Zhou Yuan has had sensitive skin all her life, she says. But living in Hangzhou, capital of eastern China's Zhejiang province, has made it worse.

She suffers from scruffy, itchy and reddish skin, because of the smog in her city.

"When the air gets really bad, I try not to cycle or go out as often as I do on better days," the 30-year-old real estate consultant says.

The situation only gets better when she visits the United Kingdom or Japan, where the air is cleaner than in many Chinese cities and not as humid as Hangzhou.

Air pollution is not just a health concern in the country - it is fast becoming a beauty issue.

While the effects of air pollution on general health have been widely studied and discussed, its impact on skin remains less explored.

Poor air has become the No 1"beauty enemy" for women in China today, according to a L'Oreal study.

The company's China office released its findings during an Air Pollution and Skin Protection seminar in Shanghai on Monday.

Based on more than a decade of research in China and Mexico, the report blames air pollution for causing oiliness, dryness and oversensitivity - situations that may accelerate the aging of skin.

In addition, it says, harm caused by exposure to UV rays is heightened by bad air.

A group of 80 people living in downtown Shanghai and another group in nearby Chongming Island participated in the study.

The residents of downtown Shanghai were found to be low on sebum, a natural substance that protects the skin from aging, but high on lactic acid, which makes skin oily.

Similar results were found in a study done by L'Oreal in Mexico.

The company started researching the relationship between skin and air pollution more than a decade ago, says Alexis Perakis-Valat, L'Oreal China CEO and executive vice-president of L'Oreal Group, Asia-Pacific.

"We always say in French that 'we seize what is beginning'. That's precisely what we did when we started 10 years ago researching what air pollution does to the skin," he says.

Kan Haidong, an environmental expert and Fudan University professor, calls the research a "breakthrough" for both the academic world and consumers.

The density of PM2.5-fine particles that are 2.5 micrometers or fewer in diameter that can go deep into the lungs to cause deadly diseases-has decreased by 15 percent in Beijing compared with last year, Kan says.

He is optimistic that the air quality will continue to get better in the future, he adds.

Liu Wei, the chief dermatologist of the Air Force General Hospital in Beijing, says about one-third of the patients at his hospital report skin problems - a huge rise compared with 30 years ago. That's largely due to air pollution.

The Paris-based company's research will provide a "sound" basis for optimizing solutions, he says.

L'Oreal's brands La Roche-Posay, Clarisonic, Shu Uemura, Yue-Sai, L'Oreal Paris and Maybelline have introduced products targeting air pollution, including makeup-removing lotions, face cleansers, foundation, toner and sonic cleansing brushes, the company says.

Every year, the company devotes about 3.4 percent of its revenue from global sales to research. The investment was $860 million last year.

About 70 percent of the products sold in China last year were developed especially for the Chinese market.

Sanford Browne, vice-president of L'Oreal China Research and Innovation, says the company will continue its exploration and develop more products to meet Chinese consumers' demands.

A healthy lifestyle is central to countering the effects of bad air, says Zhou from Hangzhou.

"You also have to be careful about what you eat and how you live."

sunyuanqing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 08/31/2015 page8)