Are lipids the key to skin health? A Dermatologist’s perspective.
The skin barrier is like our coat of armor. When it is healthy it feels soft, smooth and looks radiant. When it's not, skin is dry, red, inflamed, itching, prone to breakouts and eczema flare-ups. We spoke with Dr. Kavita Mariwalla, an NYC dermatologist, about what it takes to keep your skin barrier healthy and the surprising benefits of having a lipid-rich skincare regimen.
What is the skin barrier made up of?
Imagine the skin barrier as a brick wall; cells are the bricks, and the mortar that holds the wall together contains vital lipids (ceramides, cholesterols and fatty acids). The skin barrier performs the critical function of keeping essential water and electrolytes inside the body, and as a protective barrier to keep harmful micro-organisms out. The skin barrier supports the skin’s immunity and regulates inflammation. As we age, our lipid production decreases so it is important to find another way to support the replenishment of these fatty acids.
Why are lipids important to skin health?
Lipids are the skin’s natural fats and they help keep skin soft, radiant and glowing. You want a daily skincare routine that helps replenish your skin’s natural lipids to maintain your skin health. Lipids are one of those great ingredients that when you apply them topically they will penetrate the skin and perform its job, which means you just need to find the right moisturizer and apply it. Skinfix’s barrier+ facial regimen is clinically proven to increase the quantity of lipids in the skin barrier by 23.6 % in 28 days. The collection is clean, pH balanced, and it uses peptides which have the added benefit of boosting collagen and protecting the skin from radical damage.
What ingredients contain lipids that will help strengthen the skin barrier?
Natural oils like squalene and jojoba are compatible with skin’s natural lipids and they also act as a delivery vehicle for other skin healing and strengthening ingredients to penetrate the epidermis. For example, Skinfix’s Lipid-Peptide Lotion uses a Healthy Skin Lipid Complex to help replenish skins natural lipids and deliver 5% Seaweed Hyaluronate and 2% Peony Root to the epidermis, helping pull moisture into the skin and enhancing skin’s radiance.
What can strip your skin of its natural lipids?
The #1 culprit that strips skin’s natural lipids is WATER! Bathing everyday and using hot water can strip your fatty acids and make your skin drier, prone to infections, rashes, and itchy.
Other things that can strip our natural lipids are cleansers/body washes that use sulfates or aren’t pH balanced and are over exfoliating.
Check out Skinfix’s barrier+ regimen and find the right lipid rich combination for your skin today.
If you battle dry skin every winter, you aren't alone. Common skin moisture zappers might be undermining your skin care regimen. These are some things you can do from the inside out to help keep your skin hydrated & healthy this season.
Fall and winter are tough on your lips. Their delicate skin suffers some of the most wear and tear on the body; we use them for eating, breathing, smooching and more. Combined with dry, cold, winter weather they can suffer! Here are some tips to keep your lips in tip-top condition this coming cold season:
The dictionary defines renew as ‘to give fresh life or strength to’, but we also like to think of it as re-establishing a healthy relationship with your skin. Worked into your daily routine, the Skinfix Renewing Duo is a simple way to buff, hydrate, and honor your entire body.
Dry off and reach for Renewing Cream. Another two-in-one peel and polish formula, provides deep hydration and effective exfoliation in one step. Our 99% female headquarters think of everything. The unique blend of natural moisturizers like Shea Butter, Coconut, Sweet Almond and Jojoba oils – together with AHA/BHA acids you find in our Renewing Scrub – gently exfoliates and moisturizes to reveal younger, smoother skin. Skinfix wants you to be the very best, renewed you. Take a moment and change things up with this clean, conscious, revolutionary duo.
To share your skinfix story, please email us at info@skinfixinc.com
The outer skin layer is like brick wall, with skin cells being the bricks, and natural lipids the mortar. A weak skin barrier is missing some natural lipids – letting internal moisture out, and irritants in. Finding a way to replenish skin’s natural lipids and lock that moisture in is key to healthy skin. Here are my skin barrier strength training tips:
1. Rethink Your Shower Temperature: Warm is the new hot. If your shower is too hot, you can potentially irritate skin and loosen the natural lipids – basically, washing your skin’s natural protection down the drain. Hot water also causes skin inflammation and can increase the skin’s susceptibility to harsh soaps and fragranced body washes.
2. Toss Fragranced Body Washes & Soaps: Soaps and fragranced body washes may smell divine, but they can irritate the heck out of your skin. Most body washes are far too harsh, stripping the skin of its natural lipids. Coconut-based cleaners are a gentler, natural alternative – effectively cleansing the skin without stripping it dry. 
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At Skinfix, we respect science as much as we believe in mother nature, and recently, we put one of our theories to the test. We launched a 4-week dermatologist led double blind, randomized controlled clinical study to prove that a natural eczema therapy can work as well as a 1% hydrocortisone cream. The results impressed not only us, but the dermatologist community.
