dixon: the skin accounts for around 16% of a body's total weight. it's hard to believe how easily overlooked and misunderstood it is. day: your skin is your largest and i think, your most important, organ. just like your heart and your brain, you can't live without your skin. mendez: i think it's very important to understand how the skin functions because it's our major organ it's one of our major organs of detoxification. our liver being the primary organ, and it's our barrier to the world. so, it absorbs what we're exposed to in the environment. whether it be pollution or the sun or things like that. how we treat ourselves, all of that shows up on our skin. perdue: it's important to understand the skin so that when we are choosing products

whether it's for our face or our body we get the very best result that we can get from those products. because we will actually understand the function and what those products are doing to give us those great results that we want. cole: in this day and age makeup and skin care really work together. they collaborate together because the beauty industry is listening to what we're asking for, or what we're demanding in a sense. we want a makeup that is going to benefit the skin. it's no longer just about giving me great color and giving me great pigment and giving me great coverage. we want a makeup that is going to make us look younger, make us look fresher, and really give benefit to our skin over time. dixon: we'll separate the facts from the fiction about the body's largest organ, and show you all of the ways that you can best maximize the health, beauty, and vitality of the skin you are in on face facts. [music]

dixon: every day, we try to put our best face forward. we choose our skin care products and our make up to keep us looking our best. our face is a reflection of the overall health and well-being of ourselves. taking care of the most obvious external representation of our own health requires some basic knowledge about how the skin works and what it's made of. day: your skin has some very important, really vital functions. one is water balance and temperature control, so when you're hot, the blood vessels in your skin will open up to help release heat and even water from your skin and as that evaporates off, that will help cool your body temperature and when you're very cold, those blood vessels will constrict to keep your core temperature those important, i think weaker organs, like the brain, a little more controlled and warm so that your body can survive.

[music] loucas: the epidermis makes up the outer layer of your skin. it's comprised of five different layers. you have the basal layer, the spinus layer, the granular layer, the stratum lucidum, and the stratum corneum which is the outermost layer and protects us from the environmental antigens and various toxins that are trying to penetrate in and cause damage to the skin. there are also three other specialized skin cells within the epidermis called melanocytes, which are melanin producing which are pigment producing. and unfortunately in the last several years, we've heard a lot about melanoma and these melanomas often develop from melanocytes that have gone awry so to speak or nevis or nevi that have gone awry day: so, what's great about the skin is that it is a living, breathing organ and so it's always allowing different particles through and blocking different particles to get through, and it kind of knows which to do.

it has one other very special quality and that is that it has it's own immune system, just unto itself, it's like having your own personal bodyguard and these are called langerhans cells. so when something gets to your skin, your langerhans cells will recognize it and start the attack and protect you before it can do any greater damage. dixon: managing the skin's natural protective mechanisms and the normal functions of its many layers helps inform the kinds of products that a consumer might want to use. to better understand these products, it's important to understand how a skin cell works. lana: a cell is like a beaker a closed system to some degree things come in. things come out. one of the things you hope goes in is whatever you are applying to your skin. now let's just say you get some of it across the membrane, but it's the wrong thing what happens is, it's not going to immediately leave the cell. it's going to hang out there, and what do acids do if they are not doing something productive? day: i always think of your skin as the first organ to give whatever your body needs, if your skin has it, it will provide it

and it's the last to take whatever nutrients you eat, some of it will get to the skin eventually, but it does very well with that. your skin cells are always turning over, so you are always making new skin and that's why there's always hope to have better more beautiful skin over time. but it's really important to take care of your skin. dixon: taking care of your skin is more than just concerning yourself with the epidermis. healthy skin, as it turns out, is more than just skin deep. loucas: the dermis underlies the epidermis. and this is a very important structure because again it gives the blood supply to the epidermis and, so without the dermis the epidermis could not survive. the dermis is also where collagen is and where elastic tissue is. and we know the importance of collagen in that collagen is the cement of your skin. dixon: the dermis is a permanent layer of skin. it doesn't replenish collagen and elastin form the structure of the dermal layer and these are the biological structures that stay elastic or sag as we age.

loucas: and so as we age, if collagen degrades we get a wrinkled look and that's a normal process regardless of whether you spend a lot of time in the sun or whether you have these other external factors that will cause damage the collagen eventually degrades and we are trying to find ways to stimulate or reproduce collagen so that we can avoid these natural aging processes. when you look at a picture from under a microscope of a biopsy in a young person the collagen looks very compact, very nice and even. as we age or in sun damaged skin we start seeing the llagen bundles start to become frayed, broken not as compact. this is what causes the appearance of the skin to start to change. dixon: collagen is impacted not only by our age but by our diet. mendez: so when you look at somebody

who drinks a lot of coffee lets say or a lot of alcohol they tend to have very dehydrated skin and it accelerates the aging. so that you see lines more clearly. it breaks down collagen underneath the skin more efficiently when you're dehydrated. so then you age just much faster. when you keep water coming into your system, not only are you cleansing but you're plumping up the collagen underneath your skin, and you're slowing the process down. dixon: below the dermis lies the hypodermis. this is where the main sweat glands, hair follicles, and primary blood vessels of the skin reside. ifthe follicle end is anchored in the hypodermis.ez loucas: a lot of people don't think of the skin as an organ, but the skin is largest organ in your body and all of these layers in the skin all interact and are intertwined to make it an extremely efficient functioning organ. [music] dixon: regeneration of the skin slows as we age. the epidermis replaces itself every 16 days or so when we're young.

