What Is A Damaged Skin Barrier And How Do You Fix It?

The term damaged skin barrier is trending on social media and in the clean skincare space.

But, what exactly is a damaged skin barrier? Is it your skin’s microbiome, or something different?

What causes skin barrier damage? What does it look and feel like? And, most importantly, how do you fix it?

This article will answer all these questions and provide helpful clean beauty tips for protecting, nourishing, restoring, and repairing skin barrier function.

Note: It’s always best to speak with your dermatologist about any issues with your skin.

What is the Skin Barrier?

The skin is the largest organ in the body and serves as a natural protective barrier between our inner organs and systems and various pathogens, UV light, chemicals, and injury.

The skin has three layers:

1. The epidermis or outer layer
2. The dermis, the middle layer
3. The hypodermis, the innermost layer

Your skin barrier is made up of the epidermis and its various skin cells as well as a vast network of beneficial flora (microbes, bacteria, etc.) such as Staphylococcus epidermidis and S aureus, Cutibacterium acnes, Corynebacterium, Streptococcus, and Candida. 

This flora is part of your dermal microbiome, which plays a critical role in the skin’s immune system.

Think of your skin barrier as a layer of armor housing a vast army of friendly flora poised to protect you from outside threats.

The skin barrier is often compared to a brick-and-mortar system:

• The bricks are represented by corneocytes, tough skin cells that serve many functions, including forming a protective acidic layer, known as the acid mantle on the epidermis.
• The mortar is represented by lipids, natural fats such as cholesterol, ceramides, and essential fatty acids, that fill in between the corneocytes like mortar.

As you can see, maintaining a healthy skin barrier isn’t just essential for healthy skin, but also for the whole body's health.

What Does a Damaged Skin Barrier Look Like?

Skin barrier damage can range from mild to severe depending on the injury or cause.

Some common symptoms of skin barrier damage include:

• Dry or scaly skin
• Cracked skin
• Rashes
• Broken skin
• Acne or other skin eruptions
• Scraped, cut, or burned skin
• Skin infection
• Redness or inflammation
• Itchiness or a feeling of tightness
• Stinging, particularly when using soap or applying skin care products
• Skin tenderness

Skin injuries such as cuts, scrapes, or burns also cause a damaged skin barrier.

Any of these symptoms indicate compromised skin barrier function and should be addressed.

We’ll share how to prevent and repair a damaged skin barrier using clean skin care products, lifestyle changes, and/or seeing a dermatologist skin care expert coming up.

What Causes a Damaged Skin Barrier?

As the skin’s first line of defense, the skin barrier is tough and typically recovers quickly from everyday damage such as cuts, scrapes, or minor burns.

However, skin barrier damage can also occur from environmental factors, such as UV rays, and from within, such as skin disease or other illnesses.

The following are all potential causes of a damaged skin barrier:

• Skin dehydration or dryness
• Underlying skin issues such as eczema or psoriasis
• Injury
• Dermal microbiome disruption
• Sunburn or UV damage
• Over-exfoliating
• Over-cleansing of face, body, or hands
• Excess hand sanitizer
• Under-moisturizing or using the wrong type of moisturizer
• Skin irritants from skin care products or other sources, such as drying alcohol or fragrance, cleaning products, or pool chemicals
• Skin allergies
• Disrupted skin pH, which can strip the epidermis’s naturally protective acid mantle
• Acne 
• Use of drying skin care ingredients
• For hands, over-exposure to drying environmental factors, such as dirt (gardeners and kids) or wind

Some of these causes may be seasonal, such as the effects of cold weather and indoor heating, and some are more pervasive.

The good news is, once you know or suspect what’s causing skin barrier damage, you can take steps to fix it.

12 Ways to Repair Your Skin Barrier and Get Your Glow Back

The skin barrier may be subject to frequent damage, but it is also tough, resilient, and designed to heal.

Before we get into how to repair your skin barrier, it’s important to note that while practicing good skin care habits is essential, lifestyle also plays a role.

Thanks to new research (and a good dose of common sense), we now know stress, lack of sleep, and inflammation, for example, can compromise skin barrier function and even accelerate aging or make you more prone to infection.

Pre-existing conditions such as autoimmune diseases, like Hashimoto’s, and environmental factors such as pollution, can also impact the skin barrier, so it’s helpful to take a holistic approach.

It’s been said you can’t out-train a bad diet and maintain a healthy weight.

The same principle applies to skin barrier function: you can’t out-moisturize, out-mask, or out-exfoliate an unhealthy lifestyle and maintain a healthy skin barrier. Both aspects matter.

Here are 10 ways to repair your skin barrier and get your glow back.

1. Cleanse Gently And Conservatively

Washing your face isn’t like brushing your teeth in that less is often better.

Over-cleansing by aggressively rubbing your face for more than 30 seconds or cleansing multiple times a day strips the precious oils and beneficial microbes from your dermis, resulting in dryness and compromised skin barrier function.

You can replace the moisture by applying moisturizers, but you can’t put back those beneficial microbes.

Plus, aggressive cleansing can further damage the skin.

