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If you want a year-round silky-smooth skin, then prepare to moisturize every day!
Because the truth is that everyone says they want healthy and glowing skin, but not everyone is willing to invest time and effort to nourish and take care of it.
We’ve gone through a lot of articles on the internet lately on the subject of: Is it necessary to moisturize your face daily? Do you really need a moisturizer?
Excuse me skeptics, but my conclusions are that yes, you do! And, we’ll use this article to cover all your concerns about moisturizing, from the benefits you can expect, to the mistakes that might tamper with them.
We’re not writing this article to promote products. After all, you can always choose to go natural and moisturize with home remedies and DIY face packs if you decide that’s better for you. All we’re saying is, it’s common knowledge that moisturizing is vital and the experts agree.
Especially if you’re a dry skin sufferer, then oh man! You must love that feeling of relief when your skin finally gets some moisture and becomes softer - so satisfying!
Now, before we continue, let’s address some of the concerns that can actually influence the benefits you’re expected to experience from moisturizing the skin daily.
Knowing your skin type is imperative. It dictates your skincare routine, the type of your skincare products, the ingredients used, and pretty much what you should use and how much you should use of it.
With that being said, know that every skin type can benefit from moisturizing, but the devil’s in the details.
We’ll start with the dry skin type since the need to moisturize here is obvious to most of us. Dry skin needs a powerful moisturizer with a thick formula and a high concentration of active ingredients that can replenish the skin’s barrier to prevent moisture loss. Ointments and creams are a good choice and you’re free to moisturize as much as you feel the need to.
For extremely dry skin using an overnight moisturizing formula can be a life-saver.
Moisturizing helps soothe symptoms of eczema, psoriasis, or rosacea. Only in this situation it’s always advisable to consult with your doctor before adding any type of cosmetic products to your skincare routine, and there are some excellent expert-approved formulas to choose from.
Combination skin is always tricky to handle since separate parts of your face have different needs and might react differently to certain products. If your T-zone becomes oilier and breaks out after moisturizing, then you should go for a non-comedogenic, oil-free and water-based moisturizer. Don’t use ointments or creamy moisturizers even if the other parts of your face feel soft and smooth after. You might achieve better results with a more lightweight and balanced formula.
Still, at the end of the day, what I found to be an interesting approach is using different types of moisturizers for different parts of the face.
In any case, moisturizing combination skin on a regular basis is important. You can moisturize your whole face after cleansing in the morning with a lightweight formula, and then only apply moisturizer on your drier areas when needed.
Contrary to popular belief, oily skin needs moisturizing too. Not as frequently, and not with the same type of moisturizers that dry skin needs, but you shouldn’t overlook moisturizing if you have oily and/or acne-prone skin. As you’ll see later on in the text, this step can help you with blemishes, reduce the inflammation of the skin, and promote faster cell turnover - all of which is extremely beneficial to acne-prone skin.
Additionally, oily skin doesn’t necessarily mean soft skin. Excess oil and hydration is not the same thing! Your skin can be shiny and greasy even if your skin cells underneath are dehydrated and inflamed.
This is why you need an easily absorbed, water-based moisturizer to hydrate your skin on a daily basis after thoroughly cleansing it (which is a crucial step in the routine of people with oily and acne-prone skin).
Another important aspect to consider when you’re deciding on a moisturizer is the active ingredients used in the formulation. Even the same type of moisturizers vary depending on the ingredients they contain and their concentration in the product.
This is extremely important because you might be allergic, or your skin might simply react negatively to some ingredients or the concentration they’re consisted in.
It’s essential that you know your skin, and know how to choose a moisturizer that uses ingredients your skin loves. That way you can experience the most benefits that moisturizing brings.
This aspect is closely related and depended on the above-discussed relationship. Your skin type will pretty much dictate what type of moisturizer will bring you most benefits, and which one naturally won’t.
Here’s a very brief summary of the types of moisturizers present on the market, but if you really want to up your moisturizing game, go check out the full guide on the types of moisturizers and how to choose your best fit.
Take your time to get to know your skin type and the type of moisturizer that will work best for you. After you find your perfect match, you can see the changes and fully experience the benefits of moisturizing the face daily.
Moisturizers are the products that prevent your skin to dry off. Whether it’s the cold or hot weather, the frosty air or blazing heat, the hot showers you love or the frequent washing - these environmental factors can dry your skin and cause problems.
Moisturizing the skin on a daily basis can counteract the effects of our everyday habits and the conditions in which we live and reduce the chances of developing skin problems.
