Dehydrated skin lacks water and dry skin lacks oil. So your skin could be dehydrated, dry, or both. Knowing when your skin is dry, and when it is simply dehydrated is critical to using the right product or regiment to bring your skin back to balance and glow.
Let's explore:
Dehydrated skin
Dehydrated skin tends to look dull and feel tight, even when properly moisturized. When you think of hydration it’s only natural to think of water. In skincare hydration means increasing the amount of water in your skin cells, which results in a healthy, smooth and plump complexion.
When your skin is regularly hydrated, it keeps the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles at bay. In addition to appearing younger, your skin cells maintain their overall cellular functions when hydrated.
How to keep your skin hydrated?
Lifestyle:
Drink plenty of water. Start your day with a glass of water with a dash of lemon. Keep a large bottle of water with you throughout the day and keep refilling it. Make sure to drink at least 2 large bottles a day on top of regular water intake.
Drink a glass of water before and after you shower to regain water lost in the process.
Sip from your bottle at the gym in between session.
Reduce alcohol intake. Drink herbal tea instead.
Skincare:
Drinking plenty of water will do the trick, but since our skin is the last organ to absorb hydration, using topical ingredients that promote hydration is beneficial as well. These hydrating ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, glycerin, honey or floral water, to name a few, are called humectants, which help to bind and retain moisture.
Aloe Vera is another ingredient that promotes skin hydration. The National Center for Biotechnology Information published a study in 2006 that demonstrated the hydrating effect of aloe on the skin. After two weeks, each varying concentration of aloe vera extract was shown to increase the water content in the skin.
We use Aloe Vera in most of our \tim-les\ products and especially in our skin moisturizers and cleansers. Explore this option for daily skin hydration and glow.
Add hydration on-demand using a light floral based essence or toner. \tim-les\ lavender floral essence is a great all-day mist for instant hydration and freshness.
Dry skin:
Oil comes to mind when we speak of moisture.
Attached to our hair follicles we have our sebaceous glands. These aptly named glands produce “sebum,” an oily substance that helps to protect, lubricate and nourish our skin, preventing it from drying out and causing premature aging. For those with clogged pores or oily skin types, there might be an overproduction of sebum, while those with dry skin types might have a lack of it.
Regardless of your skin type, moisturizing is an essential part of your daily facial routine.
Since the purpose of hydrating is to bind water to our skin and moisturizing is to prevent the water from leaving our skin, it’s important that hydration comes before moisturizing (when applying products topically).
This is why serums are to be applied first, as most hydrating treatment serums contain a humectant. Once you get that layer of hydration on, you want to seal it all in with a lipid (facial oil). This combination creates a healthy balance.
For those with particularly oily skin, you may or may not prefer to moisturize as often. For you, applying just a hydrating product might sometimes be enough. Your skin naturally produces enough (in some cases, more than enough) oil to keep water from leaving the skin.
With dry skin, lack of moisture (lipid content) can result in rough, dry or flaky skin. If this is your skin, make sure you’re using the right moisturizing ingredients. We recommend oils because they penetrate into the skin and allow the skin to breathe.
how to keep your skin moisturized?
Lifestyle:
Identify whether your skin is dry or hydrated during the day. Your solution may be as simple as drinking a glass of water.
Avoid stripping your skin from its natural sebum by over drying it with a towel or cleansing too often.
Avoid heavy makeup that may contain ingredients that will clog your pores and prevent your skin from 'breathing'. Ingredients such as silicons are especially to be avoided.
Skincare:
Choose rich moisturizing ingredients like Jojoba or Argan oil to help your skin keep its moisture if you have dry skin.
Cleanse your skin with an oil based cleanser. \tim-les\ nourishing oil cleanser will do the trick.
Double cleanse with \tim-les\ regenerating cleanser that includes moisture keeping oils and aloe vera. It's the perfect hydrating/moisturizing cleanser.
Avoid clay based masks. These will only further dry your skin. Instead, opt for face serums and other nourishing treatments, like \tim-les\ visible glow face serum that will keep your skin moisturized and glowing all day.