but by the time we turn 35, the layer is only replacing itself once a month. loucas: what happens to your skin as you age is your skin slows down. so the production of collagen slows down. the collagen that you make is not as abundant. it's quality is less. it's frayed, it's broken. lana: so if you can't make collagen and the collagen goes from nice, straight pillars to cross linked, and you can't pump them out fast enough, you can't replace that well. you know that's what aging skin looks like it's collapsed, the surface is not smooth. because smooth skin there's pillars like this and the skin is taut, you know, pulled over the pillars. if this all breaks down, what happens? the wrinkle. dixon: wrinkles are one of the most obvious signs of aging skin. many people believe that wrinkles are caused by a lack of moisture, but in fact a wrinkle is collapse in the skins structure. it's like a pillar and if you have these pillars, one of them falls, another one falls out a year later, you know, two more when you go to the bahamas, you know, and then, eventually, over time, it's a collapse.

or even when you sleep, believe it or not. that's a really scary thing, but true, is that during sleep the actual pressing, because you often sleep one side or the other and how you sleep over time may create physical pressures much like frown lines or motion lines. it's in that same principle. you do things also over time, like furrowing your brow, that's eventually going to lead to a breakdown. like wearing anything a machine, a bag will wear in its straps a face will wear in the forehead, where you crease it. it's just the way things go. dixon: time isn't the only enemy of healthy skin. sun exposure is a major culprit in damage day: so what happens when the sun hits the skin? there's two different rays of light that come from the sun that we have to worry about: uva and uvb. lana: these are different frequencies there's infrared the uv is shorter, a shorter beam of light has more frequency and that causes more harm. a long, like a wave. a longer beam of light is mellow.

you know, it's not so bad. in fact, infrared is considered extremely good for the skin, whereas uv is considered bad for the skin. day: we think of uvb as the burning rays. it's a shorter wavelength of light, its blocked by glass, and it doesn't go that deep into the skin, really to the upper layers. but just deep enough to create enough damage to cause a burn. when y get that little burn in the skin, that stimulates the cells in the skin called melanocytes they're the pigment forming cells that give our skin color. they stimulate those to turn on and those melanocytes release a substance called melanin and melanin is what gives our skin color. that melanin sits like an umbrella over the dna of the skin cells and that's why our skin looks tanned. so it sits like an umbrella to absorb those ultraviolet rays to protect the dna. now, if you have very fair skin and you really don't tan, that melanin just isn't being produced. it's like if you went out in the rain and the uv rays were raindrops, you would get soaked. so you keep getting hit and you keep getting soaked and it doesn't feel so good

and over time it just wilts basically. so what we see is free radicals we see damage to the dna and in that repair of the damage is where we can see errors in repair and when you accumulate enough errors in that repair, that's when we can see skin cancer. [music] lana: a free radical it's an atomic structure it's partial. look at a molecule. in order for this to combine with this, let's just say this is, you know, oxygen and hydrogen. this thing is supposed to represent the bond between them which represents two shared electrons. now, a free radical has one electron where it should have two. it's walking around with like this potentially reactive center, but nothing bonding with it so it's running around and it's creating kind of instability and what that does is that it destabilizes anything it runs into. which is terrible, very bad. the skin is like a liquid matrix

it's held together with lots of lipids held together with solid phosphorous heads in it and you throw in a bunch of, you know, active things looking for a partner, it will take whatever structure it will rip something off the structure, it will destroy a piece of the nucleus there goes dna damage. so why don't we want free radicals in the body? well, basically they are going to bump into something. if you imagine structures at the molecular level, things look like a ball pit where different color balls would be different molecules so if you have some water, you have some acid those are all supposed to be there. a free radical is like some radioactive ball in the middle of the pit. and it's free to hit anything else, thus destabilizing it and it leads to a cascade, because in order to quench its need for that electron, it steals it from the next thing. loucas: oxygen likes to have two electrons, or these two little things sitting in its outer shell, and when it loses one of them, it gets irritated and it wants to find another one.

so it's looking around for it, and in the skin, it often will pick it up from the collagen or protein molecules. or pick it up from other places, and thus causing damage to that other molecule. now this molecule is looking for it's electron from someone else and then if we cause damage and it keeps happening it's very hard for the system to repair itself. lana: what happens when the next thing is one electron short? it becomes a free radical and the cascade goes on. dixon: and free radical creation is rampant when the skin is exposed to the rays of the sun. lana: so uv hits the surface of the skin and basically it creates free radicals. it has enough energy that it breaks apart delicate structures and those go on and continue to break apart other structures because atoms and molecules will look for stability. if there's any kind of stress in the system, they'll look to move it. so, heat or energy delivered as a form of light is going to come along and not have anywhere to go

except to destabilize structures. and that of course works it's way all the way down so now nothing's working. machinery breaks down enzymes, delicate proteins breakdown, and the skin is under assault. and when it's under assault that begins the inflammatory process so the skin is now stressing to heal as opposed to carrying on the daily functions. and when that inflammation exceeds, you know, any other reaction in the skin, the skin is traumatized. and this happens pretty quickly when you're in the sun. dixon: researchers have discovered that diet can hold keys to helping the body fight off the damaging effects of free radicals through the metabolic process of antioxidants. mendez: antioxidants which we find in plant based food like red food, like carrots again, red peppers, oranges things like that, squash. they offer up the electron to the free radical, basically helping you to stay under control

