What is Skin

The skin is a structure having many important functions besides making the body beautiful. It preserves the contour of the body, serves as a protective covering, is the sensory organ of touch, is an excretory organ excreting water, salts and carbon dioxide, and is also a body heat regulator.

The skin consists of 2 main layers. The epidermis is the outer layer and is made up of strata of simple epithelial cells destined to be cast off as dead dandruff. In the deeper strata of the epidermis is also contained the pigment which gives the skin its characteristic complexion.

The hair and nails are outgrowths of the epidermis. The dermis, corium or true skin is the deep layer of the skin which rests on a bed of fat and subcutaneous tissue.

This layer, unlike the epidermis which is made up of halfdead and dying cells, is very much alive and carries all the skin glands and hair roots, as well as blood vessels and nerve endings. The true skin and the subcutaneous tissue below the skin contain the sweat glands, the sebaceous oil glands which are connected with the hair roots.

As stated before, the sweat glands excrete waste products and water just like the kidneys. The sweat also regulates the body heat, constantly moistening the body surface and cooling it by evaporation.

The hotter the weather, the more we sweat. But the skin always sweats even in cool weather, and because the perspiration is much less and evaporates quickly it is not noticeable and is therefore called "invisible perspiration." The oil secreted by the sebaceous glands keeps the skin soft and pliable.

But never allow the oil to accumulate, because bacteria accumulate just as well and thrive luxuriously on the warm, oily secretion, so that some of the most virulent bacteria become "permanent residents" in the skin; and sooner or later pimples, pustules, boils or even carbuncles will crop out on the most beautiful skins, and you will wonder how it ever happened to you.

Well, layers of grease, powder and rouge applied with unsterilized puffs and perhaps with unwashed fingers deposit billions of germs on the skin where they find plenty of food to thrive on, and the result is disastrous to the complexion and to the general health.

Plenty of soap and water used daily on the hands, face, and on the rest of the body will remove all danger of skin infections. The skin when kept clean and healthy acts as a barrier and really possesses powers of immunity against germs, but when you overload and overwhelm it with billions of parasites and allow them to become permanently imbedded