The ABC's of Dry and Sensitive Skin

The Ultimate Guide to caring for dry and sensitive skin

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What is Dry and sensitive skin?

THE ABC SKIN CARE SYSTEM FOR DRY AND SENSITIVE SKIN

What is Dry and Sensitive Skin?

Your skin is expected to be not only healthy, but also lovely to behold, comfortable to live in, and a pleasure to touch. But, if you're like most people with dry and sensitive skin, you are probably frustrated. With money $$$, you can have the most expensive laser treatments, skin peels, plastic surgery, and the finest cosmetics. In reality, your skin will never show its fullest health and beauty until it is truly moisturized. Health is more important than beauty, but your skin health is your most visible beauty. This gift of health can happen for you. It all begins with genuine skin moisturization.

With this goal in mind, I'd like to share my simple dry and sensitive skin care method: The ABC Skin Care System for Dry and Sensitive Skin™.

What is dry and sensitive skin? Dry skin is a common problem, especially in cool weather when hot furnaces are turned on and the air is dry. Young and old, infants and adults, millions of people suffer with dry and sensitive skin. It may be you or your spouse, your children, your parents, or even a friend. At highest risk are babies, seniors, diabetics, frequent hand washers, eczema prone people, atopics, psoriatics, and people on water pills, acne meds, or wrinkle creams. These people usually suffer with dry and extra sensitive skin.

If you look in the dictionary, there is no good definition for the term "sensitive skin," but those of you who have it sure know what it is. Sensitive skin dries out ever so easily, can ignite like a hot match, and any allergic thing can set it off. If this skin type is neglected and exposed to soap, dry air, and allergens, simple dry skin can deteriorate into itchy eczema or the "Dry Skin Rash." Eczema, the Dry Skin Rash, and most dry and sensitive skin problems can be traced to an easily damaged skin barrier located in the upper layers of the skin.

The Medical Diagnosis

For any medical problem, once you understand the medical diagnosis, you can follow guidelines towards better health. For example, a heart patient checks cholesterol; A diabetic learns to watch glucose; An asthmatic tries to avoid dust. Likewise, if you are a dry and sensitive skin person, the ABC Skin Care System™ should be your daily skin care guideline to achieve your truest skin moisturization.

Your Skin Barrier Is the Basis for The ABC’s

If a man has a heart attack, the doctor will treat a coronary artery. If a patient has leukemia, a doctor will treat the bone marrow. If the body has a medical problem, a doctor will treat a specific “sick” bodily organ. If a patient has dry and sensitive skin, what does the doctor treat? Most will say, “The skin.” However, we need to be more specific than, “The skin.” The specific “sick” bodily organ is the “skin barrier” as illustrated in the diagram below:

What Does The Skin Barrier Do?

The skin barrier keeps precious fluids (water) inside your body, and prevents unwanted substances (toxins and allergens) from entering your body. Have you ever wondered why water does not leak out of your skin when you drink a glass of water? The skin barrier is a permeability layer with two microscopic functions:

1. An Entrance Barrier

2. An Exit Barrier

If you examine 100 dry and sensitive skin patients you’ll see one common factor: A fragile skin barrier. If you want to control your dry and sensitive skin for life, you must understand your skin barrier. With this in mind, the True Moisture® ABC system is an easy to follow daily method to keep your skin barrier in the best health. Microscopically, the skin barrier resembles tiny bricks and mortar. Here is a simplified diagram of the human skin barrier.

If you are a dry and sensitive person and you neglect your skin barrier, you will have problems forever. The truth is, your skin barrier needs daily care, but ironically, most dry and sensitive people are unaware of their skin barrier organ. A well-tuned skin barrier will keep body water inside and will prevent allergens and microbes from entering your body. The "bricks" are the corneocyte skin cells. The "mortar," situated between skin cells, is made of three lipid-oils: Free fatty acids, ceramide, and cholesterol. For normal skin barrier functioning to occur, the three lipids must be "organized" into precise layers called "lipid bilayers."

If cholesterol, ceramide, and free fatty acids are stripped away as with excessive soap use, the lipid bilayers will break down and the skin barrier is damaged.

In this depleted state, the skin barrier will leak, and thus, water will evaporate, allergens will penetrate, and microbes can enter to infect. The skin becomes dry, inflamed, and infected. A rash ensues: The Dry Skin Rash. Help! Some people try calamine, but dry calamine does nothing for dry skin. Some people head to the shower and scrub their bodies with soap. This only adds fuel to the fire. Hoping for relief, some splash rubbing alcohol all over their lipid-depleted body.

