Best Moisturizers for Dry, Combo, Sensitive, Oily Skin, and Clear Skin
I think a lot of you are already quite good at moisturizing, but you probably didn't realize how necessary it is for things like anti-aging, keeping oily skin from becoming too greasy, keeping dry skin hydrated, and also protecting the skin from hazardous environmental effects.
So, I'm going to explain what moisturizers are? What effect do they have on your skin? Do we really need the 3 different types of moisturizers? And, because there are so many moisturizers available, you'll need to figure out which texture best suits your skin type while also knowing when to switch up your moisturizers. I'm going to give you some pointers and just the things I've learned over the years so you can choose the best moisturizer when you're out shopping.
What Are Moisturizers?
Moisturizers are creams or lotions that are used to keep the skin hydrated and moisturized. They usually contain helpful ingredients for the skin, such as essential oils, herbal extracts, oil-controlling chemicals, as well as irritation-reducers.
Types Of Moisturizers:
You may be surprised to know that there are three different types of moisturizers:
• Occlusives
• Emollients
• Humectants.
Occlusives
Occlusives work by trapping moisture in your skin and preventing it from evaporating.
Emollients
Emollients are products that soften, moisturize, and lubricate the skin, similar to how conditioner softens and moisturizes your hair.
Humectants
Humectants are moisturizers that promote the growth of new cells on the surface of the skin, reducing flakiness and dryness.
Moisturizers with added emollients and humectants help keep the skin moisturized while also keeping it soft, supple, and glowing; normally, our bodies perform all of these functions naturally, but moisturizers add an external factor to help our skin stay soft and supple like a baby.
History Of Moisturizers:
Moisturizers have been around for almost ten thousand years, therefore there are plenty of unique recipes out there from people trying to keep their skin moisturized.
Disclaimer: Just because something worked in the past doesn't imply it will work today, so don't try this at home.
Some of them are extremely intriguing, and some of them will undoubtedly not be completely safe, so early signs of moisturizing. Some people literally smear pig fat on their skin because it not only retains moisture and keeps your skin supple, but it also keeps you warm in cold weather.
In ancient China, a well-known concubine mixed egg white with powdered vermilion, which is a very bright red pigment that is laced with mercury and is extremely toxic, so I would not recommend it; also, I'm not sure why you want to look red all over, it makes no sense, but she believed it kept her youthful.
Ancient Romans, on the other hand, believed in a mash-up of bread, milk, and honey, and laced it on their faces. I never realized that breakfast could be so anti-aging.
Many moisturizers were prepared for the hands rather than the face during Anglo-Saxon England, and many of them were made from leftover lard as well as old wine, and then they added lily essence to brighten it up a little bit and make it smell better.
Why Is Moisturizing So Important?
On the outermost surface of our skin is the stratum corneum, which acts as a barrier between our bodies and the outside world. Our body's fats, such as fatty acids, ceramides, cholesterol, and corneocytes, which act as the bricks of the wall barrier, keep this surface layer moist. Natural oils and fats, on the other hand, are the mortar that keeps the house together.
As we go about our days, skipping around doing whatever we want, our skin goes through a process known as transepidermal water loss, or TEWL. Water goes upward through the epidermis and finally evaporates since our blood vessels only carry moisture to the dermis layer of the skin. As a result, as the moisture level of the air diminishes, the corneum's fatty protein linkages begin to break down, resulting in corneocyte group fractures.
When you apply a moisturizer to your skin, it creates a barrier that traps and replenishes moisture while also preventing it from evaporating into the air throughout the day. When you don't moisturize or don't moisturize enough, your skin's barrier crumbles, even more, allowing moisture to evaporate and leaving your skin parched, which is where dehydrated skin comes from.
Dehydrated skin lacks moisture, which is why many of you believe you have combination skin; you're not dry and oily at the same time. Because you're not holding in, replenishing, and maintaining all of the moisture that should be in there, your skin is dehydrated. We now know why we need to apply a moisturizer.
How to Properly use Them?
When it comes to moisturizing, after cleansing, toning, and applying all of your serums, what I like to do is scoop out a small amount, like a cashew or pea-sized amount, and dot it all over my face, so I'd go blob blob blob, and then start with my cheeks and do slight gentle strokes, just to make sure the moisturizers are massaged into the driest area on your face, which are your cheeks. Because it's so close to your eyes, the skin around this area is extremely thin and delicate. It's also the first spot to dry out, because when the sun hits your face, your cheeks always pop out, therefore you'll want to make an upward motion to avoid creases and drooping.
