dry in winter, so it is feasible to use a facial mask to moisturize the skin, but you should also pay attention to choosing the right one.

First, you need to correctly judge your skin characteristics , such as dry skin, oily skin, neutral skin, mixed skin, sensitive skin, etc., and then choose a mask according to your skin type. I won't go into details about the judgment method here. You can search online with keywords such as "skin judgment and scoring" and you can easily find relevant test tables for reference. After understanding your skin type, you can choose a suitable mask.

In addition, we should pay more attention to using skin care products containing moisturizing ingredients to reduce the loss of skin moisture. We can also use moisturizing skin care products to lock in moisture after applying a facial mask .

In addition, in winter, although the sunlight is not as strong as in summer, the ultraviolet rays are still enough to cause damage to the skin. Although everyone wears long clothes and long pants in winter, the face is exposed, so we must also pay attention to sun protection .

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in conclusion

Facial masks can hydrate the skin, but you need to be careful not to use them every day, and don't use them for too long each time, especially don't leave them until they are dry. You should choose a facial mask that suits your skin type, and be careful not to choose a suspicious small brand facial mask to avoid buying illegal products that contain hormones.

Looking in the mirror of rumors

Some rumors often use partial information to give a simple and direct answer, such as "the air is dry in winter, so use a facial mask to moisturize." But in fact, many problems are often not so simple to solve, and too much is as bad as too little. For such arbitrary and absolute answers, there is often room for rumors to grow.

Planning and production

Author: Dingzhong Popular Science Writer

Reviewer: Tang Qin, Director and Researcher of the Science Popularization Department of the Chinese Medical Association

Feng Jun, deputy chief physician of the Dermatology Department of Sinopharm Tongmei General Hospital