so it doesn't start to attack our body in order to gain that free that extra electron. so, we want that in the diet because we're exposed to things constantly that create free radical damage. mendez: so, that's why it's important that every time you eat again, you treat it as an opportunity to give yourself something that is medicinal in nature, something that's going to boost your immune system, something that's going to help with free radical damage, and help slow the aging process. not just for your skin but for your body in general. dixon: and when we come back we'll find out how sunscreen helps prevent free radical damage and can even avoid free radicals in the first place. when face facts continues. coleman: hello, i'm sharon coleman and we'll return to face facts in just a moment, but right now i'm here with dana perdue, skin care specialist. dana is an expert and an educator and an advocate for skin fitness. dana, thank you so much for being here. perdue: thanks, sharon. it's great to be here. coleman: this program is full of so much information that everyone can use. now dana, i have to tell you, just in these few moments i have

learned so much and i know you'll get a chance to learn more, too. and we'll get a chance to talk with dana more in just a minute, but right now we're going to take a brief break and we're going to give you a chance to show your support for this public television station. for your generous contribution we have some special think you gifts. when you contribute at the $90 level, we'll send you the perfect makeup brush collection which contains five essential makeup brushes for expert application. contribute at the $120 level and you'll receive a dvd of the program you've been watching, face facts, with 30 minutes of bonus material. when you go all out for the station and contribute at the $275 level you'll receive the face facts skin care and makeup package, which incdes the face facts dvd, the set of makeup brushes, and these exciting products from cosmedix and pur minerals, products like the pur mineral's perfectly natural everyday balancing makeup, perfect for any skin color or type, cosmedix's benefit clean and gentle cleanser.

it's safe and designed to calm and protect all skin types, cosmedix's hydrate plus daily moisturizer with spf 17. this light, antioxidant moisturizer hydrates the skin while protecting it from sun exposure. please go to the phone and make that call now. remember, public television is truly your trusted source for programming like this. but just like you need the right information to keep your skin looking and feeling its best, we need your support to keep this station healthy and vital and performing at its best. your participation is valued, essential, and deeply appreciated. please call the number on your screen right now. dana, what's the best approach to healthy skin? perdue: well, first i would tell them not to over think it. i think that there's a common misconception that you have to have six products to be able to see a dramatic result in your skin. so i would tell them to keep it simple, focus on a cleanser

that's going to work for you, based on the ingredient deck, all of the fabulous ingredients that we've talked about and then incorporate your sun protection, your physical block, and at night use a retinol agp-based product. those three things alone are going to give you really healthy, radiant skin in a very, very simple am and pm regimen. coleman: we're about to return to the show but we still need your call of support. any amount is appreciated and we do have some special ways to say thank you if you can contribute at a certain level. these are wonderful tools that will help you to have healthy, beautiful skin that all of us want. at the same time your contribution will help this station to remain healthy and beautiful, too. when you make that call of support we have some wonderful ways to say thank you. when you contribute at the $90 level, you'll receive the perfect makeup brush collection, which contains essential brushes for expert makeup application. these all natural, cruelty-free makeup brushes come in a sleek

zippered black makeup case. the perfect makeup brush collection includes a powder brush, utility brush, blush brush, eye shadow brush and covered lip brush. five makeup brushes for your contribution of $90. when you contribute at the $120 level, we'll send you a dvd of face facts, the program that you've been watching. this is the entire, uninterrupted show as seen on public television and also includes an additional 30 minutes of bonus material, which features a discussion about choosing products and makeup application techniques. when you contribute at the $275 level, you'll receive the face facts skin care and makeup package, which includes the face facts dvd, the set of makeup brushes, and these exciting products from cosmedix and pur minerals, like the pur mineral's perfectly natural everyday balancing makeup. perfectly natural provides a barely there shine free coverage, with a sheer soft focus finish,

ideal for any skin color or type. it combines the purest mineral pigment with vitamin e and shea butter. this paraben-free breathable balancing powder is your solution to a naturally flawless shine-free look. you can use it alone for a natural look, or even as a finishing powder to your foundation, and these products from cosmedix will provide the perfect addition to your skin. cosmedix's benefit clean, gentle cleanser is enhanced with shea butter and an impurity-filtering mineral. it's safe and gentle. it's designed to calm and protect all skin types. you'll also receive the cosmedix's hydrate plus daily moisturizer with spf 17. this light, antioxidant moisturizer hydrates the skin while protecting it from sun exposure. it contains advanced zinc oxide and provides exceptional uv protection without irritating synthetic chemicals. at whatever level you can give, we appreciate your support. please make that call now. as a consumer advocate you talk to consumers all the time.

what's the most common question you're asked? perdue: the most common question i'm asked is what is the quick fix, the magic potion, the magic wand? what can i do to vy quickly see changes in the skin? and really the most important thing are the products that we choose day in and day out that are working for us, using those active ingredients, the antioxidants, the physical sun blocks, the retinols. all of those things are going to give us those changes in the skin but there is no quick fix and that is my most frequently asked question. coleman: if you've already called in your support, thank you, and if you haven't yet made that call, won't you please go to the phone right now? remember, we deeply appreciate your support at whatever level you can contribute. thanks and enjoy the show. [music]

dixon: we've learned a few basics of the physical structure of the skin and how those structures can be impacted by stressors in the environment. sun exposure and sun damage will rapidly accelerate aging processes. nightly news programs are filled with stories about the dangers of excessive sun exposure and the need to wear sunscreen. there are real scientific reasons behind these warnings. some of it has to do with free radicals. lana: they're created by mainly radiation. mainly. but they could be created by a bad chemical reaction providing the cell in any way with the wrong compounds could lead to that, acidic structures could lead to that. dixon: there is a long history behind the study of how our skin interacts with the sun ever since ultraviolet rays were discovered in 1801. this led to the first commercially available sunscreen, produced in 1928 in the united states.

