Skin Facts
This is your Skin!
The skin’s natural pH is slightly acidic, around 5 to 6. Most soaps are alkaline (pH>7) and can dry the skin by stripping off its natural protective coating, leaving it with a lower resistance to both bacteria and viruses. All DermaVeen cleansers are ’soap free’, making them ideal soap alternatives. The whole range is pH balanced, hence leaving the skin soft and supple, allowing its natural oils to lubricate, moisten and protect.
Did you know your skin is the largest organ in your body?
For the average adult, skin has a surface area of 1.5 – 2.0 square metres.
It is a complex organ, being responsible for helping regulate body temperature, synthesize essential vitamins, protect the body from harmful, cancer-causing UV rays and also ward off infection from viruses and bacteria. All this is achieved in an organ that is only about 2-3 mm thick.
And it’s crowded! The average square inch (6.5 square centimetres) of skin has 60,000 melanocytes (pigment producing cells), 650 sweat glands, 20 blood vessels and more than 1,000 nerve endings.
Let’s look a little closer. Click here.
- The epidermis, the outer layer, waterproofs the body and provides a barrier to infection.
- The dermis, the layer beneath the epidermis to which it is tightly bound, helps cushion the body from physical stresses and strains (like shock absorbers on cars). It contains nerve endings which provide the senses of touch and heat. Also included are hair follicles, sweat glands, sebaceous glands and lymph and blood vessels, the latter supplying nourishment to this complex skin layer.
- The hypodermis or subcutis, lying below the dermis, is not really part of the skin. It is a layer which allows for easier movement over underlying structures. It also contains body insulation in the form of fat.
In fact, the hypodermis contains up to 50% of total body fat.
Skin Problems are often linked to the epidermis (specifically the stratum corneum) not performing its essential protective function.