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Lauren Carlstrom, O+ Team Member |
Pollution is not only an environmental threat that affects our breathing and overall health. It’s also a hazard to that youthful glow.
The beauty and skin care industries are meeting the need of a growing group of consumers who are concerned about how air pollution affects their skin and “beauty.” More so for health reasons, people need to learn about the damage of air pollution faster than the lion’s share of consumers caught on about the need for sun protection. It took consumers more than 30 years to really make the connection between skin damage and UV rays (Stevenson).
Our largest organ, our skin, takes a beating when air quality is compromised. It’s no wonder air pollution has a dramatic effect on how we look and feel. Let’s peel back the layers and see what’s really going on – starting with our face.
“Facial skin exposed to pollution—suffocated by exhaust fumes, industrial smoke, tobacco, air conditioning and ozone—looks dull, weakened, dehydrated and prematurely aged or sensitized,” shares Katerina Stevenson, Ph.D. “Exposure to pollutants triggers the generation of oxidative stress and thus protein and DNA damage, and lipid peroxidation.”
What I picked up from that explanation is polluted air will make my bright and shiny face look dull, weak, old and stressed. That’s enough to make me pack my bags in the tenth most polluted city in the U.S. where I live and jet off to a remote island.
Leading skin research company, La Roche-Posay, which, by the way, developed a facial cleanser that removes 95% of pollution from the skin, cites German and Chinese studies that reveals particulate matter (e.g., soot, traffic exhaust) affects skin health by increasing cheek pigment spots, and that Ozone (O3) causes more wrinkles due to lower levels of antioxidants and collagen in the atmosphere. The World Congress of Dermatology adds that pollution can accelerate the visible signs of aging, especially for individuals with sensitive skin.
Accelerated aging alongside extra pigmentation and wrinkles? Bora Bora, anyone?
Wherever you live, escaping pollution may be a challenge. Thankfully, my esthetician, Sabrina Ehlis, of Sabrina Brow and Skin, taught me the first line of defense: Use quality anti-pollution skincare products, especially for your face. “Anti-pollution ingredients will target both the external negative effects of pollutants on the skin as well as re-energizing and boosting the skin from the inside” (Stevenson). That helps me breathe easier! In addition to purchasing anti-pollution skincare products (I’m an unsponsored advocate of Phytomer’s CitiLife face/eye creamand ultra-cleansing flash peel), we can fight the good fight of educating people about the air quality crisis.
For starters, simply share this article – encouraging friends and family members to start thinking about how air quality affects their life – and their face – in everyday life. Cousin Sally may be in the habit of searching the mirror for a new wrinkle every morning, but not even once wonder about the air quality in her own backyard.
Monitoring your own air quality is the next best thing you can do to overcome air pollution. To that end, Oxygen Plus has created resources related to air pollution on its website. You can also sign up to get location-specific O+ Air Quality Alert emails and read – and share – O+ Articles dedicated to combating the global air quality crisis.
What else can we do? Why not buy a canister of Oxygen Plus? Since it contains pure recreational oxygen, taking hits from an O+ oxygen canister is an effective way to help mitigate exposure to unhealthy air. Let an O+ oxygen bottle also serve as a reminder, and talking point, that air pollution is a real and present danger in our world. If you’ve ever breathed O+ canned oxygen, you know it may turn a few heads.
These are some solutions Oxygen Plus has to get air pollution out of your face. If you have another, drop us a line.
Stevenson, Ph.D., Katerina. Ingredient Insights: Pollution Protection. Skin, Inc. https://www.skininc.com/skinscience/ingredients/Ingredient-Insights-Pollution-Protection-381595831.html?prodrefresh=y. June 1, 2016. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
La Roche-Posay . La Roche-Posay Unveils New Pollution Study At The World Congress Of Dermatology. PRNewswire. November 17, 2015. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/la-roche-posay-unveils-new-pollution-study-at-the-world-congress-of-dermatology-300179640.html. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