Dermatologists always encourage people to moisturize their face after washing because the moisturizer traps that water in the skin, which is needed for the skin to remain healthy and prevent dryness.
Using the right kind of moisturizer for your skin can help maintain its balance and provide support for its optimal functioning.
Moisturizing the face daily is the most fundamental protection against premature aging of the skin. You can always add additional anti-aging creams to precisely target those wrinkles and fine lines, but without moisturizing the face, you’re not going anywhere.
This is because people with dry skin are more susceptible to damage in the skin’s surface, cracks, flaking and peeling which might become even painful in extreme cases.
Hydrating and moisturizing the skin boosts the skin’s ability to repair itself, produce enough collagen, stay tight, vibrant, and give you a more youthful and smooth look.
It’s normal that as we age our skin starts to lose the ability to heal itself, produce collagen, and replace dead skin cells. This results in a saggy, wrinkled, colorless complexion.
Additionally, the physiological processes within us can take a toll on our skin’s appearance. Genetics, hormonal changes, a deficit in nutrients, dehydration, stress, bacteria, and certain conditions can complicate things and cause acne outbreaks, discoloration, dry patches, blisters, ulcers, itchiness, redness, and other more or less severe damages.
Moisturizing daily won’t be a magical fix to all your problems, but it can offer relief to many symptoms and improve the overall texture and look of the skin.
Your skin will lose the dull, flaky and lifeless look and instead get a more healthy and vibrant appearance. Plus, good hydration improves blood circulation which will bring more color to your face.
Another benefit associated with moisturizers is improved cell function and speeded cell turnover.
Our skin constantly produces new skin cells deep within the dermis and replaces old, worn-out, and ill-functioning cells. As we age, this regeneration-process slows down and the imperfections of our skin become more permanent.
The good news is, today you don’t have to depend on your natural cell turnover cycle to keep your complexion pure and help prevent acne flare-ups. You can encourage quicker cell turnover internally through diet, and topically through specific skincare products.
A lot of vitamins (especially vitamin A), minerals, and essential fatty acids have been linked to increased cell turnover. So, after cleansing and exfoliating the dead layer of the skin’s surface, it’s the perfect timing to apply a moisturizer rich in nutrients to feed the skin so it can maintain its health and youth.
When your skin has all the hydration it needs you are left with a healthy, vital, and fresh-looking appearance. This glow can hide small imperfections on the skin and even out your skin tone. Many moisturizers contain tints and self-tanning agents which will conceal blemishes, discoloration, redness, and dark spots.
So, aside from having a smoother, softer skin, with the right moisturizer, you can also get a more evened out skin tone. Even if you decide to use cosmetic products that specifically target blemishes and discoloration, you shouldn’t forget that moisturizing is an essential part of your skincare routine regardless of your cosmetics preferences.
A good moisturizer can repair and protect the lipid barrier on the skin which prevents toxins, pollutants, and other damaging-forces from the environment to get and harm the living cells beneath it. Occlusive moisturizers are the superstars when it comes to forming a barrier on the skin’s surface. And, maybe the most popular representatives of this type of moisturizer are hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and the more controversial mineral oil.
Many of the moisturizers on the market today come with an SPF to further protect the skin from the harmful UV rays found in summer, as well as in winter. You can even find products that are a combination of moisturizer and typical sunscreens, which can be an amazing addition to your morning skincare routine.
The stratum corneum is the outermost layer of the skin consisting of keratinized cells. It provides an antimicrobial, antioxidant, and UV barrier and plays an integral role in maintaining skin hydration. Sometimes harsh environmental factors and skin conditions can compromise the function of the barrier and make the skin excessively dry, exposed and vulnerable to pollutants and bacteria. This triggers the immune system to try and defend the body from the attacks which will lead to inflammation on the skin’s surface. Additionally, as we age, the inflammation on the skin increases, which complicates things even more.
In a small pilot clinical study, published in the journal of European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, the authors investigated how topical applications of an emollient can reduce the circulating pro-inflammatory cytokine levels on the skin. Results showed that applying moisturizer for 30 days reduced the levels of cytokines in the blood. But still, the authors advise that before making any conclusions more studies need to be carried.
Before we get more reliable evidence from other studies, you can choose a moisturizer with natural ingredients that are known as anti-inflammatory or simply make your own moisturizer.
People with sensitive skin know how difficult it is to keep your face safe from every little thing that might irritate it. Redness, itchy patches, rashes, swelling, pimples every now and then, are all too familiar.
When your sensitive skin becomes dry or oily it will develop eczema, flakes, or breakouts a lot more easily. This is why it’s important to find a good moisturizer that’ll keep it in balance, hydrated but without making it greasy.