sunscreens were soon widely available, although not widely used. it wasn't until 1962, when a product's ability to block ultraviolet rays became known as the sun protection factor, or spf. but what does spf really mean to a consumer? lana: all the sun blocks are meant to allow you to be in the sun roughly the number of minutes of their spf. so, if you're not coated with a certain amount of spf evenly, lets just say spf 15 , after 15 minutes or 20 minutes, you start to feel the effects of the sun. so, no protection could mean that five minutes are a lot. with spf regularly applied, now you have a half hour walk through the burning sun is ok. is it ever really ok? no, it's not a titanium umbrella it's simply a compound of crushed up sometimes titanium dioxide, sometimes these lovely ring it'structures compound that sort of detonate all the free radicals

and absorb the energy. but you know, it's not as good as not going in the sun. dixon: sunscreens are only effective when they are still present. if they sweat off the skin or have been exposed to water, they lose their functionality. sunscreens are classified in two main categories physical and chemical. day: chemical sunscreens are ingredients that help absorb the uv rays, the ultraviolet rays, uva or uvb and make them less harmful to the skin. try to inactivate them. physical sunscreens are things like zinc and titanium that create basically a layer, almost like clothing, on our skin. some people don't like the physical sunscreens because they are often pasty and opaque, you can see them on the skin, and people don't' like the way that feels. the good thing about physical sunscreens is because they don't penetrate, what they do is more reflect and scatter the light more than absorb it and because they're not penetrating the skin,

you really don't become allergic to it. so people who think that they have a lot of sensitivity to sunscreen ingredients may look for a physical sunscreen rather than a chemical sunscreen ingredient. dixon: and sunscreens are often integrated into makeup, as well. cole: sunscreen in makeup is the best idea because one, it creates that physical shield against the sun. two, what it does as well is sits on top of the skin so a lot of women, especially myself included, we are allergic to the chemical spfs that absorb into our skin where you have to constantly reapply. i mean, think about going to the beach. how many times do you have to reapply your sunscreen? every 20, 40 minutes you need to reapply sunscreen in order for it to be active. now with the natural spf what it does is it lays on top of the skin and when you do need to reapply, it's just a little touch up of makeup, that's all it is. it just adds a little bit more performance throughout the day. dixon: when it comes to the physical sunscreens, an important ingredient is titanium dioxide,

which is often a part of mineral makeup. cole: well, mineral makeup, what it does is with the titanium dioxide think of it as a shield to the sun. most chemicals absorb into the skin and so you have to reapply, reapply, reapply, where, with natural spf, with the titanium dioxide, it creates a shield against the sun so that way it just bounces off and it does not get to penetrate the skin. so it's the absolute best sun protection you can put on the skin. dixon: scientists continue to discover ways to protect against the harmful rays of the sun. researchers are even trying to discover an approach toward sun protection that may eventually be taken in a pill that would have the same protection as a sunscreen. one way to help the body combat the effects of sun damage is through antioxidants. scientists are beginning to study a substance called astaxanthin, found in red ocean plants and animals, such as salmon that seems to have very protective properties. mendez: astaxanthin which is very popular now

because they're finding that it lps prevent the oxidation of the bad cholesterol, so it helps prevent plaque build-up in the arterial wall, and it has also been shown to protect against free radical damage on the skin. it protects almost, it protects every single layer of the skin from free radical damage. dixon: understanding the potential dangers of aging, free radicals, and other environmental stressors can help anyone become a more educated consumer. understanding ingredients that are in those products is a second critical component to creating an effective skin care regime. [music] dixon: because the skin interacts directly with the environment, taking good care of it is not just vanity but rather a key step in protecting your overall health and wellness. the skin is a masterful frontline defense, too, as it can and does regenerate itself through exfoliation. loucas: the process of exfoliation is actually the cells form down in the basal layer

and then they differentiate up to the stratum corneum and then at the stratum corneum there's like 15 -20 layers of compact cells that gradually exfoliate. and the exfoliation process occurs naturally and the skin will exfoliate at various ages. at younger ages it will tend to happen at a, at a quicker rate in older it might happen at a slower rate, but it happens as a natural process. and these outer layers will gradually peel off on their own. day: so, exfoliating the skin does help promote skin cell turnover and can be helpful. the trick is to be careful not to over-exfoliate because we do need some of that outer skin layer day: and if your skin is very fair, that outer skin layer, that stratum corneum, actually also helps with sun protection and that may be all the sun protection you have if your skin is very fair. so you really don't' want to strip it away entirely. loucas: a lot of people who use exfoliating products will use masks or they'll use exfoliating scrubs that often contain granules.

y'know, i think both are fine, both do work, i just would recommend that people don't exfoliate on a daily basis. keep it to once or twice a week, because i think what happens is people need to know is that your skin has essential oils on it and if you exfoliate on a daily basis or frequently and it's in the middle of the winter for instance and there's dry heat in your house you'll you'll end up taking those essential oils off your skin and actually cause more damage and harm than good. so i think you need to find that balance and if you're not sure where that balance is, visiting your local dermatologist wouldn't be a bad idea to kind of get a baseline of where you stand. dixon: exfoliation allows for new cells to grow beneath and replace the dead layer above. the skin cells below then regenerate. in the past, makeup was often a contributing problem toward the process of healthy skin regeneration. cole: well, makeup has changed from the past that makeup was clearly for coverage and color.

