How to repair your skin barrier naturally

Your skin has one main job: keep the goodies (moisture, mostly) in and the baddies (bacteria, irritants, other environmental stuff) out. When it's successfully doing that job, you sort of forget about it. When it's not, you KNOW. It's some combination of tight, red, dry, flaky, irritated, burning, generally awful for seemingly no reason.

That's a damaged skin barrier, and the good news is, it's both common and more fixable than you might think. Let's get into how to repair your skin barrier naturally by first understanding what's actually happening.

What is this skin barrier you speak of?

We try to avoid too many fancy skin words here, but we'll use and define this one because it's important. The skin barrier is just the outermost layer of your skin. You might think of it like a brick wall, where the skin cells are the bricks, and the mortar is a mix of lipids (fats, basically) that holds the whole thing together. The key here is that mortar. If it's intact, doing it's mortar thing, all is well in Whoville. If not, we're looking at exactly what we talked about at the beginning: dryness, redness, all the unhappy skin things. Not ideal.

Common skin barrier damage symptoms:

• Tight or rough-feeling skin, even right after moisturizing
• Flaky or peeling skin, unrelated to weather or other environmental issues
• Redness or blotchiness
• Reaction (stinging, burning) to products that were fine for you before
• Breakouts you don't typically get
• Dull, sort of generally unhealthy looking skin (who wants that?!)

Any of that sounding familiar? Let's look at it from one more angle before we get into the happy how to fix it part.

What does a damaged skin barrier look like?

So here's the thing. Sometimes damaged skin barrier symptoms can look like other things. It's tricky. Maybe you assume that you suddenly have sensitive skin, really dry skin, a skin condition, or even an allergic reaction.

When that's the case, it's a challenge because you might try to treat it like those other things and it doesn't work (or not fully) because that isn't the root cause. Even worse, sometimes the products you're trying to use to fix it actually make it worse. It can be very frustrating when you think you're doing everything right and it never gets better.

Damaged skin barrier signs can look like:

• Eczema-like patches, even if you've never had eczema
• Skin that is inexplicably both oily and dehydrated (it can happen and it's the worst)
• Redness that just won't go away and doesn't seem to have a clear cause
• Small rough bumps on the skin
• Skin that suddenly reacts to everything

The tricky part is that a wide range of things can look the same. Of course, always work with your doctor or dermatologist for skin conditions. If nothing is working, try asking them if focusing on skin barrier support is a good option to try.

What causes a damaged skin barrier?

Before we can fix it, it's helpful to know how it broke. Here are a few of the most common ones:

Over-exfoliation: This is a big one, and growing. The skincare industry is very enthusiastic about the wide range of ways that you can exfoliate your skin, both mechanically (physical scrubs, brushes, electronic spinny or vibratey tools) and chemically (acids, retinoids, etc). These things are definitely not bad in themselves, but it's very possible to take them too far, and that's when we run into a barrier problem.

Excessive exfoliation, whether too often or too many at once or too intensely for your particular skin, can break down that lipid (the mortar in our wall!) portion of the barrier faster than it can repair itself.

Harsh cleansers: Some people look for a cleanser that leaves them feeling "squeaky clean." Totally get the draw to that feeling, but unfortunately that can be a result of stripping the skin of those lipids we want that keep the barrier strong.

The world: It's tough out there, y'all. Cold weather, low humidity, wind, central heating and cooling, chemicals, can all impact your skin and result in a weak skin barrier in their own special ways.

Stress: Is there ANY health related thing not impacted by stress? The worst. Chronic stress increases cortisol, which also hurts the skin's ability to repair itself (it's focusing energy on staying alive because it doesn't know the difference between a scary work presentation and being chased by a tiger).

Age: Nothing to do or change here unless you've found the fountain of youth which, if you have, please share with the class. Skin makes less lipids (mortar) as it ages, which is why you may notice older people have thinner looking or feeling skin. Totally normal and manageable, but something to be aware of.

