Me to my skin on occasion….
Do you ever get confused if your skin is dry or dehydrated? Does moisturizing mean a combination of both?
Let me tell you, the ‘tell tell signs’ from over thousands of hours treating my clients. I have seen first-hand the common skincare concerns and alarmingly 90% of my clients fall into this category, lack of moisture. The common mistake is that it’s hard for you to determine if your skin is dehydrated or dry. The truth of the matter is, it’s probably both and therefore it’s so important to feed the skin with both oil & hyaluronic acid daily to moisturize your skin.
Dry skin lacks oil, whereas dehydrated skin lacks water. Our skin needs a balance of both water and oil to be healthy and delay the signs of aging in order to GLO. Above all, our skin needs the balance of water and oil to prevent inflammation - the route of ALL skincare evils (redness, sensitivity & flair-ups.)
How does dry skin feel and look ?
Dry skin doesn’t really GLO and can often feel rough and flaky. Make up doesn’t really sit well and can ‘cake up’ and clog up the pores. This is because a balanced, oily skin behaves as a sealant (barrier function) on the top layer of skin that traps moisture, preventing dryness.
A really dry skin has the opposite effect. A weakened barrier function, with no sealant, has the skin appearing untextured, unsmooth, and rough. It can often breakout and turn into cystic acne when left untreated. This is because our body is equipped with its built-in ecosystem. It senses dryness and sends a signal to our cells to produce oil.
What about dehydrated skin?
Dehydrated skin feels tight after cleaning. Your skin may have more pronounced fine lines and lose its plumpness from this. Hyaluronic acid is created by our skin cells which attracts 1000 times its weight in water. This national moisturizing factor makes our skin fill-up like a water balloon giving it fullness and a luminous iridescent, firm GLO. When it dehydrated, it deflates like a balloon and that fullness lessons.
Just like our body, our skin also needs a healthy balance of water and non-trans fats. Sometimes even I, the skincare expert, can get carried away with aggressive exfoliations and peels that can totally upset the moisture balance.
How do we upset the balance?
When our skin loses moisture, both oil & water, it’s generally because of a harsh cleansing, aggressive exfoliants, and low humid environments of poor nutrition. The skin starts to feel tight and loses its volume which we call plumpness or fullness.
How to gain back our balance?
1. Stop using aggressive cleaners, start oil cleaning daily. I have always believed in oil cleaning and created my balm 10 years ago. It really is the kindest way to introduce healthy fats (Omega 3, 6 & 9) into the skin and clean without stripping out essential oils.
2. Use a hyaluronic acid serum and cream daily. You can never use enough hyaluronic acid, so my advice is to apply it in combination with a cream containing plenty of NMF (natural moisturizing factors.) I recommend my Hydra Repair Elixir.
3. Apply a face oil. Use a facial oil, like my Sleeping Beauty Oil, at night. Apply 4 drops before applying a moisturizer. If you are new at applying a face oil, start by building up your tolerance. Apply 2 drops to your face cream at night for the first 2 weeks, then apply 4 drops directly to the skin after those 2 weeks.
4. Don’t over exfoliate. It’s not necessary to exfoliate too often with aggressive exfoliators. Switch to enzyme vs facials scrubs.
5. Take supplements. For moisture, take Omega 3, 6 & 9.
6. Drink half your body weight of water.
