Hannah English

Understanding your skin’s function as a barrier is the key to supporting and looking after it. It acts as a barrier from UV, germs, water and other environmental challenges.

Skin on the face is different to the skin on the body. It’s thinner (specifically in the dermis), and there are more sweat and oil glands. Your face, neck, scalp and chest have between 400 and 900 oil glands per square centimetre, while other parts of the body have 100 or less oil glands per square centimetre

We also have different types of sweat glands and different types of sweat. Eccrine sweat is secreted all over the body and is mostly water and electrolytes. This type of sweat cools us down.
After puberty, we start to make apocrine sweat, which is secreted from the underarm and groin areas. This is emotional sweat and it contains lipids, steroids and proteins. This is the kind of sweat that mostly contributes to body odour.