Has anyone ever noticed that when you have a "lazy day", (just sitting around the house watching TV, playing video games, etc) that your skin doesn't get that oily? But when you're at school or work or something like that your skin gets insanely oily within hours.
I guess some people can chalk this up to stress, but I don't really ever feel that stressed at school or work so I don't think thats the main reason.
Any thoughts or opinions??
Yes, the cells that produce sebum do have receptors for stress hormones, so that could be a contributing factor.
Mainly, your sebaceous glands are usually producing oil in an attempt to hydrate your skin, which is why if you use harsh, drying cleansers and treatments, they will overcompensate for the dryness and pump out oil. This is why it's so important to use a moisturizer and drink lots of water to keep your skin hydrated. (See Omnivium's post below.)
Do you wash your face at all on "lazy days?" I've noticed a similar effect if I wake up and lounge around the house and forget to wash my face, it doesn't get oily, which makes sense since cleansers will strip away some of the skin's natural oil.
A PBS TV series about evolution talked about the currently accepted hypothesis for why humans are such sweaty creatures -- that our sweaty oily skin is part of our evolutionary advantage and part of the reason why humans evolved into large brained creatures.
Most of the large-brain evolution of humans is thought to be the result of a steady high protein diet, because we were able to hunt down medium-sized mammals.
None of the other mammals sweat like us, and so, even though 4 legs are much faster than 2 legs, 4-legged mammals cant run for long distances like we can.
In Africa, our extremely ancient ancestors figured out how to take advantage of this. 3 or 4 hunters would run down deerlike mammals by chasing them for a long distance. When the prey stopped to catch its breath, our ancient ancestors would run up and throw rocks at it and shout, to keep the prey constantly moving. The prey would tire out after an hour or so, and hang its head completely out of breath, and just stop moving. Then, an ancient human, who probably weighed about the same as the deer, armed with only a low tech device like a pointed stick, could spear it, and voila, a nice dinner for whole tribe after only an hour or two of work by 3 or 4 hunters.
I wasn't going to post anything in this thread, but I feel like I should correct this.
Mainly, your sebaceous glands are usually producing oil in an attempt to hydrate your skin, which is why if you use harsh, drying cleansers and treatments, they will overcompensate for the dryness and pump out oil. This is why it's so important to use a moisturizer and drink lots of water to keep your skin hydrated.
A PBS TV series about evolution talked about the currently accepted hypothesis for why humans are such sweaty creatures -- that our sweaty oily skin is part of our evolutionary advantage and part of the reason why humans evolved into large brained creatures.
Most of the large-brain evolution of humans is thought to be the result of a steady high protein diet, because we were able to hunt down medium-sized mammals.
None of the other mammals sweat like us, and so, even though 4 legs are much faster than 2 legs, 4-legged mammals cant run for long distances like we can.
In Africa, our extremely ancient ancestors figured out how to take advantage of this. 3 or 4 hunters would run down deerlike mammals by chasing them for a long distance. When the prey stopped to catch its breath, our ancient ancestors would run up and throw rocks at it and shout, to keep the prey constantly moving. The prey would tire out after an hour or so, and hang its head completely out of breath, and just stop moving. Then, an ancient human, who probably weighed about the same as the deer, armed with only a low tech device like a pointed stick, could spear it, and voila, a nice dinner for whole tribe after only an hour or two of work by 3 or 4 hunters.
there are loads of mammals who probably dnt sweat but still has stamina 4 times ours.
That theory of overcompensation is unproven and most likely false. It is something people made up to try to explain what is happening to them. Please don't say it to people as if it is a fact. Yes, people can appear more oily when they wash more, and I think that is because washing removes skin cells that would have covered up the oil.
The oil glands are triggered to grow and produce oil when androgens bind to them. Not when your skin is dry. Normal washes and moisturizers have no effect on the sebaceous gland receptors, so they have no effect on the amount of oil produced. Cleansers just remove things from the surface of the skin. That's it.
Noted. Thanks for opening my eyes. I just did a ton of research in the online medical journals and you're right, no real evidence of a 'feedback effect'. I guess I had been thinking that way from reading it on reputable skincare and even medical websites, that apparently still didn't back up their claims with any studies or scientific evidence.
So there's no evidence for dry skin causing sebum production. Do you think the converse is true? That a lack of sebum production contributes to dry skin?
Noted. Thanks for opening my eyes. I just did a ton of research in the online medical journals and you're right, no real evidence of a 'feedback effect'. I guess I had been thinking that way from reading it on reputable skincare and even medical websites, that apparently still didn't back up their claims with any studies or scientific evidence.
So there's no evidence for dry skin causing sebum production. Do you think the converse is true? That a lack of sebum production contributes to dry skin?
Yea you have to be careful where you get your information from. Nowadays I only get information from websites like nih.gov. I can't stand websites like livestrong.com, because they look almost as incredible as yahoo answers or ask.com.
I haven't studied dry skin much, but I read from Bryan's posts that you can be oil dry or water dry. I think water dry is actual dehydrated skin, and oil dry just means not oily. So you can have oily skin and still have dehydrated skin(water dry) like pretty much anyone using benzoyl peroxide, or you can have little sebum but a lot of moisture(water) in the skin. So no, I don't think a lack of sebum contributes to oily skin. And I think accutane for example causes dry skin not because it gets rid of the sebum, but because it dries out all mucus membranes, including the lips, eyes, nose, and of course, skin.
There's also the fact that the palms of your hands don't have sebaceous glands. But they are fine. They're not peeling and in constant need of a moisturizer. So I think dehydrated skin is a lack of water in the skin, and excess sebum is never necessary or good for you.