Beauty Talk: Treat Dehydrated and Dry Skin

photo by J.Star
This is a continuation of the topic Dehydrated and Dry Skin. Go to this post to read about symptoms, causes, explanation on how skin gets dehydrated.

In this post I look into what you can actually do to re-hydrate your skin and to help it keep the moisture in.

Get Moisture Back

Exclude(or Minimize) the Dehydrating External and Internal Factors:

Our smart bodies know how to keep themselves balanced and hydrated… Just help your body and do not undermine its work!

- keep up healthy water intake (1-2 liters a day)
- avoid dehydrating drinks: coffee and alcohol
- do not overindulge into saunas and baths which strip off lipids, make you sweat and stimulate water evaporation from the skin’s surface
- eliminate dry dehydrating air: when there is more water in your skin than in the air, water evaporates from the skin’s surface easier. Control your environment by using a humidifier
- stop using harsh skin care product such as deep pore cleansers, exfoliators, daily scrubs, acids, alcohol containing products etc. Read this post on how to select a mild cleanser.
- use the correct skin care products
- moisturize religiously

Put Moisture Back into You Skin!

If your skin is seriously dehydrated, you will need some extra skin care products to help it get back to normal. In addition to a daily moisturizer use an intensive moisturizing serum as a treatment for 1-2 months. This will help to kick-start the process of your skin’s re-hydration.

Here are some examples of SOS-hydration products you can consider:

- Thirst Quenching Hydra-Care Serum from Clarins: restores hydra-lipid barrier. I tried out a small sample: the serum has a very light liquid texture, feels nice on the skin but has quite a strong fragrance. It is marked non-comedogenic.
- Super-Aqua Serum (Optimum Hydration Revitalizer) from Guerlain: Promises to deeply hydrate the skin and provide moisture for 30 hours.
- Cell Culture Face Care Serum from SBT contains “Cell Culture Phase” mysterious combination of ingredients (not revealed on SBT website) that brings skin into balance and restores its health.

Note the above mentioned serums are not supposed to be used alone and have to be followed by a daily moisturizer.

Lock Moisture In!

There are a lot of products for dry/dehydrated skin on the market. I looked into some of them and tried a couple out. Here are examples of some products you can consider (to find out what emollient, occlusive, humectant means read this post):

Face Oils: Selected and applied correctly, those can be great for any skin type - not just the dry one. Facial oils not only lock in moisture but also act like serums: they can penetrate deeper into the skin and deliver much needed nutrients, vitamins, antioxidants etc. Tip: apply face oil to dampened skin. While dry skin types can apply face oil twice a day, other skin types may prefer to do it once as a night treatment. Mixed and oily skin types can benefit from balancing Lavender and Ylang-Ylang Oils. Dry types can try Almond and Jasmine Oils. Read a post on face oils.

Vichy Nutrilogie 2 is based on patented sphingo lipids. Sphingolipids are naturally produced in the skin and play a very important role in retaining moisture. Nutirlogie 2 also contains glycerin (humectant), shea butter (emollient), petrolatum (occlusive), beeswax (occlusive), macadamia seed (emollient and anti-anti-oxidant) and apricot kernel oils.

Cold Cream from Avene specially made for extremely dry skin and has good occlusive properties due to beeswax. Avene offers a complete “Cold” line for dry skin. * Recommended by Glamour Shopping, Germany Winter 2007, Amica Germany Jan. 2008

Weleda Iris Day Cream (all skin types). Intensive care cream. Described as regulating “natural moisture balance” and protecting skin from the aggressive environment. It contains a combination of emollient and occlusive ingredients: jojoba oil (emollient), beeswax, glycerin, shea butter, cocoa butter (emollient), extract from iris roots etc. My Experience: Even though it is marked “all skin types” it is definitely too occlusive for my mixed skin.

Olive Oil Line from Serious Skin Care. Formulated for dry and dehydrated skin as well as seasonally dry skin. Contains first pressed olive oil and olive leaf extracts. Serious Skin Care promises it won’t feel too heavy and won’t clog your pores. Olive oil contains lipids which are very similar to our skin’s natural lipids. They effectively coat the skin to protect it from loss of moisture.

Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturizing Cream formulated for extremely dry skin. According to Aveeno, it is clinically proven to moisturize for 24 hours. Contains oatmeal, cocoa and shea butter.

Sisley’s Hydra Flash, Formule Intensive (All Skin Types) contains natural plant extracts (Rice, Sesame) and essential oils (Marjoram, Rosewood). Sisley promises enhanced cell cohesion and encouraged "moisture binding in the outer skin layers" My Experience: The cream feels very rich. I was afraid that it will break out my mixed skin but it did not. However I think it will be a bit too much for oily skin. I liked the product: my skin felt comfortably moisturized. But I didn't see any miraculouse changes like "velvety appearance" and smoothness. Perhaps I have not used it long enough. Note: It is on the pricey side.

