Sober October
As we enter Sober October in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support and look to cut out alcohol for a month.
Here Dr Pauline Hili, one of the UK’s top organic skincare experts, Founder of Nourish London and Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry reveals the 5 main ways that alcohol applied daily damages the skin:
1. Ethanol will interact with the skin's natural lipids and destroy their structure. Damage to this lipid layer results in the skin being less able to protect itself from the external environment leading to dryness and flakiness.
2. Ethanol effects the natural skin bacteria that help keep the skin looking healthy.
3. For sensitive skin types alcohol will increase the irritation potential of the skin dramatically.
4.Can create localised inflammation that results in redness, dullness and longer term enlarged pores.
5. Ethanol can increase skins permeability to damaging chemicals.
Dr Pauline Hili adds: “Here at Nourish London we do not use any ethanol in our products. It was one of our golden formulation rules whilst developing the range. Although, as a formulator I acknowledge that ethanol applied topically in certain medicated antiseptics has a place, for everyday skin care, the negatives outweigh any positives and that is why we choose to formulate Nourish London without it. By avoiding using ethanol in our products, it also means we have just a little more room to include vitamins and minerals that have a real nutritional value to the skin.”
Nourish London is an alcohol–free, 100% vegan, certified organic, ethically sourced and cruelty-free skincare range that innovatively combines the highest quality natural extracts with advanced scientific bio-actives to nurture the skin and deliver visible results. Nourish London uses natural plant extracts and superfoods to protect, support and stimulate the skin’s natural processes.