Water. It makes up 60%-75% of the human body. A person can survive months without food, but can only survive a week at the most without water. It is the most vital nutrient needed to live. It is also the most vital substance to healthy skin. When we don’t have enough water in us it causes dehydration.
The most common problem in skin I see is dehydration. It’s my belief that 90% of skin conditions can be solved by getting enough water on and in the skin properly. You see, although water is the most important nutrient for the body, our current Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Red Bull, and fizzy water drinking society isn’t getting enough H20 to meet the bodies basic functions – let alone support healthy skin.
I know, I know. I hear it all the time. “But I drink lots of water.” Do you? Do you really? Let’s do a little test. Take your body weight and divide it in half. That is how many ounces of water you need for minimum daily existence. For example, if you are 140 lbs you need 70 ounces of water. Now add up the number of caffeinated (coffee, cola, iced tea) or sodium based (soda and often fuzzy water) drinks you have a day. Any idea how many ounces that is? Most of us haven’t a clue, but realize for every one of those above beverages, you need TWO glasses of water of equal size to replenish the H20 those drinks just leeched out of you. So if that 140 lbs person has a Grande Latte (16 oz) every morning they need to drink an additional 32 oz of water. That makes a total of 102 ounces a day for minimum functioning. That’s a little over 3 liters of water. If you exercise you need to drink between 4oz-8oz every 15 minutes depending on how hard you workout or sweat. You also must make allowances for hotter and dryer climes etc.
For the people who only drink decaf and are really good about their water consumption congrats! You are a step ahead of the game. On most days this is me. But like me, I am sure you have days where you don’t get enough water. When this happens your body needs even extra water over the next few days to make up the deficit. Also if your body is ill, or having any problems it’s very possible it needs extra water.
And this brings us back to the question, are you getting enough water? Many people don’t realize that the skin is the last organ of the body to receive nutrients. This is why when you aren’t feeling well the first thing people say to you is “You don’t look so good.” The other organs of your body take what they need and the skin gets whatever is left over. So if you aren’t getting enough of something, such as water, there won’t be enough to feed your skin, and your skin will suffer.
Even people who drink water religiously may not be processing the water correctly. The type of water you drink matters just as much as the type of food you eat. Knowing what water is best for you can really help alleviate dehydration.
When I first began working as an esthetician I was awed that on the client questionnaire, in the same section as “Do you smoke, drink coffee, eat candy?” I saw “Do you drink tap water.” Kind of horrific isn’t it? When I moved to Los Angeles my cats wouldn’t drink the tap water. My poor orange cat Milton just walked around the bowl mewling his thirst and wrinkling his nose at the bowl of water I filled from the sink. Now I am not condemning all tap water, but check to see what’s in yours. I know that NYC has some of the best water in the country, and my boyfriend’s home in Maine has lovely water too. There is good tap water out there, but there is less and less of the stuff.
Distilled water is water that has been boiled and the evaporation has been captured and bottled. It really is the purest example of H20 since it has nothing else in it, but it isn’t the bodies answer to hydration. I know some people swear by distilled water only, but our bodies also need minerals and water is an excellent source.
Bottled water comes from many sources and can be processed in a number of ways. The one you choose to drink often depends on taste preference, but there are some waters out there that stand above the pack such as Penta, Fiji, and Trinity Springs Water. These are waters well known to be from pure sources, or have exceptional filtration systems.
All this said, most people still won’t drink enough water to meet their skin’s needs. This is why topical H20 and water binding products are important. You can’t just go spraying Evian onto your skin. The water molecules are too large to penetrate the dermis, but products like Jane Iredale’s D20 that has a hydrogen molecule that’s twice the weight of the molecule in ordinary water and is therefore 10% heavier than H2O, or Bioelements Equalizer which is an ionized water that is perfectly pH balanced, will immediately hydrate and prepare the skin for the next product. Products that have Hyaluronic Acid which binds water to the skin and pulls it from the air such as Bioelements specific are what you want to use to lock in hydration all day.
In most cases once dehydration has been eliminated the skin will balance itself and many skin disorders go away. Certainly the skin looks and feels healthier. I know it seems simple, the idea of just adding water, but for every client I see it is their first step to better skin.