Instead, aim to cleanse your skin at night with a gentle cream or natural soap-based cleanser. 

If your skin responds favorably, you can also cleanse in the morning or use a warm washcloth to gently remove any nighttime oil or sweat.

Desert Essence Moisturizing Ceramide Cleanser is ideal for gently cleansing even the most sensitive skin and protecting skin barrier function.

Shop all cleansers here.

2. Moisturize Daily

Dry skin is a breeding ground for skin barrier damage, and is typically totally preventable.

As a rule, always moisturize your skin after cleansing using natural oils, like jojoba and almond oil, or lotions or creams containing natural humectants, occlusives, and emollients, like Desert Essence Hand and Body Lotions and Body Butters or our Daily Essential Facial Moisturizer.

Humectants draw moisture into the skin and help retain it, occlusives create a moisture barrier to prevent water loss, and emollients soften dry or rough skin.

And don’t forget your hands! Frequent hand-washing is essential to stopping the spread of germs. 

However, since we wash our hands more than our faces and bodies, they tend to dry out and age faster.

Try to remember to moisturize your hands at least twice a day with Desert Essence Pumpkin Spice Hand Repair Cream or our favorite clean hand cream.

3. Hydrate From the Inside Out

Staying adequately hydrated by drinking enough water is an underrated secret to healthy, dewy, glowing skin.

How much water do you need?

Generally, recommendations are eight 8-ounce glasses daily, and more if you work out and/or live in very hot, cold, and windy conditions.

Learn more about how water benefits skin health in: 

4. Get Your Beauty Rest

1 in 3 Americans is sleep-deprived (women tend to be more so), and this is not helping our physical, mental, emotional, or skin health.

Not getting enough sleep is associated with various ill health effects, including hormonal imbalance, weight gain and obesity, blood sugar imbalance, mental health issues, cognitive decline, attention deficits, and (as mentioned previously) skin barrier issues.

So there is something to that old saying, be sure to get your beauty sleep.

Aim for 7.5-9 hours of sleep per night.

If you’re having trouble sleeping, consider your sleep hygiene, such as shutting off screens 1-2 hours before bed, sleeping in a very dark room, keeping your room cold and distraction-free, stopping caffeine after noon, and creating a bedtime routine.

Journaling, exercise, eating healthfully, addressing nutrient deficiencies or insufficiencies such as magnesium and B12, and getting morning light can also help support a good night’s rest.

Talk to your healthcare practitioner for individual recommendations.

5. Avoid Antibacterial and Tear-Free Soaps and Shampoos

As you learned earlier, the epidermis has a natural acid layer. This layer, created by skin cells, creates a protective acid mantle to keep the good germs in and the bad germs out.

Synthetic chemical-based antibacterial soaps can disrupt this layer by killing off beneficial bacteria, allowing unfriendly bacteria to thrive.

Tear-free soaps and shampoos can also negatively impact the skin barrier due to their highly alkaline nature.

And use common sense. Sometimes antibacterial products are needed to address and/or prevent a skin infection or bacterial issue.

If this is the case, don’t stop using them without talking to your dermatologist.

6. Prioritize Stress Management

Life is, and always will be, full of challenges, trying times, and stress.

Acute stress is typically not an issue. Chronic stress, however, such as a prolonged period of difficult circumstances, grief, or self-imposed worry, disease, or stress, is dangerous and a contributing or causal factor to nearly every chronic disease.

Research has shown that stress also disrupts skin barrier function, likely because it exacerbates inflammation.

We can’t escape stress, but we can implement practices to help mitigate, cope, and reframe our relationship with stress.

The good news is that skin care and bathing rituals can provide an excellent way to reduce stress daily.

Try having a luxurious aromatherapy bath, relax with a facial pack, or treat your feet to a soak, exfoliation, and hydrating massage.

Mindfulness meditation, exercise, laughing, spending time in nature, chatting with a friend, reducing screen time, prioritizing sleep, and journaling are also excellent daily practices that will keep stress in check and promote healthy skin barrier function.

7. Exfoliate Less, Moisturize More

Exfoliation using skin care products, devices, or treatments can be therapeutic for dry skin, acne, aging, calluses, flaky skin, and to create silky smooth, more even skin.

However, it’s easy to overdo it, which can damage the skin barrier.

Generally, it’s best to stick with using gentle exfoliants a couple of times a week versus every day.

So, if you’re using a loofah in the shower daily, try cutting that back to twice a week. If you’re using an exfoliating cleanser daily, cut that back to two times a week maximum and consider what other exfoliating products (facial masks, for example) you’re using and how often.

Dry brushing is also a popular health practice, but it’s also exfoliating, so take care.

It’s also essential to moisturize deeply after exfoliation with natural body oil, moisturizing cream, or lotion.

8. Wear Sunscreen

UV damage is one of the leading culprits of a damaged skin barrier. 

Not only is it drying, but it accelerates aging and can cause burning, which creates flaking and other potential problems.

Using a moisturizer with sunscreen or adding sunscreen to your moisturizing routine is a no-brainer way to protect your skin.