Dermalogica Barrier Repair - "(waterless) moisturizer that melts gently into sensitized skin to soothe and help repair damage caused by environmental aggressions" Contains Oil of Evening Primrose and emollient silicones to strengthen the skin's natural lipid barrier. Shea Butter, Vitamin C and Bisabolol protect skin from dehydration, free radicals and inflammation.

Also take a look at Hydrophase XL from La Roche-Posay and Orlane Super-Moisturizing Line. The latter has a Super-Moisturizing Serum that, as Orlane explains, stimulates hyaluronic acid production and “is effective in transmitting water to the epidermis”. Check outSuper-Moisturizing Concentrate – formulated specially for “dehydrated skin or extreme climatic conditions”


Hydrate and Protect with Make-Up!

For an additional hydrating/ coating effect upgrade your foundation or powder to a richer texture or use a tinted moisturizer.

Check out:

Clinique’s Super Moisture Makeup

Lumineuse Tinted Moisturizer from Vichy

Olive Oil Line from Serious Skin Care has foundation and primer for very dry skin types

Orlane also offers a combination of makeup and skin care in their Super Moisturizing Line - Teint Absolu

Read more:


- Dehydrated and Dry Skin: causes and symptoms
- How to choose

Cleansing Products for Winter

Moisturizer for Winter
- Post on general Winter Skin Care Tips
- More detailed “Skin Care in Winter” Article
- Click for more information on skin care products for winter.
- Feel like shopping? You can buy skin care products for dry skin online right away.

Beauty Talk: Dehydrated and Dry Skin in Winter

Dehydrated skin refers to a condition when there is a lack moisture in the intercellular system of the skin. Skin can become especially susceptible to dehydration and severe dryness in winter due to the aggressive environmental factors. Dry skin types suffer the most from symptoms of dehydration.

Signs of Dehydrated Skin

Dehydrated skin can be recognized by the following signs:

feels tight and/or burning

gets often irritated

has lower ability to regenerate and heal

flakes

develops dry lines

If your symptoms are serious, you should consult a dermatologist.

What Causes Skin’s Dehydration

There are several reasons for skin’s dehydration and dryness. I won’t go into extreme detail: skin dryness is a huge separate topic. I would like to list several important causes which include external and internal factors.

External:
- use of harsh products on the skin
- saunas, hot baths
- harsh environment such as winds and cold temperatures
- dry air, hot weather
- pollution

Internal:
- illness
- medication
- indulging into dehydrating drinks: coffee and alcohol
- smoking

How Skin Gets Dehydrated

Let’s look in more details at how skin gets dehydrated. This way you can understand better, what to do to prevent or treat this condition. The top, most superficial skin’s layer, called horny layer, normally contains 15% of water; deeper layers contain up to 80% of water. Horny layer plays a key role in helping to contain moisture in the deeper layers of the skin. It is important for regulating natural (balanced) flow of moisture from the deeper skin’s layers to the upper ones and its evaporation from the skin’s surface.

To fulfill its vital protective functions horny layer needs lipids and sebum. Put simply, the latter coat the skin and create a water-proof barrier which also protects skin from bacteria, viruses, fungi etc. Harsh environment conditions and skin care products can strip skin of protective lipids/sebum or/and result in lower production of lipids and sebum. This leads to weakening of the protective skin’s barrier. Water can evaporate from the skin’s surface easier. When moisture level in horny layer gets down to 10%, you have a problem. Natural functions of the skin stop working efficiently and skin looses more and more water which results in its dehydration. It is important to treat this condition as soon as possible to avoid some permanent damage.

So as you can see, any skin type can experience dehydrated skin. “Oily” skin does not mean “moisturized” skin. Oil, which is sebum, helps to lock moisture in the skin.

Read Other Posts in the Series:
How to Get Moisture Back into Your Skin:
Exclude(or Minimize) the Dehydrating External and Internal Factors

Our smart bodies know how to keep themselves balanced and hydrated… Just help your body and do not undermine its work!

- keep up healthy water intake (1-2 liters a day)
- avoid dehydrating drinks: coffee and alcohol
- do not overindulge into saunas and baths which strip off lipids, make you sweat and stimulate water evaporation from the skin’s surface
Read more

Treat Dry and/or Dehydrated Skin: Facial Oils

Face Oils can be especially beneficial for the dry and dehydrated skin as they can balance it fast and help to lock the moisture in. Oils have high penetration capabilities. They penetrate deep into the skin and deliver much needed nutrients, vitamins and antioxidants.
Read further

Read more on Winter Skin Care

- How to choose

Cleansing Products for Winter

Moisturizer for Winter
- Post on general Winter Skin Care Tips
- More detailed “Skin Care in Winter” Article
- Click for more information on skin care products for winter.
- Feel like shopping? You can buy skin care products for dry skin online right away.