My 52 Week Project

Let’s start at the top.

The Epidermis is comprised of the outermost layers of your skin, and provides the first line of defense.

The most common cell type in the epidermis are keratinocytes. These cells are our protectors, protecting against infections, UV light. They’re produced in the deepest layer of the epidermis (the basal layer), and here they either continue to produce more keratinocytes (stem cells), whereas others start to get pushed outwards towards the surface of the skin.

They next become prickle cells (in the aptly named prickle layer). At this point the cells have a “prickly” appearance, creating a net-like structure. This is where the strength of the epidermis comes from, and acts as protection for the layers below.

The keratinocytes next move into the granular layer, where they start to be flattened. During this process, they secrete fats and proteins into the space between the cells. These fats are what seals your skin against water.

The last stop for the keratinocytes is the corneum layer. At this point, the cells are flat and scaly, densely packed with keratin protein, and generally called squames. After this, the squames flake off, becoming the main component of dust. The whole life cycle of these cells is about a month.

There are a few other cell types that you can find in the epidermis:

Melanocytes: These cells are primarily responsible for protection against UV rays. They are also dark in colour, and as such, are also the driver for differences in skin colour (people with darker skin have more melanocytes, and people with lighter skin have fewer)
Langerhans: Langerhans function as part of the immune system, and work to detect infections. It’s thought that langerhans are involved in the development of skin allergies
Merkel cells: found in the basal layer, these cells help enhance the sensations of touch and hair movement

Fun fact: there is no direct blood supply to the epidermis – the epidermis is dependant on the dermis (coming next) for it’s supply of nutrients and disposal of waste.

So, a few years ago, I decided that I didn’t like New Year’s resolutions. I just decided that if I wanted to improve myself, I should be doing it year-round. However, I like the idea of a fresh start, and I really like “projects”, so I decided to start doing in depth, frivolous, research projects. To that end, I decided to a deep-dive into skin-care. I wanted a place to organize my thoughts, so this is it. If someone finds it helpful, great, but know that this isn’t really meant to be a “blog”, more just a way to journal my progress. To that end, here’s how I plan to do my research. It might change as I learn more, but I figure this is a good way to start.

January – What is “skin”? How does it actually work?
February/March – What are the major skin care concerns? What causes them?
April/May – What ingredients do you commonly see in skin-care products? What do they do, and how do they work?
June/July/August – What products exist in the skin-care universe? What are they supposed to do? How do they do that?
September – What tools exist in the skin-care universe? What are they supposed to do? How do they do that?
October/November – Based on all of the above, what skin-care routines would I recommend for different skin-care concerns?
December – Are there any cheaper duplicated to fan-favourite products that can actually do the same quality job?

Let’s see how this goes!