Hello! I have been working as a doctor for 22 years. My name is Georgy Olegovich Sapego. In this article I will tell you about the lies about glycerin in care products.
To begin with, there is a scientific approach to the effect of glycerin on the skin, and there are different stories. According to legends, glycerin will dry out the skin, draw out all the water from its depths, and the skin will wrinkle. In English it sounds like this: In certain conditions, glycerin can dehydrate the skin. That is, under certain conditions, glycerin can draw water from the skin.
This is nonsense. And this nonsense wanders from one near-cosmetic resource to another. Literally with the same English words.
I will explain. There are several iron principles through which glycerin protects the skin.
Moisturizing
Glycerin holds water and prevents it from evaporating. I must say right away that this effect is very useful in winter.
If it ended with cosmetics and products for the care of young healthy skin, then one could argue. But here everything is grown-up. Glycerin is an icon for people with eczema and they can't be wrong.
Eczema
Eczema is cracks and redness in the skin due to hereditary characteristics. In such people, the skin loses water too quickly. They lack the protein they need.
Without water, cracks are obtained, into which external chemistry and infection penetrate. Our body reacts badly to the introduction of any nasty stuff inside it, so the cracks instantly begin to inflame and itch.
If you moisturize the skin, it will not crack. Some petroleum jelly simply creates a lid on wet skin through which water cannot evaporate. Glycerin works more cunningly. It literally grabs and holds the water in place.
Opponents of glycerin believe that glycerin will draw water from the deep layers of the skin, and it will wither. In fact, the outer layers of the skin wither and crack. Moreover, it is precisely these outer layers that glycerin supports. Nothing is pulled through the skin.
Pickles
It looks like this bike came from the area of salt water lotions. There people also thought that salt draws the juices out of us. No. Nothing is pulled through the skin. Glycerin is found in all our fat and cell membranes. This is not some kind of extraneous chemistry. He is ours, and he is dear.
Allergen test
Glycerin is even used as a control lotion in allergy testing. That is, the allergen in glycerin is applied to the skin and, separately, just glycerin. This is done on purpose, because there is almost never any bad reaction to glycerin.
Liquid, not hardness
Glycerin permeates the outer layer of the skin and holds water there. Due to glycerin, those parts of the skin that should become hard in dry air remain liquid. There are no cracks in a liquid. Therefore, glycerin protects the skin from damage.
Cold
There is another very interesting feature here. Glycerin is used to protect living cells from freezing. Well, that is, something can be stored in glycerin at a low temperature, and it will not turn into a hard ice.
It turns out that glycerin acts as an antifreeze. Even if you are slightly frozen, glycerin will not allow ice crystals to appear, which tear and destroy the skin.
Emulsion
The third use of glycerin in skin products is as an emulsion. Some products, such as sunscreen, are predominantly fat-soluble. They should be applied to the whole body, but being covered with oil is not very convenient. Therefore, sunscreens are dissolved in water with glycerin. Glycerin supports the smallest droplets of fat inside the water.
I don't know where the story about the harm of glycerin came from, but the bike really exists and is repeated word for word on various near-cosmetic sites. Have you come across such stories?
Like and subscribe to my channel. Check out my articles on related topics:
Glycerol
Calamine Lotion is said to have a skin-friendly mineral, but I know there used to be simple rust in there.
