The Field Guide to Skin Care
Skin care advice is everywhere. Trends change quickly. Ingredients rise and fall in popularity. What rarely changes is skin biology.
Whether you live at high altitude, spend time outdoors, or simply want to understand what you're putting on your skin, this guide provides the scientific foundation for making informed decisions. From understanding how environmental stressors like UV radiation, wind, and dry climates affect skin structure, to learning which botanical compounds offer genuine protective benefits, each article is grounded in dermatological science and practical application.
Skin is a living barrier, an immune organ, a sensory interface, and a reflection of environmental exposure. Understanding it requires more than product recommendations. It requires biology, chemistry, and context.
The Field Guide is an educational resource designed to help you understand how skin functions and how ingredients interact with that function. Rather than focusing on trends or quick fixes, these articles explore structure, chemistry, and long-term resilience.
Who is this Guide For?
Outdoor enthusiasts and athletes
People living at high altitude
Anyone seeking science-based skincare education
Those interested in botanical and farm-to-skin approaches
Core Topics
• Understanding the Skin Barrier: Structure, Function, and Repair
Learn how the skin barrier protects against environmental stress, what damages it (UV radiation, wind, low humidity), and evidence-based strategies using ceramides, lipids, and botanicals to repair and strengthen barrier function.
• Botanicals in Skin Care: Phytochemistry and Skin Function
Explore the science behind plant-based skincare ingredients. Understand how phytochemicals, herbal extracts, and farm-grown botanicals support skin health through antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory effects, and barrier reinforcement.
• Antioxidants and Environmental Stress
Discover how antioxidants protect skin from oxidative damage caused by UV exposure, pollution, altitude, and outdoor activity. Learn about vitamin C, green tea polyphenols, carotenoids, and why topical antioxidants matter for outdoor skin.
How sun, wind, altitude, and climate shape your skin over time. Science-based guidance on protecting outdoor skin from collagen loss, environmental aging, and the cumulative effects of UV damage and low humidity exposure.
Colorado Aromatics formulations are developed alongside the plants we grow, distill, and study making education and cultivation part of the same process.