Is air pollution damaging your skin?

Is air pollution damaging your skin? An article published in the Evening Standard recently stated that if you live in a major city such as London air pollution can be just as damaging to your skin as the sun.

This is according to an article published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. It suggests that high levels of nitrogen dioxide have been linked to an increase in age sports and hyper pigmentation. Read article here. The particles are so small that they can penetrate our pores and cause oxidative stress and free radicals. Over time this can accelerate the ageing process.

Maybe it is time to re-think how we protect our skin. Thorough cleansing at night is crucial when it comes to ridding the skin of daily grime. Using a sonic cleansing brush such as clarisonic or Foreo is more effective in removing pollution than manual cleansing. I use my clarisonic about once every two weeks but personally prefer the Foreo as I find it gentler.

I also use Skinceuticals vitamin C serum every morning to add a protective layer. Then always an SPF50 all year round. This is important as pollution tends to be worse on sunny days when the UV penetration is high. My favourite is the Roche-Posay range and am currently using the SPF50 tinted version. I top this up during the day with an SPF instant mineral powder.

I have read that supplements can also help however I have not tried any of these so would be interested to know if you have recommendations.

Do you have any ideas that you would like to share on how to protect you skin from the ravages of time and pollution.

The Clarisonic is also available at John Lewis  and the Foreo at Asos.

Source of image here