Different Types of Moisturizers:
I'm sure some of you have come across terms like gels, thick lotions, and creams and wondered what the difference was. Which is the better option for me? Moisturizers are classified into four categories: gels, lotions, creams, and ointments.
Gel
Gels are extremely light, have a very thin consistency, and are the fastest to absorb into the skin. This is wonderful for oily skin types because you don't want a greasy film on your face, and gels never do, but if you have dry skin, it probably won't provide enough moisture to keep you going for a long time.
Lotions
Lotions have a thicker consistency than gels, but they're still very light because the majority of the ingredients are water. They do, however, contain moisturizing compounds like emollients or humectants, which help moisturizers penetrate deeper into the skin.
Creams
Creams are a general term because different brands have a different consistency, so creams and lotions can be used interchangeably depending on the brand, but the most important thing is to try out the actual consistency by putting it on your hand and feeling it because creams stay on top of the skin for a long time.
Ointments
Ointments are the thickest moisturizers available, particularly for people who want their skin to remain moisturized, and they are classified as occlusive moisturizers since they tend to trap moisture in the skin. You may recall that we discussed the TEWL, or our skin's natural water loss system. Basically, ointment reduced deep TEWL by 98 percent, but to take it a step further, I applied moisturizer on one side of my face and didn't apply moisturizer on the other for a whole day, measuring moisture levels to show you guys what happens to your skin when you don't moisturize.
The face moisturizer I use is Tatcha Water Gel, if you have oily skin, try Some By Mi 30 Day AHA BHA PHA Miracle Cream, which also contains Centella, which is helpful for calming and inflammation, especially if you have acne, and it's a lightweight gel consistency.
To measure my moisture level, I used the Skin Moisture Analyzer Tool, which simply picks up the moisture level on your skin. You turn it on, wait for it to stop blinking, and then place it on your skin, so just for those of you who might be interested in getting this, it will beep and then show you.
After moisturizing one side, I had a moisturizing level of 50% on the moistened side and 35% on the unmoisturized side. I examined my moisturizer level again after two hours and it was 43.1% on the moisturized side and 31.2% on the unmoisturized side of my cheeks. On the chin, the moisturized side had 38.2% while the unmoisturized side had 28.6%. If you have oily or mixed skin, the majority of your oil is concentrated on your cheeks, nose, forehead, and possibly chin. On the moistened side of the forehead, it was 40.6%, and on the other side, it was 23.8%.
This is what I mean when I say how important moisturizing is because it helps with anti-aging and it helps fight breakouts because if I did this to my skin every day, I'm sure I'd get breakouts because my skin is just trying to produce so much oil, and that just increases the chances of me breaking out if I don't exfoliate or cleanse properly. On the other hand, it did its job on the moistened side, limiting and managing oil production while also retaining and locking in moisture.
The key point is that you can't go by how you feel; you must take the steps to properly moisturize, because as you can see from the TEWL, the moisture is starting to evaporate, and it'll only get worse and more dehydrated throughout the day. Wasn't that interesting, folks? The moral of the story is to moisturize.
Moisturizers For Your Skin Type:
Let's move on to the moisturizers that are appropriate for your skin type.
Oily Skin:
If your skin is oily and you're breaking out, seek moisturizers that contain AHA, a chemical exfoliant that's safe to use on your skin but can be irritating, so look for moisturizers that help balance and manage the oils in the ingredients.
So here are some of my personal favorites:
1. The Ole Henrikson Balancing Moisturizer
This one is fantastic; it's not a gel, but it's quite thin. When you apply it to your face, it rapidly sinks into the skin, and by the time you touch it a minute later, it feels quite nice and isn't greasy.
If you have oily skin and notice that moisturizers are a little greasy, I would advise you to avoid using them because they will trigger breakouts.
But this one also has AHAs, which are lactic acids that assist to reduce oil production on the skin, so I really like it.
2. The Origins Ginseng Energy Boosting Gel Moisturizer
This is the one I'm currently using. I switched to a little thicker consistency as it got a little colder, but I still adore this moisturizer in the summer. It's like the ideal morning moisturizer for wearing under makeup.
3. The L'occitane Aqua Reotier Ultra Thirst-Quenching Gel Moisturizer
This is another gel moisturizer that I really like, and because of the consistency, it's especially good for those of you with oily skin. It's very light, and it absorbs quickly into the skin, leaving it smooth. It's also non-sticky, so it rapidly plumps up and hydrates the skin, giving it a boost of hydration.
