Opinion

Ceramides – Why do you need them and how to use them?

For over two years now, the skincare market has been buzzing with everything acids and retinoids related. Now, in 2022, new trends are emerging; two of them being microdosing and skin barrier strengthening.  Both trends seem to be kind of a natural reaction of the consumer market, who after experimenting (in many cases over-experimenting) with high dosages of acids and retinoids in the last years, needs a generous dose of a gentle, irritation-soothing approach to skincare. 
 
I’m sure we will be seeing a lot of new skincare product releases featuring amazing skin barrier bolstering ingredients this year, and I’m sure one of them will be ceramides. What are ceramides, how do they function and are they worthwhile? Let’s demystify them a little and see what they can do for our complexions!
 
What are ceramides and why do we need them?
 
In a simplistic way, the stratum corneum (the upper most layer of the skin) is built a bit like a wall made of bricks and mortar  – the bricks being our skin cells and the mortar being the lipids (fats). A wall can’t stand strong without the mortar and so the skin can’t stay strong without the lipids.
 
Ceramides are lipids (fats) that occur naturally in the skin and play a vital role in how it looks, how it feels and how it responds to environmental stressors. They are pretty abundant in the uppermost layer of the skin, however with the passage of time, when we are in our 30s and 40s, our bodies suffer from a drastic drop in ceramide production. Our skin’s “wall” starts to look more and more ravished. So, we need ceramides to keep our skin’s barrier strong, to avoid our skin being reddened, flaking, dry, stinging, burning and sensitive. By replenishing ceramide levels,  our skin will also better tolerate other ingredients we may choose to use (like acids or retinoids) and it won’t age as fast.
 
How to use ceramides?
 
Ceramides are actually not very complicated and they have pretty much no downsides whatsoever. They don’t provoke any side effects, they can be used with any other ingredients you can imagine, they work for every skin type and they are not pore clogging. You can’t go wrong with them. What you can do however, is make sure that the product you choose also contains some cholesterol and fatty acids in it, which are the other skin barrier constituents.
 
As with any other trendy ingredient, you can find ceramides in almost every type of formulation – from cleansers, through to serums and moisturizers. In my opinion, using a ceramide-rich moisturizer twice daily is a good bet and won’t affect your budget as much as a serum will.
 
There are many types of ceramides and they all give very good results, so don’t bother yourself with choosing a specific type because of marketing or advertising. Just check the moisturizer’s ingredients list for:
 
• Ceramide 1, also called ceramide EOS
• Ceramide 2, also called ceramide NS or NG
• Ceramide 3, also called ceramide NP
• Ceramide 6-II, also called ceramide AP
• Ceramide 9, also called ceramide EOP
 
Look also for phytosphingosine and sphingosine, the two ceramide precursors (the ingredients that provoke the skin to increase ceramide production). 
 
We can invest in an amazing vitamin C serum, a well-formulated peeling and a broad spectrum sunscreen, but all this will be for nothing if we don’t give some good old fat (in the form of ceramides especially) to our skin. Without an appropriate level of ceramides, our skin barrier won’t be able to keep performing well as we age, nor will it be able to keep the moisture from leaking out and the bad stuff like premature aging and infections from happening.
 
So, if you aren’t using ceramides yet, enjoy the rise of this new skin barrier strengthening trend and all the amazing products it will bring.
 
Facebook
WhatsApp
Threads
X
Email

More from the author

Older Issues

Living and Arts Magazine

現已發售 NOW ON SALE

KNOW MORE LiVE BETTER