Best Dry and Dehydrated Skin Care Options

Coming into the Winter months it’s easy to assume we have dry skin. Particularly those in the Southern areas of Australia. Our skin starts to look dull, feels tight and we’re desperate for Moisturiser. Did you know there is a difference between dry and dehydrated skin though? Dry skin is actually a type of skin, like oily and combination, while dehydration is a lack of water in our body – thus skin.

 

Lets start with dehydration

If you are dehydrated, then the lack of water in your skin leaves it looking dull and and any wrinkles you have will be more pronounced. This can happen at any time, but is very common coming into Winter. Over the colder months we often stay inside with our heaters on. We also tend to stop drinking as much water – without even realising it. Our diet can even change from leafy greens to comforting carbs at the first touch of cold – eek! Just what we need with our less active Winter lifestyle. All these changes can lead to dehydration internally, and this shows on our skin. If we don’t address this dehydration early, it can lead onto more serious skin changes – aka dry skin.

 

What is dry skin?

Dry skin occurs when there isn’t enough of a lipid barrier in the outer layers of our skin, that helps us prevent water loss and damage from UV, heat and cold. This means that no matter how much moisturiser we put on, we will have trouble maintaining balanced hydration. It is likely a daily battle, over a long period of time. Unfortunately, as well as having a genetic disposition to dry skin, it can also be caused by other factors. These include seasonal changes (aka hello Winter Skin), over exfoliation (eeek – acne and oily skin alert), harsh skin care ingredients (bye, bye nasties), diet (you DO need the “good” fat in your diet) and stress (students, stressful jobs and new mums be warned).

Dry skin at it’s worst

Dry skin can start with finding rough, scaly patches on our face and body. This occurs because each month (around 28 days) our skin sheds the outer layer (epidermis) to reveal new skin underneath. Unfortunately, when the epidermis is impaired, a lack of natural lipids and ceramides, that normally work to glue dead skin cells together, to create a natural barrier, leaves us with not only dry, but scaly and flaky looking skin.

When we don’t replenish both the hydration, as well as improving the skins lipid barrier, it can worsen still. Becoming red, inflamed and prone to infection as small cracks begin to form. At this stage we are often lathering everything we can find on our skin, but feel like we’re getting nowhere. Are you ready for the bad news? When our skin is unable to maintain adequate moisture, we lose the plumpness in our skin. Our skins ability to produce collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid starts to slow down and the rate of it being broken down starts to speed up.

 

Skin care for dehydrated skin

When dealing with dehydrated skin, it’s important to start from within. Making sure we are drinking enough fluids each day, be it water in Summer and soup in Winter. It’s such an easy solution to try! Consider also, if anything is causing further dehydration, such as coffee, alcohol and salty, processed foods. Adding water back into our diet makes a huge improvement, as well as moisturising the skin directly. Our fav’ moisturiser and best seller is Aspect Dr Resveratrol, filled with antioxidants as well as ingredients for calming inflammation. You still need to treat your skin gently, so avoid using harsh skin care products or scrubs until your body has rehydrated. If ever unsure, try the pinch test. If the skin doesn’t “bounce back” quickly when pinched, then it’s likely in need of more hydration still.

 

Skin care for dry skin

Dry skin care routines take this even further. This isn’t just about adding water into our diet and moisturiser. As well as rehydration as shown above, it’s important to strengthen the skins lipid barrier to stop the water loss. Look for ingredients such as ceramides and lipids in moisturisers, which help build and reinforce the skin barrier. We have a range of products that are great for this, including Osmosis MD Tropical Mango barrier repair mask and CosMedix Restore moisture rich mask. These are both targeted towards strengthening the lipid barrier itself. Leaving longer lasting hydration. Often skin care products promote this as “barrier repair”, so keep your eyes out. Once your skins outer lipid barrier is stronger you can use Osmosis MD StemFactor to promote collagen production and healing.

 

Skin care during Winter – Dry and Dehydrated Skin

• Be it dehydrated or dry skin, having a balanced skin care routine is important. Always start with a gentle cleanse, you can then boost your skins health with a mixture of Hyaluronic Acid and Antioxidants.
• If you are using a Vitamin A, make sure it’s gentle, or slow down how often you use it while your skin is sensitive. Osmosis MD Calm is designed for impaired skin.
• Of course, your moisturiser needs to be extra nourishing, many people have a favourite moisturiser for Summer vs Winter. If you find you need to apply more in the colder months, add in a night-time moisturising mask (one that you can leave on overnight such as Aspect Probiotic Sleep Mask).
• When you know you’re dry, dry, dry – then add in the lipid strengthening masks such as Omsosis MD Tropical Mango or CosMedix Restore.
• If you feel the need to exfoliate, it’s important to use an enzyme based mask or cleanser. This means that you aren’t using harsh granules to further damage your skin, instead simply breaking down the bonds between dead skin cells to gently reveal newer, healthy skin cells. Have you seen the lastest from Aspect Dr – Lanazyme Micro Peel!
• Please don’t forget to protect your skin from UV rays every day – all year round. UV damage can lead to both dehydration now, and cause further ageing in the future. CosMedix Hydrate + Moisturiser with Zinc is a favourite with many of our dry skinned clients.
• Ps. are you sitting under the aircon to get warm, leave a hydrating spray nearby and use it, don’t end up with dry and dehydrated Skin!!!

 

Best Dehydrated Skin Care Products

Best Barrier Repairing Dry Skin Care Products

If you need any help in choosing your skin care, you can email us at info@theskincareclinic.com.au.

 

 

 

 

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