An odd one to followup the review I did of the Dior One Essential Skin Boosting Serum, which is a great read if I do say so myself.
Today, the New York Times published an interactive map to see how bad the air pollution is where you live and compare it to other parts of the world. It’s pretty cool and I’d suggest everyone takes a look at it. It’s a quick read.
What they’re looking at is PM2.5 (although they mention PM10 particles) which is Particulate Matter smaller than 2.5 microns or 10 microns as is the case with PM10. These are incredibly small particles. Fog droplets are around 5 microns in size. The period at the end of this sentence is around 700-800 microns. Printed in 12 point font it’s 800 microns. Super small.
PM2.5 are things like ozone, smoke/smog, organic compounds (volatilizes). These are commonly found in the home at high levels. PM10 particles are smoke, dust, and mold/pollen spores.
Generally, we look at the affect of these particles on breathing problems. But for our skin these particles can age us more quickly enhancing wrinkles, itchiness, redness, and give our skin a dull appearance.
Keeping our skin nice and clean throughout the day helps. So does the use of anti-pollution type products which are going to contain antioxidants to neutralize some of those air pollution particles. HEPA filters are also a great way to remove those PM10 if you get a filter rated for that level. Activated carbon pre-filters also help remove a lot of those PM2.5 particles as well and neutralize odors.
This is the time of year I’m changing out my home air filters and office air filter. There are water based air filtration systems for those wanting to be more waste conscience; however, demonstrations have shown those to be less efficient than HEPA filters. HEPA filters continue to be the industry standard.
Although you will never be able to completely remove stress due to pollution, you can minimize them through the use of antioxidants like Dior’s One Essential Skin Boosting Serum and filtration systems in the home.
Check out the NYTimes article. It’s interesting to see different cities and how pollution exists in those areas. There is also a worldwide map and you can see weather events and natural disasters. It’s a great way to spend 5-10 minutes.
