Getting Under Your Skin

Sometimes when we focus on the outside some people would think of it as being self absorbed or superficial, they way we look at it is we can do small things on the outside that makes us feel good, that will give us confidence then we can focus on tackling the bigger issues, internally. Baby steps… we crawl before we walk… we walk before we run and we need all the pieces to complete the puzzle.

Busting Outs Beauty Guru Karen Connelly educates us on the skin and how it works. Then over the next couple of weeks she is going to share with us how we can look after our skin.

The skin is the largest organ in the human body and is a complex system of cells and is made up of three layers: epidermis, the dermis and subcutaneous. The epidermis is the part of your skin you can see. At the bottom of the epidermis, new skin cells are forming. When the cells are ready, they start moving toward the top of your epidermis. This trip takes about 2 weeks to a month. As newer cells continue to move up, older cells near the top die and rise to the surface of your skin. What you see on your hands (and everywhere else on your body) are really dead skin cells. Soon, they’ll flake off. Though you can’t see it happening, every minute of the day we lose about 30,000 to 40,000 dead skin cells off the surface of our skin.

The next layer down is the dermis. The dermis contains nerve endings, blood vessels, oil glands, and sweat glands. It also contains collagen and elastin, which are tough and stretchy. The dermis is home to the oil or sebaceous glands which are always producing sebum. Sebum is your skin’s own natural oil. It rises to the surface of your epidermis to keep your skin lubricated and protected. It also makes your skin waterproof. The third and bottom layer of the skin is called the subcutaneous layer. It is made mostly of fat. The
subcutaneous layer helps hold your skin to all the tissues underneath it.