What's a Ceramide?

What’s a ceramide?
You may have heard ceramides are a must-have for supporting your skin barrier, preventing premature ageing and keeping your skin hydrated. Let’s take a closer look at what a ceramide is and why you should add them into your routine. (You might also see phytoceramides mentioned, which are just ceramides that are sourced from plants)

What is a ceramide?
Ceramides are fats (also known as lipids) which coat, protect and support each and every skin cell in the lipid layer of our skin barrier. They keep the skin healthy, nourished and protected.  Ceramides and other fatty acids make up around 50% of our epidermis (the outer layer of our skin that we can see) so it doesn’t take much to start noticing a difference when ceramide levels dwindle.  

How do ceramides help your skin barrier?
Imagine a brick wall that makes up a cross section of your skin. In this analogy, the bricks are your skin cells and the mortar or cement are the ceramides. They coat your skin cells and together, if fully replenished, they create a physical barrier to the outside. This prevents the bad things - bacteria, environmental pollutants etc - from getting in and the good stuff - hydration and essential lipids - escaping out.

Ceramides are also extremely important in preventing accelerated Trans Epidermal Water Loss (TEWL) as the lipid layer holds in the hydration to keep our skin from drying out and wrinkles forming – think plum (hydrated) vs prune (prematurely dehydrated).

How to tell if you should add ceramides into your skincare routine?
The more obvious signs are the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, dry skin, sensitive skin, flaking skin, itchy or irritated skin and skin that feels rough or bumpy. Skin that doesn’t ‘bounce back’ and looks dull and tired, even if you try and get your glow back. Extreme depletion of your natural ceramides can cause breakout and infection as the skin barrier is no longer working.

Skin sensitivity can be caused by a depleted or compromised barrier. Without a fully replenished barrier, the skin can be subject to damage from environmental factors, pollution and harsh skincare products and routines.

Ceramides and phytoceramides may be especially helpful for people with conditions like eczema and psoriasis, conditions where skin may not naturally make enough ceramides and therefore suffer from symptoms of a severely impaired barrier function.

The Human Doing Process
Your ceramide stocks can be depleted by using harsh or damaging products on our skin, products that strip our skin’s natural oils or products that change the pH of our skin and dry it out. Extreme routines can do more damage than good, and aren’t usually the best option for all skin types.

You can also deplete your ceramide stocks by starving your skin of a ceramide boosting or replenishing routine. Simply cleansing skin and a little moisturiser may not be enough to support optimum levels of ceramides. We need to apply these ingredients on a daily basis to keep the stocks fully replenished.

Low fat diets are the worst offenders for skin, as a diet rich in vegetable oils and butters, nuts and plant oils will feed the skin and supplement the ceramide production from the inside to support healthy skin.

Stress can help deplete ceramide production as can lack of sleep, smoking and consuming too much sugar will also help destroy ceramide levels.

The Human Being Process
Up until the age of around 23 to 25 years we have full stocks for fabulous skin. Our levels of anti-ageing essentials like collagen, elastin, hyaluron, ceramides and lipids and many others are full. But from the age of 25 years these stocks decrease at the rate of 1% per year and then accelerate much more quickly once we enter the peri menopause and menopause.

We cannot physically reverse the ageing process as it’s a normal part of life that happens to everyone. However you can feed your skin and your body so that it has the tools to replenish, repair and restock on all these essential ingredients for holistic health and wellness.

Your Ceramide To Do List
The good news is that replenishing the ceramides in your skin is actually pretty easy. Here’s what you need to do to boost the ceramides that you include in your skincare routine.

• Choose products with ceramides high in the ingredient list, such as the Brightening B Serum. Packed with ceramides, vitamins and niacinamide, your skin will be replenished and radiant.

• Apply ceramide boosting ingredients in both your AM & PM routine. Products including niacinamides, vitamin B, natural plant oils and nut oils can all help to boost production.

• Layering ceramide products together with other fats or lipids from facial oils provides more ingredients in the recipe for healthy, strong and supported ‘bounce back’ skin.

• Include phytosterol rich products such as nut and plant oils (the plant worlds cholesterol) to strengthen cell walls and support the lipid barrier.

• Apply hyaluronic acid to ensure complete levels of hydration.

• Avoid or eliminate things that are bad for your skincare in general, such as damaging environmental factors, smoking, sunbathing, harsh weather conditions, not wearing SPF.

• It is believed that a diet rich in ceramide boosting foods can help. Try including more corn, brown rice, sweet potatoes and eggs to make the difference.

CERAMIDE SKIN FOOD RECIPE

Ready for a recipe to help boost your ceramide levels from the inside out? 

Sweet Potato Chips as Boiled Egg Soldiers
You’ll need sweet potato, your favourite healthy oil, sea salt and eggs to make this recipe.

Preheat your oven, peel and slice your sweet potatoes thinly. Toss with oil and add to a baking tray then bake for 8-10 minutes. Once they’re cooked through and have colour to them, you’re ready to go.

Meanwhile bring water to a simmer and add your eggs to your desired level of boiling. Once they’re done, slice the tops off and enjoy with your sweet potato chips.