4. The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA
This is another moisturizer I love, and it's suitable for all skin types. HA stands for hyaluronic acid. I would highly recommend this moisturizer if you're looking for a low-cost, no-fuss moisturizer that works for almost all skin types. It's similar to a cream, but it's a little thicker in consistency, and it's non-greasy. When you apply it, it leaves a slight white tint, but it sinks in soon.
If you need a little more hydration than a gel, I would definitely recommend that you try any of these out because I've used them all for years and years.
Combination Skin:
Combination skin is neither dry nor oily, but a little bit of both on the t-zone, and I have combination skin. You want to make sure your skin isn't dehydrated first and foremost, since dehydrated skin causes a lot of combination skin, which implies you're not moisturizing enough. Everything I mentioned for oily girls can be applied to mixed skin as well.
The CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Lotion is ideal for almost all skin types because it contains hyaluronic acid and ceramides, which assist to seal in moisture, but it's not greasy, it's not too thick, and it absorbs quickly. It's probably not for dry skin because it's not rich enough.
But there's also the Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion, which is really good, and the Laroche-Posay Daily Moisturizing Cream. With a combination, you can either stick to this medium, not anything too thick because it might break you out, or you can even create a cocktail moisturizing situation on your face, using this cocktailing method.
I particularly enjoy combining two creams. So, the Ginseng Gel is what I use in the t-zone area, which is basically the areas with the most oil, which are the cheeks, nose, and forehead, and then along the outside.
I like the COSRX Centella Blemish Cream; it's certainly one of my all-time favorites; it's a little thicker, but the star ingredient is Centella Asiatica, a powerful antioxidant. It comes in and eliminates acne scars and spots, so the first time I used it, any redness or pigmentation was instantly gone, which was incredible. Because it is nutritious, I would strongly recommend it to anyone with problematic skin, whether it is acne-prone, oily, or dry.
Sensitive skin:
If you have a hard time reacting to products, or if particular temperatures make you itchy, burning, and unpleasant, you definitely have sensitive skin. Look for moisturizers that are as simple as possible, with as few ingredients as possible, no smell, no AHAs, just basic moisturizing ingredients, and you'll find them a lot in Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream, Laroche-Posay Daily Moisturizing Cream, and Dermalogica Calm Water Gel.
Dry Skin:
For all of you with dry skin, what happens is that we don't produce as much oil in our pores, and we don't produce as much sebum, which is caused by heredity and hormones. I went from having oily skin to having combination skin, and now I have dry skin, which is strange. Because we don't have the natural oils to protect our skin, people with dry skin just require a little more TLC. Look for hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and ceramides in your skin care products.
Normal Skin / Clear Skin:
If you have clear skin, there's no reason to read this; you're already fortunate, but you want to make sure you keep doing what you're doing. If you're not very oily or dry, but you're still breaking out, it's possible that the moisturizer you're using is too rich. Try a lighter moisturizer that isn't as thick, or it could be the ingredients in your present moisturizer that you are allergic to. Look for hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, and antioxidants among the ingredients.
For girls with clear skin, I'm not sure what to say because you've already won the lottery, but if you're searching for recommendations, the Kiehl's Super Face Moisturizer is a nice option. I also used it for a short time while my skin was behaving itself.
Maybe you're wondering, "How do I know when to change it up?" or is it acceptable to use various moisturizers on different days, or to alternate the kinds of moisturizers you have? You certainly can, and I believe it all boils down to looking at and feeling your skin.
If I get up in the morning and the heater has been on all night, I'm thinking I'm so poached, and you'll see flaking on the nose, forehead, and chin, and then I'll dive into a richer moisturizer. It's OK to change things around, and the weather, temperature, and climates, wherever you are, are the things to keep an eye on.
In the summer, you can stick to lighter weight moisturizers because you're already producing oils, sweats, and other things, and you don't want the moisturizer to trap bacteria in there, whereas in the winter, a lot of moisture is evaporated not only by being outside in the harsh cold winds, but also by things like heaters sucking all that moisture out of you.
If your face is feeling a little congested, be sure to apply a moisturizer that contains salicylic acid, which is also a BHA and an AHA that helps remove dead skin, and you'll be fine.
You now see why moisturizing is so crucial. The most important thing is to learn how to read your skin and understand how it feels on any given day so that you can select the appropriate products for those occasions.
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