They don't realize that soap and alcohol are only stripping more lipids and causing more skin barrier damage. Finally, the dry person goes to a local urgent care and gets cortisone pills. But, cortisone is only a short-term fix for a long-term skin problem. What this suffering dry and sensitive soul really needs is the ABC Skin Care System.

The ABC System is not a product.

The ABC System is a skin barrier based therapeutic principle with three practical rules to apply in the care of dry and sensitive skin. By avoiding allergens, preserving lipids, and keeping your skin barrier lipid bilayers in optimal replenishment, the True Moisture® Clinical Lipid Therapy® ABC Skin Care System for Dry and Sensitive Skin™ can actually prevent the Dry Skin Rash blues.

What is The ABC Skin Care System™?

The True Moisture® ABC Skin Care System™ is a special therapeutic principle, not a product. The ABC System is a concept with three practical rules to apply when caring for people with dry and sensitive skin. You can think of the ABC method as a healing “topical nutritional system.” It is like “healthy food” for your dry and sensitive skin barrier. The ABC skin care concept will enable you to nourish, repair, and maintain a damaged or easily injured skin barrier.

Our first ABC rule is: A- Avoid.
Try to avoid anything that will react with easily bothered skin. In pro-boxing the very first rule is: “Don’t get hit.“ This rule also applies to dry and sensitive people: “Don’t get hit!” Do everything you can to avoid an allergic encounter. By following the ABC’s, you are eliminating potential allergens. Interestingly, the most common allergic items all begin with the letter “P.”  They are Perfumes, Plants, Pets, Preservatives, and Personal Care Products (soaps, lotions, shampoos, deodorants, laundry products, and other personal items).

Our second ABC rule is: B- Bathe.

When you bathe, there is a right way and a wrong way. Done right, a bath is the best way to give your dry, thirsty skin a big drink of water. Done wrong, a bath will actually steal water, leaving your skin “high and dry.” Thus, bathe the ABC way. Your bath is a place where the right dry and sensitive skin care products can put an end to your dry skin woes.

The Right Way: Do Not Use Soap In Your Bath
 
Bathe to restore moisture, but do not use soap. Soap will steal your moisture. Soap will injure and disorganize your protecting skin barrier lipid bilayers, causing leakage of natural moisturizing factors. The net result of too much soap is dry skin and a loss of skin water. The next question is always, “OK Doctor, but what do I use to cleanse with?” The answer: You need a truly gentle face and body skin cleanser. This special skin cleanser should: 1) gently cleanse away “bad” sebum oils, and 2) Not harm your “good” lipid oils. Your skin barrier lipids will be safe and secure when you bathe with a truly gentle cleanser.

Our third ABC rule is: C- Cover.

If you buy a new car you can order a special clear coat sealer to protect the paint for the life of the car. What a concept: A one-time coating! If only this was true for our skin. Unfortunately, there is no one-time sealer for your skin. The coating must be applied on a daily basis. What is the very best way to protect your skin moisture? On your body, apply a heavy cream or ointment, not a lotion. On your face, apply an oil free lotion, not a cream. Mineral oil and petrolatum are pore blocking oils (PBO’s). Thus, mineral oil and petrolatum based creams and lotions can cause pore blockage on your face. Also, lotions may evaporate and are not long lasting for use on your easily dried body. So, think “C- Cover” to protect:

For your face: Use a PBO free lotion.
For your body: Apply a heavy cream.

In summary, all dry and sensitive people share one common skin barrier problem: They've all lost skin barrier lipids cholesterol, ceramide, and free fatty acids. This fragile skin barrier is the scientific basis for using our ABC friendly True Moisture® skin care products.

True Moisture® Clinical Lipid Therapy® Gentle Facial Lotion and patent-pending True Moisture® Clinical Lipid Therapy® Body Cream A and Body Cream B provide lipids.

True Moisture® Gentle Face and Body Cleanser preserves lipids.

And likewise, our True Moisture® Gentle Hair Shampoo and True Moisture® Clinical Lipid Therapy® Gentle Help For Hair can restore moisture to your dry and sensitive scalp and hair.

For more information, please read The ABC’s of Dry and Sensitive Skin, by Randy Jacobs, M.D., available directly from our website. We wish you the very best results as you care for your dry and sensitive skin barrier.