that's what it was for. it didn't matter what it was made from, and it was just meant to give us a mask, if you will, and literally, i mean, when i say mask, i mean, mask. i mean, your makeup would be about this thick across the skin. you just were not yourself underneath. now makeup allows your true skin to shine through so that it's not a cover up like a mask, it is giving you great coverage but it's lighter. it sets on top of the skin. it doesn't get absorbed by the skin, it doesn't suffocate your skin. so if you have sensitive skin, you could wear the makeup today, where before you would have to go without because your skin would just be clogged up. and then also it's not as aging, it's not as drying. a lot of concealers and foundations and things would just dry on the skin and just make you look ten times older, even though you were still in your 20's. now makeup is about giving you that hydration, that beautiful all over youthful look without any of the nastys. there's no talcs, there's no oils,

fragrant, fillers, chemical dyes. you want to avoid all of that in order to give you your best face. dixon: achieving your best face sometimes requires an active approach toward exfoliation. one popular effective exfoliant is lactic acid. [music] lana: the role lactic acid plays is it's a component of nmf, the natural moisturizing factor that exist within the corneacytes of the skin. quick definition, a corneacyte is a flat protein envelope. as you move down the skin, the lactic acid is in those corneacytes helping to balance the water of it. day: lactic acid helps by making the skin cells, that mortar-and-brick that i was talking about, a little less sticky. though, so it makes the glue that holds the skin cells together less sticky and so those skin cells are able to gently exfoliate off without irritating the skin and that can make the skin smoother.

it also helps pull water into the skin, so at the same time it's helping to hydrate and moisturize the skin. dixon: in fact, lactic acid has been used for centuries, with evidence that it was used during the time of queen cleopatra. loucas: lactic acid is an alpha-hydroxy acid. so hydroxy-acids are broken down into alpha hydroxy and beta hydroxy acids. and so alpha hydroxy acids includes glycolic acid and lactic acid. the way the, the hydroxy acids work is they compact the epidermis is, is the easiest way to explain it. is they form a nice seal over the epidermis, or the stratum corneum, the outer layer. there's also some evidence that it may actually increase collagen or improve the ground substance, or the matrix of the dermis. in other words, increase the production of what the collagen and elastic fibers sit in within the dermis. dixon: some chemical peels utilize the properties of lactic acid to aid in exfoliation.

but chemical peels contain different active ingredients and have many different risks for their rewards. lana: peels differ in their mechanisms. some of them are caustic or burny, they are acids basically. some of them are toxic. they introduce something lethal to the skin they're not burning anymore, they're melting things down. you will get a much deeper burn as it melts down protein structures to get to a new surface to get the skin to know something's wrong, make me some skin. however, the problem is the skin proliferates after inflammation and damage, but it doesn't achieve the level of collagen that normal skin has. so such skin may come back smooth, very smooth, because you've wiped the surface, there's nothing left of the surface. what you see at the top is new but it will not have thickness or elasticity so it's extremely taut. dixon: another common substance in skin care is glycolic acid.

day: glycolic acid works in a similar fashion, so these are both alpha-hydroxy acids. lactic acid is a little bit more gentle and glycolic acid can be stronger which can make it more or less irritating to the s. but the idea is similar in that it makes the skin cells less sticky and helps them exfoliate. lana: glycolic acid's interaction with the skin is a bit unnatural. first because it doesn't occur in the skin, so there's no reason the skin should be like yay, we got some glycolic. it's not familiar. it's also an extremely potent acid. i don't think it's the right currency for acids even though it's popular. what it's doing is it's basically dissolving the top layer of the skin. and that a is desirable thing to do because the skin sheds constantly and anything that helps the shedding process can in the right amounts, help the skin turnover. turnover signals the lower layers of the skin

to turnover more skin and this process prevents the surface from looking dull and wrinkled and also creates a healthier overall skin. with glycolic, you will get some side reactions. [music] day: when you apply a moisturizer to the skin, what you're doing is ideally locking the water in the skin into the skin and helping prevent loss of water and depending on what kind of moisturizer you're using, you may also help pull water from the environment into the skin as well. the best time to apply a moisturizer is right after a bath or shower when your skin is already full of water. when you take a bath or shower and your fingers look pruney, they look that way because they are water-logged. they have so much water in them that that's how they look. so if you apply a moisturizer then that's thick and rich in emollients, it's actually going to help lock that water into the skin

and help keep your skin looking hydrated and smooth. cole: moisturizer has met makeup in the sense that we are now asking and wanting ingredients that are going to give us moisturization throughout the day. in the evening, our skin nourishes, protects, repairs and restores itself, but how many of us are getting eight hours of sleep these days? not many. so we are in our makeup from 8, 10, 12 even longer throughout the day and so we need a makeup that is actually going to incorporate ouday skin regimen into our daily long wear and that's where moisturizer and makeup meet. shea butter is a great ingredient for this and i know shea butter kind of freaks people out, especially if they have oily skin, because why would you want to put something that has an oily consistency on the skin if you already have oily skin? but with shea butter being a natural product, it nourishes the skin, it's micronized down so it's the the thinnest little film that goes to the skin giving you great hydration, adhesability, nourishing, nourishment to the skin,

