Our skin protects us from the outside world and, at the same time, enables us to communicate with it. Our skin allows us to feel softness and warmth. Beautiful skin tells us and the outside world that we are healthy and that our organs are balanced. All this and more is the reason why our skin is one of the most amazing parts of our body. Below we have listed 12 interesting facts about skin that you most likely didn't know.
12 amazing facts about our skin
- Skin is an organ. In fact, It is the largest organ in our bodies and it has a range of specialised functions that significantly influence the functioning of our entire body.
- Skin helps us to regulate our body temperature by detecting cold and warm air.
- Skin is responsible for protecting our internal organs, muscles, and bones from diseases and infections.
- In order to restore itself, skin must eliminate dead cells. Amazingly, in just one minute it can eliminate from 30,000 to 40,000 dead cells.
- In one year our skin eliminates approximately 4 kilogrammes of dead cells.
- The average person's skin comprises around 300 million cells.
- Half of all house dust is dead skin cells.
- More than 1,000 kinds of various bacteria live on human skin.
- When skin is dry it is usually lacking water, not fatty substances or natural oils. Therefore, the function of oily skin creams (shea butter, hemp oil, etc.) is not moisturising the skin but actually maintaining the skin's moisture (in addition to the soothing, nutritional and other effects of such treatments).
- Healthy skin is acidic. It was mistakenly believed that the pH balance of skin is 5.5. New research has shown that our skin in its natural state has a pH below 5.0, which is more acidic than was previously thought. Moreover, more 'acidic' skin is healthier and more beautiful.
- The thickest area of human skin is on the feet, and the thinnest is around the eyes.
- In the heat, our sweat glands can produce 11 liters of perspiration in one day.