The wrong products: We are not calling anything specifically "bad" here. But certain ingredients like fragrance, essential oils, alcohol, and some preservatives are common irritants that can damage the skin barrier over time, especially if it's already struggling.

Drumroll please...the happy, how to fix it part is finally here.

How to repair your skin barrier naturally

Very often, the advice here is to moisturize more, or try this or that product, or a new amazing 7 step routine, which basically results in a pile of new stuff on the skin that stresses it even more. Most of the time, the skin barrier needs less, not more, and the right things.

Here's the game plan to fix your skin barrier without making it worse.

Step 1: stop doing the thing(s) that caused it.

This sounds obvious, but if you don't know what caused it, you wouldn't know to stop. If you're getting wild with the exfoliators, give them a break for a few weeks. If you're piling on new products and routine, stop for now. You might thing of it like an elimination diet, just take everything out and slowly add in safe things to see what happens.

Step 2: simplify, simplify, simplify

To support our step 1, we want to keep only a very basic and gentle routine. This looks like a gentle cleanser, a barrier-supporting product, and that's it. No actives, treatments, tests. Give the skin a break.

Step 3: choose the right barrier-supporting product for you

In our adventure into skin barrier education today, we have one more important point: how different product types support the barrier.

We're looking for something that does three key things, which are 1) forms a protective layer over the skin so that the skin can repair underneath, 2) includes ingredients that support the barrier in its repair efforts (like lipids, similar to what it's made of), and 3) doesn't introduce ingredients that may irritate and slow or stop the repair process.

Some things that don't meet those criterion, and why:

• Petroleum-jelly based products: This is your Vaselines, your Aquaphors. I know, it's surprise because this is the gold standard for limited ingredient protection, right? Well, yes and no. Protection, absolutely, they seal really well. That’s what they’re built to do. But they don’t give your skin anything to rebuild with, so you’re protecting the problem, not fixing it.
• Fancy "barrier repair" products with a bunch of ingredients: Here's a fun skincare secret for you. There's a lot of marketing magic in the skincare world, and people can name their products things that don't necessarily pan out. Anything full of ingredients is very likely failing our item 3 and will irritate instead of help.
• Heavy natural butters and oils: Shea, cocoa, coconut. They're a step in the right direction because they have the lipids, but they don’t match how your skin’s barrier is actually built, so they mostly sit on top and slow water loss (so close!). Helpful, but don't support the barrier in the way that we're looking for.

So what does meet those criteria? Kokum butter. It forms a thin, breathable, non-comedogenic (non-pore clogging) layer over the skin. It also has a high concentration of stearic acid, which is a key element of our lipid (mortar) and is in a form that can actually support the barrier. These things together, in a product with limited ingredients, give the skin a good situation for barrier repair.

Step 4: support from all angles

Topical is not our only line of defense. Omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish oil, flaxseed, walnuts, more) help out our lipid layer as well. You can do this via supplement or food or both, and the internet will certainly give you everything you need from a quick search on that.

Hydration is important too, which can look like water (obviously) and also water-rich foods like fruits and veggies, soups, smoothies...it all counts. Go wild.

Sleep is where the skin does most of its repair work, so if you aren't getting enough, even the best topical routine won't be working as well as it could.

These are 100% the most basic blocking and tackling wellness things, but they matter.

Step 5: be patient

I know, not the most fun step. But the barrier did not break down in a single day, nor will it be fixed in one. We're looking at typically 2-4 weeks of consistently applying all of this before we'd expect to see improvement. If you're not seeing any positive signs by that point and you're not already working with a dermatologist, that is definitely the time.

What a healthy skin barrier feels like

What are we looking for, here? Honestly, it should be comfortable and forgettable. Not noticeable. Not tight, greasy, itchy, unhappy in any way. Just...skin.

Skin barrier support products we like

Calm Balm and Base Layer are both made of majority kokum butter and limited other ingredients. They're both entirely made of plant butters and oils, provide the breathable protective layer and lipids that support skin barrier repair. They don't include any potentially irritating fragrance, essential oils, or unnecessary ingredients. They're not greasy, so they stay where you put them. Meet the balms here.