Our study confirmed that 
October is Eczema Month, a topic that is always top of mind at Skinfix. Did you know there are over 36 million people in North America living with this painful, often embarrassing skin condition? When it comes to treating eczema, colloidal oatmeal has been heralded as the hero ingredient, and monographed as so by the FDA. The result? Most skincare brands sprinkle in colloidal oatmeal and call it a day. But dermatologists are finding that multiple natural actives – like zinc oxide and allantoin – in conjunction with colloidal oatmeal are even more effective at helping to treat this uncomfortable skin issue.
Below are some of the top Health Canada and FDA monographed natural active ingredients that treat eczema symptoms, like itching and oozing:
• Sweet Almond Oil at any level up to 100% is monographed by Health Canada, (i.e. tested and approved), to temporarily protect and help relieve minor skin irritation and itching.
• Zinc Oxide, an often grossly overlooked and under-utilized natural active, is monographed by both Health Canada and the FDA at 1-25 % to dry the oozing and weeping caused by poison ivy, oak, or sumac. If you’ve ever had eczema or dermatitis, you’ll recognize those symptoms!
• Allantoin is a superstar ingredient derived from the comfrey root – monographed by both Health Canada and the FDA at .5 to 2% to help prevent and temporarily protect chafed, chapped or cracked skin and lips. Good to know it also helps protect from the drying effects of the wind and cold weather just around the corner.
Skinfix Eczema Balm uses 4 clinically validated natural actives (2% colloidal oatmeal ,7% sweet almond oil, 15% zinc and 1% allantoin) at their active levels, and is clinically proven to be as effective as 1% hydrocortisone cream to help treat itching, redness, cracking, peeling, and dryness associated with eczema flare-ups. In a nutshell – Skinfix Eczema Balm worked as well as a steroid! And after 4 weeks, Eczema Balm was proven superior to 1% Hydrocortisone cream in improving skin barrier function. These results were so impressive you can now find them in this
In the beauty industry, winning an Allure Best of Beauty Award is like winning an Academy Award! Over 2 billion beauty products were launched in 2018 and the Allure editors tested and picked their top 300. The competition is fierce – Meryl Streep fierce! But move over Meryl, because this year, Skinfix Foaming Oil Cleanser and Skinfix Calm & Nourish Body Cream won TWO Allure Best of Beauty Awards!
In the Best Rich Body Moisturizer category, our Calm & Nourish Body Cream stole the show, walking away with the win. Formulated with 2 natural actives of colloidal oatmeal, and soothing oat proteins it helps soothe dry, flaky, irritated skin-instantly.
Our Foaming Oil Cleanser won for Best Cleanser in the Sensitive Skin category. This gentle, sulfate free cleanser not only removes makeup but is clinically proven to improve smoothness, and decrease the appearance of redness and blotchiness! What other cleanser has skincare benefits like this?!
And sure, we’re biased, but read what the Allure Editors have to say 
It's September, but that doesn’t mean your skin has to lose its healthy summer glow! When it comes to your skincare routine, the quickest way to keep skin radiant is to exfoliate. This crucial step in your regimen helps improve skin radiance by getting rid of dead, dry skin cells, evening out skin tone, and unclogging pores while kick starting the skin’s natural renewal process. We break down the 2 different facial exfoliating treatments and ingredients that will keep your skin looking healthy and gorgeous this Fall.
What to look for in your treatment
Manual Exfoliation uses everything from bamboo polishers to sugar or salt combined with oils to physically scrub dead skin cells and help kick start’s skin’s renewal process. Avoid nuts or pitted fruit particles as they can cause micro tears. Skinfix Energizing Scrub uses natural and biodegradable bamboo polishers to help refine pores, ginseng extract provides an energizing boost to support cell turnover and kaolin clay purifies and detoxifies skin.
Chemical Exfoliaters consists of AHAs and BHAs. AHA’s work on skin’s surface and are water soluble. The most common type of AHAs include Glycolic acid, which are derived from sugar cane; Citric Acid including lime pearl, lemons, orange extracts; Lactic Acid including bilberry extract. BHA's works on skin’s surface and inside the pore; they are oil soluble, so most often preferred for normal to oily skin prone to bumps, clogs, blemishes, and enlarged pores. The most common type of BHA is salicylic acid and willow bark extract. Skinfix Exfoliating Pads use a naturally active acid blend of glycolic, salicylic and lactic acids to help brighten, tone and clarify skin every day. We also add aloe and glycerin to hydrate your skin – which is why Allure Beauty editor Jessica Chia loves this treatment.
Whichever type of exfoliator you choose for your skin, we rigorously safety test on sensitive skin to make sure you always get a healthy glow!
