I have recently been giving you a lot of information about different ingredients. However, I am aware that you might want to know what this means for what you should be putting on your face. I am writing this not just to help find what suits your skin type best but to help you address your skin concerns. So I am going to highlight the main differences between dry and dehydrated skin so that you can identify the signs and hopefully address them in the best way possible.
What Are The Key Differences?
My first tip when determining whether you’re suffering from dry or dehydrated skin would be to establish your skin type. You do not need to have dry skin to suffer from dehydrated skin; because dry skin is a skin type but dehydration is more of a skin condition. Typically dry skin is lacking in oils and lipids where dehydrated skin is lacking in water.
Dry Skin
Dry skin is mostly genetic, and doesn’t produce enough oil on both the face and body. Typical signs of dry skin is dry, itchy and flaky. Most dry skin types love oils and oil containing products (I know mine does). Another way to know is when you’re wearing your foundation all day, does it look dry, flaky and cracked at the end of the day? If you answered this yes, you probably have dry skin.
Unfortunately having dry skin makes you more likely to suffer from dehydration too. You should be more aware of the external factors when you have dry skin. Such as not being too close to heaters, or exposed to air conditioning or using hot water to wash your face.
Dehydrated Skin
A lot of people have dehydrated skin without even realising it. A good way to describe having dehydrated skin is when it looks and feels a bit ‘meh’, its looking and feeling dull, tight and lacking in radiance. Good news however, dehydrated skin is temporary and it is easy to undo, it is just due to a lack of water.
So What Causes Skin to Become Dehydrated?
dehydration is just due to your skin barrier’s lack of ability to retain moisture. So having a stronger skin barrier will improve the skin’s ability to retain the moisture. A common misconception is that the natural oil in the skin is good at locking in the water but this is not correct, it is a different type of oil.
Skin naturally has a ‘built in moisturiser’ this can become removed from washing your face too much or using a cleanser that is too harsh too. If you’re using hot water to wash your face this can also be contributing to dehydration. Over-exfoliating or using too many active ingredients can also cause your skin barrier to become damaged and ultimately lead to further dehydration.
Treating Dry Skin
Treating dryness – You could use an oil in your bath water or use an in shower body moisturiser which are both fab for helping with dryness. To deal with the stickiness you might want to follow it with a body moisturiser. You could do what I like to do, and add a few drops of oil into your moisturiser. I especially love doing this during winter.
dry skin doesnt renew it’s cells as well as other skin types, this is often why dry skin suffers more with flakes on the skin. Exfoliating is key for dry skin. Try using acid exfoliants or a gentle physical exfoliant such as the Dermalogica Microfoliant. Try using a thicker cream too. Thick creams contain more solids such as emolients which contain oil. These don’t add more water but are great for helping locking in the moisture.
Examples of emollients: plant oils, mineral oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, petrolatum, fatty acids, lanolin and triglycerides. There are a lot more but these are some of the most common ones in cosmetics.
Treating Dehydrated Skin
Treating Dehydration – If your skin is dehydrated you want to look for a moisturiser which contains humectants. Humectants act like little magnets holding onto water. This will help hold the moisture in the skin for longer. Typically these moisturisers are a little bit tacky. Dehydrated skin can also benefit from using a facial mist which will help replenish the skin’s moisture levels throughout the day.
Examples of Humectants: AHA’s, salicylic acid, glycerin, hyaluronic acid, panthenol and urea.