Some sun exposure is beneficial for vitamin D absorption and clearing up acne, but most people don’t need more than 10-20 minutes of unprotected sun to reap these benefits.

Check with your healthcare practitioner for individual recommendations.

9. Opt for Warm Versus Hot Water Cleansing

If your skin is really dry, you may benefit from cooling down your baths, showers, and facial cleansing routine.

Warm water versus very hot water is more skin barrier friendly and will prevent the stripping of precious oils.

This doesn’t mean you need to stand in the shower freezing! But try making it a little less hot and always cleanse your face with warm vs. hot water.

10. Address Underlying Health Issues

As mentioned previously, many chronic health issues can impact skin barrier function.

Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, hypothyroidism, diabetes, inflammatory diseases, and kidney disease, for example, can create dry skin.

Underlying skin conditions, such as dermatitis or eczema, may also be responsible for rashes, dry itchy skin, or seasonal changes in the skin.

Pregnancy, breastfeeding, perimenopause, and menopause, though not health issues, can also create changes in the skin barrier function and texture.

Regardless, if your symptoms don’t go away with these skin care and lifestyle changes, getting checked out to rule out any hidden issues can't hurt.

11. Swap Soap For Cream Cleanser or Oil Cleansing

For some people, even natural soaps can be too drying and may cause skin barrier damage.

If this sounds like you, consider switching to a cream-based cleansing or try oil cleansing!

If you haven’t heard of it, oil cleansing utilizes a combination of nourishing plant oils to naturally and gently cleanse the skin, improving barrier function, reducing breakouts, and boosting hydration.

Many people swear by it, and it’s easy to do. 

How to Oil Cleanse:

1. Select your oils of choice, such as nourishing jojoba, almond, coffee, hazelnut, castor oil, olive oil, etc. 
1. Desert Essence’s Oil Blends provide pre-mixed options for all skin types.
2. Begin by dipping a face cloth in warm water, and applying it to your skin to open pores.
3. Next, apply a small amount of oil to your fingertips and massage into your skin gently for about a minute.
4. Wipe off gently with a wash cloth and warm water.
5. Apply moisturizers, ceramides, etc., and you’re done.

Related reading: How To (Correctly) Wash Your Face: A Step-By-Step Guide

12. Try Ceramides

Ceramides are a family of lipids essential for skin barrier function and protection.

They work with other lipid groups and play an essential role in promoting normal formation of dense lamellar structures between corneocytes, helping prevent water evaporation from the dermis while protecting against pathogens and other threats.

Ceramides are vegan and occur naturally in various plant oils, including jojoba, grapeseed, sunflower, and hemp. They are non-comedogenic and considered safe for sensitive skin.

Ceramides can be found in various skin care products, including Desert Essence Moisturizing Ceramide Cleanser and Moisturizing Ceramide Cream, which contain a blend of three ceramides: Hyaluronic Acid and AHA (Alpha Hydroxy Acid).

Shop Desert Essence Products to Support Skin Barrier Function

Desert Essence’s clean, sustainably sourced, and natural skin and body care products are formulated to support healthy skin barrier function.

From gentle, non-drying products for blemishes and breakouts, to ultra-hydrating body butters and plant-oil sprays, to soothing ceramide lotions and cleansers, we have dozens of ways to nourish your skin barrier naturally.

• Shop Desert Essence Facial And Blemish Treatments
• Shop Desert Essence Body Care
• Shop Desert Essence Ceramide Collection

References Mentioned in This Article

• Anatomy, Skin (Integument), Epidermis. [Updated 2024 Jun 8]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan
• Repair and maintenance of the epidermal barrier in patients diagnosed with atopic dermatitis: an evaluation of the components of a body wash-moisturizer skin care regimen directed at management of atopic skin. J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 
• Understanding the Epidermal Barrier in Healthy and Compromised Skin: Clinically Relevant Information for the Dermatology Practitioner: Proceedings of an Expert Panel Roundtable Meeting. J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 
• A nervous breakdown in the skin: stress and the epidermal barrier. J Clin Invest.
• Dietary water affects human skin hydration and biomechanics. Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol.
• Positive impact of dietary water on in vivo epidermal water physiology. Skin Res Technol. 
• Relationship between the dietary intake of water and skin hydration Relação entre a ingestão dietária de água e a hidratação cutânea. (2012).
• Can poor sleep affect skin integrity? Med Hypotheses. 
• Skin Barrier Function: The Interplay of Physical, Chemical, and Immunologic Properties. Cells.
• The effects of chronic stress on health: new insights into the molecular mechanisms of brain-body communication. Future Sci OA.
• Inflammation: The Common Pathway of Stress-Related Diseases. Front Hum Neurosci.
• A study on cutaneous manifestations of thyroid disease. Indian J Dermatol.
• Dermatological diseases in patients with chronic kidney disease. J Nephropathol.
• Skin disorders in diabetes mellitus: an epidemiology and physiopathology review. Diabetol Metab Syndr.
• The role of ceramides in skin barrier function and the importance of their correct formulation for skincare applications. Int J Cosmet Sci. 
• Skip the Antibacterial Soap; Use Plain Soap and Water. US Food And Drug Administration.