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Your Moisturizer Might be Drying out your Skin and How to Stop It


The core of a skincare regimen is cleansing, toning, moisturizing. Acids, serums, masks, exfoliants, oils, and so on are additional steps most of us more or less depend on for maintaining the health and youthfulness of our skin or to reduce/cure acne and other skin issues. Moisturizer is often the last step in our skincare regimens, hopefully, right before sunscreen.
As much as I like my creams, slathering one and being done is just not that simple. Simplicity in skincare has its benefits but going with just those three core steps wouldn't be enough for pst people unless they have normal skin. Still, even the normal, balanced skin type goes through periods when the skin is on the drier or oilier side depending on the weather, diet, emotional, and hormonal states, and so on. 
Because of that, you either gotta have your holy grail moisturizer that works flawlessly with your skin no matter what or to add another product to follow after your cream when there is a need for it. Else, you might easily end up with a dry flaky mess on your face and no amount of cream will be able to fix it. Truth is, your moisturizer might even be drying out your skin. That's the topic of today's post. I decided to share my experience with you about how my best cream turned out to be drying out my skin further. Read on to find out how I mended the situation.

My Experience

I have the dry skin type but my skin got really flaky around winter. The flakiness went on for over a week. Every morning I'd wake up with flakes of skin in my eyebrows and throughout the day I would notice flakes falling on my keyboard while looking down typing. I didn't have any oils back then and so I always reached for my moisturizer. The Ordinary's Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA is a great product. My skin loves that moisturizer and it had never disappointed me before. Yet, the flakiness continued and my skin was starting to develop them all over my nose, cheeks, and chin as well. That's when I learned what could be the most valuable skincare tip for people with dry or dehydrated skin.




Humectants

A good moisturizer is rich in humectants that pull in hydration. Those are the ingredients that provide moisture and suppleness to your skin. They draw moisture from the environment and into your skin making it plum and radiant. Ingredients to look for including the abundant hyaluronic acid and glycerin, urea, sodium PCA, tremella mushroom extract, AHAs, aloe vera, and dicyanamide to name a few.

Occlusives

A great moisturizer, however, will not also draw in the moisture but also prevent it from leaving your skin. Occlusives are the ingredients that will lock in the moisture and prevent trans-epidermal water loss. Occlusives are usually the ingredients that give creams the rich thick texture. Those include shea butter, petroleum jelly, lanolin, silicons such as dimethicone, and some oils. Occlusives are mostly lipid-based (oil-based). They have a greasy feeling texture and look to them and leave a sheen on the skin. The protective coating is called a lipid barrier.

What Worked for Me

Because of my dry skin, my focus is always on hydration as well as anti-aging. As I already said, I was using Natural Moisturizing Factors. My skincare collection was quite minimal at the time, I was just starting to get into it. I didn't have any oils or acids. What I did have was vaseline. That was my saving grace. I know many people despise vaseline as a skincare item. All I'm gonna say about that is 1. vaseline is non-comedogenic and 2. do and use whatever works best for YOUR skin no matter what one says or another
Back to my personal experience, I would apply the moisturizer as usual and add extra to the flaking area and massage it in. Then I would add a layer of vaseline over the flaking area as well. I didn't do it every single night but when I did, my skin felt a lot more supple and I didn't have skin flakes in my eyebrows. My flaky skin smoothed out completely once and for all after a few days of doing this regularly. I still do it sometimes. Now I have several oils, though, and those work better for my dry skin than any cream I've ever tried. Nowadays, I barely use my creams.

Extra Tips before you Go

There are a few more things I do now every once in a while as a little extra treatment for my skin, especially in dry weather and colder months. Other than drinking enough water, here is what else I do to prevent dry patches.
  • Choose when to use a moisturizer. If your cream doesn't have enough occlusives, instead of buying new ones, try wearing the cream when the humidity is at a higher percentage. Humectants draw in the moisture and where there is plenty of that in the air it's less likely that your skin will dry out from trans-epidermal water loss. Check humidity levels on a weather app.
  • Apply a separate occlusive over it. Vaseline is easily available and affordable, but use whatever you choose. Vaseline doesn't look greasy if you apply a thin layer. Spot treat and massage it in gently instead of applying all over the face.
  • Substitute creams. For some skin types, an oil works a lot better than a cream. I have just about cut out creams from my skincare regimens as I find what my skin prefers and now use my creams rarely. Oils are often lighter than creams and they prevent trans-epidermal water loss. You gotta play around and listen to your skin.
  • Concentrated humectants. When it's raining outside I usually have a nice hydrating skin treatment. I slather on a potent hyaluronic acid serum and just go out for a walk or go out on the balcony. It draws in the moisture so well that I don't even need much for my PM regimen. It's a relaxing little ritual to have and use some time for me, listen to the rain, and enjoy a book, or a hot cup of tea of coffee. Take advantage of higher humidity and treat yo'self!

Now, I want to learn about your experience! Have you had dryness caused by your creams? How did you fix the issue? Which one of my tips sticks with you? If you have any tips of your own, please leave it down below to heal each other out!  If you found this post helpful, you might want to subscribe below to stay updated on all the good stuff!
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