but also makes your skin look its best. so this actually works as a moisturizer within your mineral makeup and gives you that extra little, little kick to your day skin care regimen. dixon: moisturizer can help normal skin retain a healthy appearance. there is a common misconception that wrinkles are the result of a lack of moisture. lana: well, a wrinkle is made by a collapse of collagen structures. so, if the collagen is supposed to be aligned straight and it cross-links because it's damaged and it doesn't build as nicely, or you're getting older and you can't pump it out as well eventually, it looks, the structure falls apart and starts collapsing. now, there is so many reactions in the skin that could have gone wrong to get to that point and then there's uv damage. so, let's assume some of all of those happened, right? okay. some lack of cellular components, bad nutrition, uv damage

the skin starts, you know, not looking so good because you can't make or repair the collagen structure fast enough. so there it goes. now, whats the role of moisture after that's happened? moisture can't do much about bad structural features, it just can't. there's no way and that i think people know viscerally. that's why most people say creams don't work. i think creams do work today and they do something, but they may not do miracles, most of them, but they do something. but what they don't do is just put some moisture in a depleted structural element and fill it. that's the injection craze, dixon: as a result of the myth of moisture, many people may overuse moisturizers. this overuse can cause dull, dry skin as old cells become trapped on the epidermal layer. further complicating matters are the economics of skin care product manufacturing.

in order to deliver moisturizers to market affordably, many companies may use lower-cost ingredients. perdue: many people think that they have sensitive skin and they will say "oh, you know, i get red, i am irritated, i am peeling i'm flaking and they will say "i've got sensitive skin" but when you really talk to the client and you talk with them about their skin, what products they are using. a lot of times it's actually the products that are exacerbating the condition that they are trying to treat in the first place. cost is a huge concern within the cosemeceutical industry and there has got to be a balance with creating a fantastic formula that's going to be effective, that's going to give the consumer what they want from a results standpoint but also be reasonable from a manufacturing standpoint in, in cost, so ingredient cost is something that's at the forefront with all cosmeceutical companies. and, you know, some choose ingredients wisely

and they are the best of the best and those will generally be your, your higher priced products. however, within our industry you also have companies that make a very cheap formulation but put it in a really pretty package and that can be very deceiving to the consumer as well. dixon: what makes an effective moisturizer, you have to start with a good formulation and good ingredients day: so there are lots of different ingredients we look for, like hyaluronic acid, shea butter, sometimes lactic acid can be used and urea even. these ingredients, some of them are humectants glycerin can be in there. some people may be more or less sensitive to some of these ingredients, so you'll have to pick and choose based on what works for you. but typically they help, help keep the skin well-hydrated, meaning holding water into the skin and locking the water into the skin there. and when you have water in the skin, that makes it look and feel more radiant, more vibrant and more elastic.

dixon: a main component in the formulation of skin care products and makeup is an emulsifier, which binds the oil and the water in a moisturizer together. they work in concert with emollients. cole: when you're looking for a great makeup, you want to look for something that has more of an emollient compound. because what the emollient compound does is that it actually hydrates the skin throughout the day so you want something that's going to be a bit more hydrating. emulsifiers are what we add into creams and things to hold their consistency together. so if you think about the separation of your products onto the skin, the emulsifiers are going to hold it together so that it contains its creamy substance. emollients are going to give you that hydration and great emollients you can get them in natural form of shea butter and vitamin e. so these are going to give you not only a great antioxidants into the skin, but they're also going to give you that extra hydration throughout the day. perdue: there are a variety of different emollients

on the market and most commonly you'll find water-soluble shea butter, which is a fantastic ingredient for formulations. hydrolanic acid has been very popular over the years as well, so those are just a few of the, of the emollients that we would consider great for a skin care ingredient loucas: i think the key is using them. i think using them on a, on a regular basis. i think what ends up happening is people start to use emollients or moisturizers for several days and then they stop and then they start. it's kind of like exercising. you know if you exercise kind of on a regular basis, you're going to be a lot better off than somebody who sporadically does these things. so i think a lot of these ingredients that that are contained in most of these emollients and moisturizers are effective. i think a cream based moisturizer is very important and works better than lotion. actually, in certain people, when a lotion is applied to dry skin, it actually does not trap moisture,

it actually has a drying effect in some people. so, the best time to apply emollients and apply moisturizers is after you come out of the shower dixon: there are often many ingredients used to create skin care products. and sometimes there are chemicals used that are less than ideal. cole: some of the ingredients you might want to avoid when looking at different products are oils, petroleum oils, mineral oils, talcs, fragrance, added fragrance. these are things that are just common irritants to the skin. also chemical dyes. now there we have come so far in makeup that we can get our color derived from natural minerals. we don't need chemical dyes in order to get great color. so you want to really avoid these because, one, it can suffocate the skin, it can irritate the skin, it can inflame your skin and so you just really want to be able to wear makeup that doesn't have these things ill achieve the great coverage, great color, and skin benefits.

