It takes about 52-75 days for skin cells to grow from the bottom up and then they’re shed on the surface. The average adult is covered with about 21 square feet of skin that weights about 7 pounds. Skin makes up about 12%-15% of your total body weight. On average, each half-inch square of skin contains 10 hairs, 15 sebaceous (oil) glands, 100 sweat glands and 3.2 feet of tiny blood vessels. You shed about 600,000 particles of the epidermis (the outermost layer of skin) every hour, which amounts to approximately 1.5 pounds each year. By the age of 70, you will have shed about 105 pounds of skin cells. Water can weaken and impair the skin’s protective barrier function, so it’s important to moisturize immediately following a bath, or use a lotion after hand-washing to guard against dryness and irritation.
