Let's face it—moisturizing is undeniably a part of our skin care routine. The process is carried out for the purpose of adding a burst of hydration to our skin. But there is another fact that says—if you have healthy skin, you shouldn't worry about it. Skin will do by itself. Both Sebum and natural moisturizing factor (NMF) do a great job in ensuring skin's maximum protection, hydration, soothing and softening.
Sebum is defined as a waxy-like substance made up of lipid materials found in the middle of skin capable of soothing, softening and acts as a protective barrier. It's vital for inhibiting water loss for both hair and skin while preventing skin from dryness and damage. The extended benefit is that sebum also fights against bacteria's growth within the skin. As for Latin, sebum is known for these words as "fat" or "tallow" which comprises a blend of wax esters, triglycerides, fatty acids and squalene.
According to skin science—the amount of sebum required to hydrate your skin is very minimal and depends upon factors like seasonal changes and genetics. Those with oily skin produce only 2 grams of sebum a year which is a smaller amount regarding that type of skin.
Just like how tears destroy mascara in makeup, sebum blends with dead skin cells and other harmful bacteria to form small plugs in the skin pores which brings about skin infections such as acne, blemishes. So people don't like sebum as it fails to deliver an instant perfect skin.
Skin experts have to invest a lot of resources including education to encourage people to practice a friendly skin care routine that still does a job of getting rid of dead skin cells and bacteria for a dreamy skin. Application of force through the use of drugs like isotretinoin will become a bad experience for the skin. The self-ability of skin to revitalize, hydrate and cleanse through cellular turnover and natural moisturizing will stop.
During the winter—cold and dry environments are noticed and may have a negative impact on the health of our skin such as tight and scary skin feel, furthermore—our skin's oil barrier becomes ineffective. So other ways have to be applied in order to counterbalance the effect. One of these methods is to have a synthetic oily film covered on a skin physically in order to block water loss. On top of that oily film, a layer containing a blend of petrochemicals, talc, and dyes in the form of makeup is added.
In order to remove a layer—skin is treated with ionic surfactants and detergents but they are bad for the skin, since these substances will destroy the natural moisturizing factor of skin.
Sebum is known to render skin's moisture while the natural moisturizing factor (NMF) renders hydration to skin. The natural moisturizing factor (NMF) comprises a blend of water, free amino acids, lactic acid, urea, sodium potassium, chloride, phosphate, calcium and magnesium salts. These ingredients are essential to render skin's moisture and supple through attracting and holding water.
The epidermis has a sufficient water quantity of 39 percent. This amount of water is viable after certain treatments which involve humectants such as Hyaluronic acid, Glycerin, Urea, Honey among others. These substances enhance the ability of skin to retain moisture. Fat and fatty acids present in skin's cell play an essential role to trap water molecules and offer a waterproof barrier that inhibits transepidermal water loss also known by the abbreviation as (TEWL).
TEWL is greatly affected by factors such as humidity, temperature, season, and the moisture content of the skin. After the age forty—the loss of water on skin is evident and is greatly influenced by loss of intercellular lipids. So we can improve the situation through the use of products worthy of fatty acids.