[music] lana: propylene glycol is a substance that is a part of many, many compounds, many. it's used to create some kind of consistency in cosmeceuticals. it's a little bit harmful, i would say, it's something one would want to remove. it's used as a solvent basically. better products police against it. parabens are something that get removed from the better products. they are derivatives of the benzenes and aromatics that people don't like to have on their skin. shea butter, a wonderful fat, perfectly resembles the skin. you take a block of shea butter, put it along your hand, it's gone, it's not greasy because it went somewhere. the skin recognized it and let it in. dixon: ingredients and formulations of modern skin care products

are very similar in many ways to today's modern cosmetics, as well. makeup can actually act as an extension of skin care. cole: women wear makeup for a multitude of reasons. i personally wear makeup because i feel like it really helps me to put my best foot forward. it really gives confidence to women if it's put on properly. if they learn and take the time to to apply it properly. gomez: well, i'm lucky to have celebrities that usually have great skin but i have worked with real women at the counters and i have helped them with their concerns so women should choose their makeup according to their skin type. is it oily, is it dry, is it sensitive? and women should look for products that are multitasking, that will give you coverage, that would give you some protection and that would nourish your skin. cole: makeup and skin care exist now together because we are really wanting all the benefits that we're getting from our skin care. we are looking for copper, we're looking for zinc,

we're looking for vitamin e, we're looking for shea butter, we're looking for things that are going to give us anti-aging also in our cosmetics, whether it be from our foundation, whether it be from our concealers, we're wanting anti-aging in our our cosmetics as well as in our skin care. and in that way they work together to really enhance what each one does, that's giving us hydration, that's giving us moisturization, that's giving nourishment to the skin so that way our skin does what it's meant to do, and that's nourish protect, and restore itself. dixon: skin care and makeup can work with the body's own chemistry and when we come back, we'll discover the scientific principle behind today's modern skin care products that makes that possible and al get a demo with jackie gomez, the makeup artist who toured with beyonce when face facts returns. coleman: welcome back, i'm sharon coleman and here in the studio with me today is dana perdue, skin care specialist and educator. dana, thank you for joining us today.

perdue: i'm so happy to be here. coleman: we'll get back to the show in a moment but as you may have guessed, we're here right now taking some time to ask for your support for programs like this one that further public television's goal of lifelong learning. and we have some great gifts that will help you continue that learning and take it to the next level in your life. when you contribute at the $90 level, you'll receive the perfect makeup brush collection which contains essential brushes for expert makeup application. these makeup brushes come in a sleek, zippered, black makeup case. the perfect makeup brush collection includes the powder brush, blush brush, utility brush, eye shadow brush and covered lip brush. five makeup brushes for your contribution of $90. when you contribute at the $120 level, we will send you a dvd of face facts, the program that you've been watching. this is the entire, uninterrupted show as seen on public television and also includes an additional

30 minutes of bonus material, which features a discussion about choosing products and makeup application techniques. when you contribute at the $275 level, you will receive the face facts skin care and makeup package, which includes the face facts dvd, the set of makeup brushes, and these exciting products from cosmedix and pur minerals, like the pur minerals perfectly natural everyday balancing makeup. perfectly natural provides a barely there shine free coverage, with a sheer soft focus finish. it's perfect for any skin color or type. it combines the purest mineral pigment with vitamin e and shea butter. this breathable balancing powder is your solution to a naturally flawless shine-free look. and these products from cosmedix will provide t perfect addition to your skincare regimen. cosmedix's benefit clean, gentle cleanser is enhanced with shea butter and an impurity filtering mineral.

it's safe and gentle and it's designed to calm and protect all skin types. you'll also receive the cosmedix's hydrate plus daily moisturizer with spf 17. this light, antioxidant moisturizer hydrates the skin while protecting it from sun exposure. it contains advanced zinc oxide and provides exceptional uv protection without irritating synthetic chemicals. at whatever level you can give, we appreciate your support. please make that call now. so are wrinkles caused by dry skin? perdue: no, and that's a common misconception as well. wrinkles are not caused by dry skin. now, drier skin types may notice the wrinkles a little bit more, coleman: sure. perdue: but the two do not go together. wrinkles are caused by your genetic makeup and then also your lifestyle choices, photo damage, being out in the sun too often, tanning, people that are smokers are going to age more rapidly than non-smokers.

so there are many, many things that come into play when we're talking about wrinkles but genetics and lifestyle. coleman: so if dry skin doesn't cause wrinkles, then i'm wondering if we're doing more damage by putting a ton of moisturizer on our face? perdue: sure, i think that that's common. i think that, you know, if our skin feels dry it's our instinct to just slather on... coleman: sure. perdue: something that is going to temporarily, temporarily being the key word there, fix the problem. the problem is that with all of that product use, especially if you're not using a product that's working for you, if you're using things that are laden with chemicals, with preservatives, those types of things, you can actually be hydrating the upper layer of the skin but because of all of the additives, dehydrating the skin. so it's a vicious cycle that you get into. among other things you can also, if you were over hydrating, and too much of a good thing, you know, is not good for anyone, you know, a lot of people think if a little bit of hydration is

good, then a lot is better. well, sometimes, again, going back to exacerbating certain skin conditions, if you are over using emollient products, particularly those that are laden with all of the things that we've talked about, you can then have conditions like congestion in the pore, breakouts, that kind of thing, and so more is not always better. coleman: well, i know i have so much to learn on this subject and i know that only public television provides programming like this, if you find yourself coming to this station time and time again for shows just like these, please take a moment now to become a member. thank you. when you contribute at the $90 level, you'll receive the perfect makeup brush collection, which contains essential brushes for expert makeup application. these makeup brushes come in a sleek, zippered, black makeup case. the perfect makeup brush collection includes a powder brush, utility makeup brush, blush brush, eye shadow brush and covered lip brush.

