Water may be the sine qua non of healthy skin, but hanging out in water causes all kinds of problems. Why? Sitting in water strips your skin of essential oils necessary for your barrier to function properly…meaning putting water on actually sucks water out. Add chlorine or saltwater to the equation, and it gets more serious still. Not only does it dry your skin, it makes it more permeable. Why? For one, with the protective lipids effectively stripped, moisture is now traveling back and forth through your skin. Add to that the fact that water is a primary breeding ground for microbes. There’s a reason you get athletes foot in the locker room: moisture makes your skin more permeable, and standing water is chock full of microbes.
OK, so hanging in water is dehydrating and makes skin more vulnerable to infection and absorption. Anything else? Uh huh. Spending time in water makes your skin more prone to injury. Skin cells swell with water, essentially begging to be burst. Not done yet. Showering after swimming usually exacerbates the lipid stripping problem, especially if you’ve been in chlorine. And if you’re using an alkaline soap, it may further impede the anti-microbial function in your acid mantle. By now, the protective coating has been significantly compromised. Rough towel drying, a form of exfoliation, is not good for compromised skin. All of which suggests might want a good, barrier supporting moisturizer, sunscreen and lip balm, products without permeating synthetics and that are water resistant. Where to find such a set of products?
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