Skin: The Forgotten Part of Our Immune System And What That Could Mean for Our Skincare Routines

As much as we want to keep our skin plump, healthy, and glowing for how we look and feel about ourselves psychologically, we often overlook the importance of skin vitality as not only a mirror to but also as an instrument of our general physical health. I have talked about in several articles about things like how what we eat affects our skin or the function of certain ingredients and supplements having a positive or negative impact on its resiliency. But it is also important to remember that the skin is a living organ and one that contributes to our body's resiliency overall. In many respects, our skin can actually considered a component of our immune system. It, being, the thing most exposed to the outside world, makes it our first shield of defense against stressors and against viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens. Have you ever had the experience of your skin getting itchy right at the start of allergy season, even before you ever sneeze or feel a tickle in your throat? This is because your skin encounters and reacts to the presence of pollen and dust and other allergens sooner than our sinuses! The same phenomenon can also serve to explain why are skin is so stimulated by and can be so affected by changes in heat or cold, dryness or moisture. The reactions it has often serve as a kind of alarm bell to the rest of the body, and especially the immune system to gear up and be ready for any changes, or in the case of disease, micro-invaders that may be interfacing with or infecting our system.

Our skin is also home and a breeding ground for lots of beneficial bacteria that help us fight and mitigate effects of disease. This is what is known as the skin's microbiome. A healthy and abundant microbiome on the skin, not only makes for more balanced, beautiful-looking skin, but also serves as a kind of gateway to protecting our health overall.

Supporting and maintaining the skin's microbiome. however, also often can spell much controversy in the skincare world. Some experts and product formulators feel that the overall approach to fortifying the microbiome or or preserving the skin barrier and to skincare in general should be extremely minimal so as not to disturb or overexcite natural function. This is where we see a push towards "less-is-more" approaches to skincare routines in terms of both using fewer products in the routine and greatly limiting if not eliminating entirely "actives" or "active ingredients from the regimen. "Actives" in this way could mean anything from retinols, to any type of exfoliant (physical or chemical) to essential oils, and anything fragranced (sometimes both natural and synthetic are equally avoided) to even possibly eliminating cleansers from the routine and washing the face only with water, as anything aimed at changing or regenerating the skin might cause the microbiome to get out of whack or cause irritation. You can read more about approaches like these in looking at the work of formulators like Marie Veronique or the famous Paula Begoun from Paula's Choice Skincare. As one example of this type of skincare approach, check out this interview with Paula from Teen Vogue in which she mentions some of her thoughts about essential oils as well as some other skincare practices that she disagrees with.

Others, however, take a much more active approach to supporting skin function, and therefore, microbiome balance, and body health therein, by trying to feed it nutrients and other helpful and stimulating components through products. This can especially be seen in the natural or Green Beauty skincare world in which certain brands that rely quite a lot on the careful but prodigious use of potent essential oils (ingredients either quite limited if not explicitly avoided in a lot of more minimalistic skincare products and brands and people who tout that approach. Sometimes these essential oils are used in conjunction with, but most of the time largely in place of lab-produced actives such as most forms of retinol used in a lot of the skincare products we know today. Companies that formulate with essential oils in this manner include brands like Earthwise Beauty and May Lindstrom Skin, The thinking behind these brands is to use these strong yet natural ingredients to turn the body's natural systems fully on to promote healing, restoration and strengthening of the skin and empowering its full function. These ingredients (essential oils) can be quite stimulating and powerful, but some argue that they are more well-tolerated across a wider variety of skin types (sometimes even the most sensitive and sensitized skin) than the more lab-altered or synthetically-made actives we see in conventional skincare, even the ones that are fragrance-free and are sometimes used to a small degree in the more "minimalistic" approach to skincare and microbiome maintenance because they are natural. And (unless you have an allergy to them) ) the skin "knows what to do with them" and are, therefore, not disruptive to the microbiome and skin health but instead a powerful adjunct to it, so long as the product you are using is formulated in a sound and balanced way Brand founder May Lindstrom shares some of her perspective on this approach in this interview and product demonstration of her full line in a masterclass hosted at the Green Beauty boutique The Detox Market (watch here)

These two diverging and very often competing philosophies on how to make sure our skin works its best for itself and for the rest of our body's both prove to us one thing, our skin is more far more than just a pretty thing to look at it. As for the best approach to give it the best love and make sure it performs at optimum, I will say I am no expert, but that, from my experience, one method will not work the same for absolutely everyone. So experiment. Try products that essential oils in their ingredients and see if your skin agrees with them. Just remember as always not all ingredients will agree with you or work for, and there are many different properties among the plant essential oils used in skincare. You may get along with and benefit from some, but your skin may totally disagree with others. Likewise if backing off exfoliation actually helps your skin become calmer and clearer over time, and so on. Remember with starting any new types of products or any kind of skin practice, or eliminating them, it may take the skin a bit to adjust and to get a gauge of its true effects. And any signs of instant and prolonged redness, heat, or itching could be a sign of allergic reactions when you use a new product. Always keep an eye out and listen to your skin.

But for more info on skin microbiome and its connection and bodily health, immunity, and wellness, check out this article by Toni Morrison of Living Libations skincare, a skincare company that I feel really exemplifies a combination the approaches of slightly more active natural ingredients along with some philosophies of product minimalism and multi-tasking.