five makeup brushes that will help you put your best face forward every day for your contribution of $90. when you contribute at the $120 level, we'll send you a dvd of face facts, the program that you've been watching. this is the entire, uninterrupted show as seen on public television and it also includes an additional 30 minutes of bonus material, which features a discussion about choosing products and makeup application techniques. when you contribute at the $275 level, you'll receive the face facts skin care and makeup package, which includes the face facts dvd, the set of makeup brushes, and these exciting products from cosmedix and pur minerals, like the pur minerals perfectly natural everyday balancing makeup. perfectly natural provides a barely there shine free coverage, with a sheer soft focus finish, perfect for any skin color or type. it combines the purestineral pigment with vitamin e

and shea butter. this breathable balancing powder is your solution to a naturally flawless shine-free look, and these products from cosmedix will provide the perfect addition to your skincare regimen. cosmedix's benefit clean and gentle cleanser is enhanced with shea butter and zeolite, an impurity filtering mineral. it gently purges the skin of heavy metals, environmental pollutants, dirt and makeup for a clean finish. benefit clean is designed to calm and protect all skin types. you will also receive the cosmedix's hydrate plus daily moisturizer with spf 17, with a formula rich in natural emollients and antioxidants, including the super antioxidant astaxanthin. this light, daily moisturizer hydrates the skin and protects it from free radicals and sun exposure. with an advanced zinc oxide formula hydrate plus provides exceptional uv protection without irritating synthetic chemicals.

at whatever level you can give, we appreciate your support. please make that call now. in terms of shea butter, i've touched it before and it seems really thick to me. so when i think of putting it on my skin, i think that it will clog my pores, but that's not the answer. perdue: think past one single ingredient. shea butter is an amazing ingredient but all shea butters are not the same. there are water-soluble shea butters. so again, it's not just one ingredient in the product that you're looking at. you're looking at the ingredients combined together and shea butter as a part of a fabulous formulation is incredibly effective at hydrating, at helping to correct dehydration associated with certain skin conditions, and contrary to popular belief, it is not going to be too emollient, it's not going to interfere with your makeup application or feel too heavy.

coleman: now, i've heard you talking about how makeup and skincare work together. how is that the case? how do they work together? perdue: well, it's like we were talking about earlier. when we choose products, we are choosing products that are going to make a change in the skin. our skin is going to look fabulous, we're going to be radiant. as we said earlier, at that time then do we really want to apply a makeup product, for instance, that is laden with oils and chemicals that can actually either exacerbate a skin condition we're trying to treat or worse, cause congestion, breakout, that kind of thing? so it really is makeup should be looked at as protecting your investment. you're investing in fabulous skincare products so that we can turn back the clock, we can decrease pigment, acne, fine lines, all of those things, and so we want to take it a step further and then choose makeup that is going to work for us and enhance those changes in the skin, not against us.

so it is very, very important. coleman: now if you've already made that call of support, we thank you. but if not, won't you please make that call now? when you make that call of support, we have some wonderful ways to say thank you. when you contribute at the $90 level, you'll receive the perfect makeup brush collection, which contains essential brushes for expert makeup application. these all natural, cruelty-free makeup brushes come in a sleek, zippered, black makeup case. the perfect makeup brush collection includes a powder brush, utility brush, blush brush, eye shadow brush and covered lip brush. five makeup brushes for your contribution of $90. when you contribute at the $120 level, we'll send you a dvd of face facts, the program that you've been watching. this is the entire, uninterrupted show as seen on public television and also includes an additional 30 minutes of bonus material. when you contribute at the $275 level, you'll receive the face

facts skin care and makeup package, which includes the face facts dvd, the set of makeup brushes, and these exciting products from cosmedix and pur minerals, like the pur minerals perfectly natural everyday balancing makeup. perfectly natural provides a barely there shine-free coverage, with a sheer soft focus finish, ideal for any skin color or type. it combines the purest mineral pigment with vitamin e and shea butter. this paraben-free breathable balancing powder is your solution to a naturally flawless shine-free look. you can use it alone for a natural look, or even as a finishing powder to your foundation, and these products from cosmedix will provide the perfect addition to your skin. cosmedix's benefit clean, gentle cleanser is enhanced with shea butter and an impurity filtering mineral. it's safe and gentle. it's designed to calm and protect all skin types. you'll also receive the cosmedix's hydrate plus daily

moisturizer with spf 17. this light, antioxidant moisturizer hydrates the skin while protecting it from sun exposure. it contains advanced zinc oxide and provides exceptional uv protection without irritating synthetic chemicals. at whatever level you can give, we appreciate your support. please make that call now. we're going back to the show again and we want to continue to provide programs that have the ability to stimulate, enlighten, educate, inform, challenge, entertain and amuse. we feel this public television station has a special mandate to serve many different audiences and the power to keep this unique source of high quality programming available rests in your hands. that's because it's viewers just like you who voluntarily offer their financial support during these pledge drives and that's what makes all of our wonderful and diverse programming available. so please remember your support at whatever level you choose

makes a big difference to us and to the thousands of people throughout this community who depend on this public television station for great information and entertaining programming. now, if you've already made that call of support, we thank you, but if not, won't you make that call now? [ music ] dixon: what you put on your skin is important and choosing the right products for your type of skin can make the difference between looking healthy and appearing dull. how you apply those products in the case of your make-up can also make a big difference. makeup artist jackie gomez explains her technique during this makeup session. gomez: so we're going to start moisturizing from the center of the skin. actually we want to be sure to moisturize our lips as well