Skin flooding tips for your ultimate winter routine.

Skin flooding may be the latest TikTok craze but really it is nothing new. Bradley Wagemaker, medical director and co-founder of Lamelle Research Laboratories, says that many of our winter skincare routines equate to skin flooding, as we try to meet our skin’s additional demands for hydration and sensitivity. Hydration is one of the five vital elements of optimal skin health. “You can’t have healthy skin without it and in fact its absence causes skin degradation,” says Wagemaker.

“Layering skin care products to provide deeper hydration with more effective and long-lasting results is ultimately what skin flooding is,” says Wagemaker. Many of us do find that our skin is more sensitive and drier during winter and for this reason Wagemaker recommends introducing a skin flooding routine. The idea is to start your skincare routine with thinner, easily absorbed products and slowly build up to thicker products providing ultimate hydration.

Wagemaker shares his recommended skin flooding routine for those struggling with sensitive, dry and dehydrated skin:

Step 1 – Use a gentle cleanser that is moisturising and avoids stripping and drying out the skin. A cleanser that has a low risk of irritation, yet deep cleanses.

Step 2 – Including a treatment mask, such as the Lamelle Research Laboratories’ Serra Hydration mask, into your weekly routine will help to address sensitive , dry and dehydrated skin. This mask combines Ceramide_P, which helps to repair the lipids in the skin, with essential fatty acids and moisturising urea, as well as the cell-repairing antioxidant purslane and soothing shea butter.

Step 3 – Apply a topical probiotic that will enhance the normal skin cell function from increasing hydration to the skin to reducing cell-damaging enzymes making the skin less prone to irritation.

Step 4 – Include a serum with hyaluronic acid (HA). HA is produced naturally by our skin. It is a water-binding molecule that delivers hydration at a cellular level and is the principle means for the skin to stay hydrated. Our levels of HA and the production thereof are affected as we age. There is also an increase in the enzyme, Hyaluronidase, which breaks down HA naturally. A topical application of HA is very effective in rehydrating the skin and counteracting HA depletion, improving hydration, smoothness and plumpness of the skin.

Step 5 – Moisturise with a rich cream base. The Lamelle Dermaheal Ultra Renewal Cream which is ideally suited to drier skin types or combination skin in winter is pure luxury in a jar. This product combines the advanced growth factor cytokine and MMP-inhibiting compounds with Ceramide-P lipid recovery base to restore the skin barrier. It also includes advanced hydrating HA and retinoic acid ester that boosts optimal skin cell turnover. This powerful product is also the most advanced anti-ageing product from Lamelle and should only be applied at night.

Wagemaker says that ultimately skin flooding can help to maintain and repair the Lipid Bi-Layer of the skin, product dependent, which not only keeps foreign substances out but keeps water trapped in all the layers of the skin, ensuring your skin is hydrated throughout this winter.

For more information on Lamelle please go to www.lamelle.co.za