63 Utterly Cool, Disgusting and Practical Skin Facts

2. Your skin – your body’s fragile envelope – is your largest organ.
3. Skin needs to breathe – hence the pores and ability to allow perspiration to leave the body.
4. Your skin is made of 5 layers, 3 of which are considered to be “main” layers:  outside skin:  epidermis    2nd layer:  dermis    3rd layer:  hyperdermis or subcutaneous layer  watch understanding the layers of the skin
5. Sunburn is anything from a 1st degree to a 2nd degree burn although a 2nd degree sunburn isn’t typical ….  nasty stuff …  ages the skin, causes burning and itch, if a sunburn is bad enough the skin blisters and peels and possibly scars
6. 2nd degree burns may require skin grafts….they might occur from hot or scalding fluids or flame injuries.
7. 3rd degree burns are serious stuff…always require skin grafts since they affect all 3 layers of skin…steam, scalding liquid or chemicals can cause 3rd degrees
8. 4th degree burns … the weird thing about 4th degree burns is you can’t feel them…nerve endings are destroyed and the burns require surgery.  Electricity, and flame can cause 4th degree burns.  4th degree burns may require amputation of damaged limbs. A long healing process lies ahead.
9. Your skin protects your inside organs.
10. Skin keeps out infections.
11. A suntan is a bad sign …  it happens in order to protect the skin from further burning….the brown colour which some people foolishly find so sexy is a message that your skin is quite damaged and you need to avoid the sun before it gets worse. watch what is a tan
12. One truly bad sunburn in childhood makes you more susceptible to melanoma cancer for the rest of your life.
13. You should exfoliate your skin daily. watch why you should exfoliate your skin every day
14. Your skin loses 30,000 to 40,000 dead cells every minute – gross!
15. You shed one billion skin flakes a day.
16. Your skin swells when it absorbs water even though it cannot hold onto it.  Weird.
17. Goosebumps are little pimples that help retain heat.
18. Skin cancer is more prevalent in white skin …  but everyone should be alert to moles and unusual skin growths.
19. Your skin ages and is susceptible to UV rays through office and car windows…..always wear sun block.
20. A sunblock of 50 isn’t stronger or more protective than a sunblock of 30 or 40. watch dermatologist answers sun protection questions
21. Consider the 5 S’s – sunblock; sunglasses; sun protective clothing; shade and sombrero
22. Sunblock spfs means number of minutes you can be exposed to the sun before you begin to suffer skin damage.
23. You should apply sunblock products first – before makeup or other skin care products. watch why you should apply sunscreen first
24. 80% of household dust is your skin cells.  Ick.
25. Your skin helps regulate your body temperature.
26. Provides a waterproof barrier to prevent excessive loss of body fluids.
27. An adult has more than 20 square feet of skin…  hence you can subtract how much your skin weighs (9 pounds) when you step on a scale …..  as if…
28. Breasts are a type of sweat gland.
29. White skin only emerged about 20,000 to 50,000 years ago as dark-skinned people migrated up north (god knows why) and their skin lost unnecessary pigment.
30. Globally skin accounts for one billion tons of dust in the atmosphere.
31. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.  watch cool cats and cold cats….just because they’re cute
32. Glaborous skin is non-hairy.
33. There are 45 miles of skin in a human adult.
34. Albino skin or albinism is a congenital disorder (meaning it develops in utero, at birth, or within one month of birth).
35. It is the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin.
36. A person with only partial absence of pigment is called albinoid.
37. Wax and oil are natural protective layers and waterproofers.
38. There are one million dust mites on your pillow and your mattress that eat your shedding skin cells.  Egad.
39. Psoriasis is an immune-mediated disorder that speeds up the growth cycle of skin cells.
40. Psoriasis is linked to an increase in stroke.
41. Dandruff is the shedding of dead skin cells from the scalp. It is not the same as dry scalp.
42. As you age your skin thins and you become more susceptible to UV rays….sigh..one more thing…
43. Polar bears have black skin….black absorbs heat and help keeps the bear warm.
44. Scar tissue happens when skin forms a healing layer.
45. When skin is exposed to constant friction it toughens and forms a callous.
46. Itching, or pruritus starts with external stimuli such as bugs, dust or hair.
47. Scratching an itch relieves it for 2 reasons: the irritant is usually very mild and it is easy to quell; if the scratching hurts it diverts your attention from the itch
48. You cannot tickle yourself because your brain is programmed to know what to feel when you move or perform any function. This is known as expected sensation.
49. Your brain pays attention to other people’s touch because it is unexpected sensation.
50. An involuntary reaction of your sympathetic nervous system causes the blood vessels in your face to dilate.  This increases blood flow to your face causing you to blush….aw, shucks.
51. A scab on your skin begins to form as soon as you injure yourself. Blood cells called platelets stick to each other at the cut, forming a clot. The clot keeps body fluids and blood from seeping out. When the clot hardens and dries it is a scab.
52. Underneath a scab, new skin cells are being made to repair the torn skin.
53. When you pick a scab you undo the repair work and cause a rip in your skin again…..this rip can turn into a scar.
54. Don’t pop blisters or pimples if you can avoid it – pus from either one can infect other unaffected areas of your skin.
55. A pimple forms when there are irregular amounts of hormones in the body; genetics; poor skin care; medications and stress.
56. You are not supposed to pop a pimple because it forms (not a scab) a stain.  But since you do pop them Watch How to pop a pimple the right way
57. There are bleaching creams, glycolic peels and cosmetic lasers that can fade freckles and age spots.
58. A wart is a viral infection that are often contagious and enter the body through broken skin.
59. Herpes blisters are the most common signs of herpes in the body.
60. Herpes 1  usually occurs on the mouth.
61. Herpes 2 blisters are very painful and occur in the genital area.  They do not go away on their own.
62. Illegal substances such as meth, cocaine and crack can cause skin sores or blisters on the face and other areas of the body.
63.  Drug users also frequently experience rashes, open sores, lesions and itchy skin.
64. When the drug user scratches skin blackheads and pimples it becomes infected and pocked. Watch how to extract a blackhead from your skin properly