Sports, the Outdoors & Skin
Live Healthy
Nature versus Nature
Do outdoor sports and activities really require special skin care? Is all natural the right choice when you’re fighting the elements and you require serious protection? Do organics really matter in skin care?
Water Sports
Before we walk, we swim. Being in water is, for some of us, the natural state of being. It’s not news, though, that prolonged exposure to water is tough on skin. What may be surprising is how many different, yet interrelated ways it leaves skin vulnerable to burning and chapping. It even weakens skin’s own natural defenses against outside contaminants. Go ahead, enjoy the water. Just be sure to give your skin the nourishment and protection it deserves.
Snow Sports
Snow. We get giddy at the thought of the mountains, the thrill of speed, the communion with nature, the hot cocoa, and the clean, bracing, aromatic air. Then we remember the whipping wind, the blindingly bright sun, the frozen toes, and the cracked, dry skin at day’s end. It’s still worth it, but the winter, the mountains and the snow present a wide range of challenges for our skin. Vivesana is on the job.
Combination Sports & Being Outdoors
Multitaskers. Some of us like to do it all. This, of course, means tackling a multitude of challenges while dealing with all those unique skin care issues associated with your favorite outdoor sports. Sure enough, going between water and sun create specific concerns. Read on and live healthy!
December 30th, 2008
Skin care is tough.
The first priority has to be protecting against UV radiation. But more so than in other areas of skin care, that function comes with a cost. The overwhelming majority of sunscreens on the market have synthetics that raise concern (and that goes double for mothers and babies), and use a new, unlabeled and understudied technology.
What are the synthetics and what do they do? A bunch of them, like Benzophenone, Homosalate, and Octyl-methocycinnamate (aka Occinate) are endocrine disrupters. Broadly, that means they affect the normal flow of hormones from glands; in this case, those synthetics have been shown to have estrogenic effect and to bio-accumulate. Bio-accumulation, which means a given material sticks in the body, accumulating over time, is particularly worrisome for babies and children.
Sunscreens also frequently use nanotechnology, an approach that allows particles to permeate the skin barrier and enter the bloodstream. It’s an area we know little about.
Finally, like most skin care products, most sunscreen are full of any number of synthetic preservatives, like parabens, and other “inactive” chemicals, like phthalates. And of course, many are packaged in materials that leach BPA.
Sana, in case you haven’t noticed, has none of those chemicals, doesn’t employ nanotechnology, and provides the best protection on the market. It doesn’t have to be a give and take…
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December 28th, 2008
No, we’re not talking about short days, shoveling the walk, or the morning commute. We’re talking about the atmospheric humidity which, together with sauna-like indoor heating, can bring humidity levels as low as 5-10%. And what happens to skin not accustomed to such conditions? It struggles to keep up by building its barrier, but that adaptation can take a while, and often gums up the whole system.
There is a cascading impact that ripples through the skin’s infrastructure when there’s not enough moisture. The lipid layers stall, the normally plump skin cells flatten and create fissures. The shedding process, which is dependent on water, stops functioning, so that dead cells stay stuck in the skin’s surface, and then break off in scaly chunks. Cracks in the skin make it more vulnerable to germs and permeation of all kinds of things. The skin can usually adapt over time, but in the meantime, it’s not a pretty (or healthy) picture.
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December 19th, 2008
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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December 18th, 2008
Swimming strips skin of sunscreen and essential oils. Sweat exacerbates burning, and sunglasses may impede the skin’s natural defenses. UVB rays deplete NMF from skin cells, drying skin out. And dry skin creates risks of infection, and improper shedding. Skin doesn’t look or feel good and your body is at risk.
And frankly, that’s just the beginning. Cross training can implicate a whole range of issues. The keys are keeping the barrier strong, keeping skin hydrated, and protecting it from UV rays. And that’s where Sana comes in…
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and the Takoma Park Co-op have in common? They don’t share a style or a coast, but they do share an overarching, all-consuming drive to carry the best quality products they can find. As it happens, they also began carrying Vivesana yesterday afternoon. We’re thrilled to be working with both of them, and love what the variety of approach says about Vivesana – stores from across the spectrum meet when it comes to strong, safe, stylish and effective sun care. Hurray!
