28 Days Later...

28 Days Later

Why patience is a virtue when it comes to your skin health and routine...

No, I’m not talking about the post-apocalyptic  horror movie…I’m talking about how long you have to wait to see results with your skincare routine.

It’s totally understandable that you might be looking for instant gratification when using a new product or trialling a new routine. But trust me, it’s worth playing the long game here. It’s just not realistic to see results in one day.. or even one week.

This probably isn’t the news you were hoping to hear right?
Soz babes. But I’m not gonna tell you sweet little lies just to sell you more products. That ain’t my bag babes.

While there are some products that might give what seems like faster results – like physical exfoliants – where your skin will feel almost instantly smoother, it’s not going any deeper or will have longer term effects.

Ok, so why 28 days?

Right, we need to have a quick intro to skin 101…
It’s roughly divided into three layers

• The Epidermis (the top and outer layer)
• The Dermis (the deeper layer)
• The Hypodermis

 When we’re talking about skin and skin care, we’re mainly going to focus on the Epidermis, as it’s the layer we can see and it’s what we apply our products to

The Epidermis is made up of four layers and consists of three different cells.

The main cells are keratinocytes (the other two are Melanocytes which make the pigment melanin and gives skin its colour and Langerhans cells which only make up 2-4% of the epidermis)

The keratinocytes are born (so to speak) at the bottom layer of the epidermis. They’re all new, plump and juicy on the bottom layer and take a journey up towards the top layer of the epidermis where they end up flatter and like a hard disc, ready to be sloughed off.

Still with me? Cool

Why are they all hard by the time they get to the outer layer I hear you ask?
Coz they protect all the new, fresh tissues and cells underneath them! The body is cleverly surrounding itself with a layer of dead cells to protect the living ones. (Wait. how did I manage to make this sound like a zombie defence strategy, I really didn't mean to, I promise..)

It takes around 4 weeks (or uhh, 28 days…) for the epidermis to be completely replaced. For those lovely keratinocytes to start their journey at base camp and move their way up the mountain to their skin summit.

This means those brand new keratinocyte cells that have been happily bathing in and absorbing all your beautiful skincare ingredients will be visible on your skin surface… 28 days later!

So, next time you use a new product or wake up in the morning hoping to see dramatic results..? Take a breath and relax. Good things take time lovely. It’ll be worth the wait. I promise.

Lucy (she/her)
Founder, Lucky Cloud Skincare

PS have you taken the Skin State Quiz yet? Try it today to discover how your skin is feeling and receive personalised product recommendations!

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