Additionally, you can pick up a moisturizer with skin-soothing ingredients like chamomile and aloe vera to ensure that your face doesn’t get irritated.
Have you ever tried to apply makeup on dry and flaky skin? Well, I have and trust me, it doesn’t look good. The foundation just highlights and even contributes to more flakes, and you get that annoying feeling that your makeup can peel off at any moment.
To avoid all this and perfect your makeup look, you need to prepare the skin.
It all starts with cleansing. You should clear the skin and get rid of dead skin cells and debris build-up inside the pores which might tamper your goal of a more natural and radiant makeup look.
After this, comes the most important step - moisturizing!
Moisturize the skin to soften it and prepare it for the products that are following. Moisturizing will also form a protective barrier between the makeup products and your skin cells.
If you skip this step you could end up with unblended makeup, irritation, and inflammation.
This goes without saying, but this rule is only good if your hands are completely clean. If you don’t wash your hands before applying the moisturizer with them, you’re putting yourself on a silver platter to a massive amount of bacteria that can cause all kinds of problems to your skin. And, I’m sorry if I scare you, but if that’s what it takes to make you never forget to sanitize your hands before touching the face then it’s worth it.
The problem with makeup sponges, brushes, or cotton pads/balls is that they will absorb most of the moisturizer and your face won’t get the hydration it needs.
The order of which you’re using your skincare products affects their effectiveness and your expected benefits. For example, you should always cleanse and exfoliate your skin first, and then apply an essence, tonic, serum, and/or moisturizer in the end. Only your makeup comes after the moisturizer, which is kinda obvious, right?
If you’re a little bit confused and not exactly sure what product to use when, think about the texture of the product. Lightweight, watery products come first, and more heavy, concentrated and oily products come after.
There are two reasons for this. First, cleansing and exfoliating products, which are almost always light and watery, open the pores, unclog them and remove the layer of dead skin cells from the surface of the skin. This helps the active and nurturing ingredients from the heavier products absorb better and penetrate the skin deeper. Second, moisturizers form a protective barrier on the skin’s surface which will block the effects from the cleansing and exfoliating products. The only thing you can achieve this way is to wash off the moisturizing layer and leave the skin with pretty much nothing.
Okay, don’t get confused by the headline. You should moisturize dry skin, it’s only that your skin shouldn’t be dry when you apply the moisturizer. Here’s what I mean.
First, hydrate the skin and then apply the moisturizer on your damp skin. The reason for this is that most moisturizers are amazing at locking in water inside the skin’s pores, but to be able to do that, there must be water in the skin’s pores. They’ll definitely make the skin softer, even if you apply a moisturizer on dry skin. I mean, that’s their job. But, if you apply the moisturizer on your damp skin, the benefits will be greater since your skin’s moisture will be locked inside the pores for a longer period of time.
You know that sunscreen is not only for the summer, right? Well, experts recommend that we use protection during all year round. This is because 80% of UVA rays penetrate the clouds and can still reach our skin.
If you’re not a fan of sunscreens’ creamy texture you can always protect the skin by using a moisturizer with an SPF factor in the morning before you leave the house. This also applies even if you don’t go to the beach or the pool. Sometimes even a run in the morning can absorb a lot of sunlight, in a bad way.
No matter the type of moisturizer you use, it should always be gently massaged when applying it on the face. Don’t use pressure, as you might irritate the skin. This is especially important for people with sensitive or problematic skin, eczema, inflamed acne lesions, and other conditions.
The product you’ll choose might be designed with the gentlest formula, but if there’s physical trauma to the skin, because of the way you’re applying it, your symptoms will get worse and the overall skin complexion will suffer.
The active ingredients from the moisturizer will be absorbed in the skin, without you pressing hard. There’s no way for us to feel this process, you just have to trust the product that’s doing the jo, and wait for the changes and improvements to naturally occur.
Our face is the softest and most exposed part of our body. Hence, it is important that we take the utmost good care of it.
Taking good care of the skin means to invest time and effort in a flawless skincare routine that’s personalized for our skin type and needs. And this is no easy task.
Moisturizing should be part of every daily skincare routine. Still, the type of moisturizer you use and the ingredients in the formulation will heavily influence the outcomes of using a moisturizer on a daily. Before blaming the moisturizing practice, you should consider these factors and find what works for you.
Moisturizing prevents dryness, makes the skin look more youthful, hides signs of aging like wrinkles and discoloration, it decreases inflammation in the skin and protects it from external harmful agents.
Make sure you know how to properly moisturize to maximize the benefits and avoid common mistakes.
