The Skin

Home
Beauty
Healthy Skin
The Skin
Acne
Skin Cancer
Nails
Hair
Soap
Herbal Shampoo

The Skin

The skin is made up of three layers, each with its own important parts.

Epidermis
The layer on the outside is called the epidermis The epidermis is the part of your skin you can see. So no matter how modest you are or how much you cover up, your epidermis is always showing!

At the bottom of the epidermis, new skin cells are forming. When the cells are ready, they start moving toward the top of your epidermis. This trip takes about 2 weeks to a month. As newer cells continue to move up, older cells near the top die and rise to the surface of your skin.

These old cells are tough and strong, just right for covering your body and protecting it. But they only stick around for a little while. Soon, they'll flake off when you wash, put on your clothes, play. In fact, every minute of the day we lose about 40,000 dead skin cells off the surface of our skin.

Melanin
This is what gives skin its colour. The darker your skin is, the more melanin you have. And when you go out into the sun, these cells make extra melanin to protect you from getting burned by the sun's ultraviolet, or UV, rays. This is why your skin gets tan if you spend a lot of time in the sun. But even though melanin is mighty, it can't shield you all by itself. That's where wearing sunscreen comes in - to protect your skin from painful sunburns.

Dermis
The next layer down is the dermis, you can't see your dermis because it's hidden under your epidermis. But don't be fooled, it may be below the surface, but the dermis is really important. It contains nerve endings, blood vessels, oil glands, and sweat glands, and all of these play a big part in keeping you and your skin healthy.

The nerve endings in your dermis tell you how things feel when you touch them. They work with your brain and nervous system to let your hands feel things. The nerve endings of the dermis also work with your muscles to keep you from getting hurt. If you touch something hot, the nerve endings in your dermis respond right away, the nerves quickly send a message to the brain or spinal cord, which then immediately commands the muscles to take your hand away.

Your dermis is also full of tiny blood vessels. These keep your skin cells healthy by bringing them the oxygen and nutrients they need. Blood vessels also carry away wastes. It's pretty hard to have a look at your own blood vessels, but older people (like your grandparents' age) have visible blood vessels. That's because as the dermis gets older, it gets thinner, and the skin becomes more transparent.

Oil Glands
The dermis is home to the oil glands, too. These are also called sebaceous glands, and they are always producing sebum. Sebum is your skin's own natural oil. It rises to the surface of your epidermis to keep your skin lubricated and protected. It also makes your skin waterproof - as long as sebum's on the scene, your skin won't absorb water and get soggy.

Sebum doesn't always work alone, either, it works with sweat. When you sweat, the sweat rises up from your sweat glands onto your epidermis. Even though you can't feel it, you actually sweat a tiny bit all the time. The sweat comes up through pores tiny holes in the skin that allow it to escape.