Taking care of your skin is essential to maintaining a healthy, radiant appearance, and when your skin is dry, this need for care becomes even more crucial. This article addresses the issues surrounding dry skin, exploring its causes and offering tips for hydrating your skin and giving it the love it needs.
How to recognize dry skin?
Before exploring the causes and treatment rituals, it is essential to identify your skin type.
There dry skin manifests itself as tightness, rough areas, cracking, redness and itching. It may also present with irritation and sometimes flaking (i.e. small dead skin on the surface of the skin). At the skin texture level, the pores are generally fine and not very visible, and its elasticity is limited. Additionally, dry skin is often sensitive.
Do you still doubt?
Observe your skin after cleansing. If it looks dull or has fine lines, it may indicate that you have dry skin.
There are three levels of skin dryness different :
- There xerosis , a medical term for excessive but common dryness of the skin.
- Ichthyosis is characterized by scales and peeling skin, giving it a “crocodile skin” appearance.
- There keratosis hair is manifested by dry skin which leads to hyperkeratinization of the sebaceous glands. As a result, the skin becomes rough and elevations under the fingers are often felt, sometimes even colored red.
All these factors are linked to our epidermal barrier, which must remain waterproof to remain effective. Our skin has a lipid layer similar to “cement” that protects our body from water and external bacteria. When this cement is defective, our skin barrier no longer fulfills its role and allows water to evaporate from our skin.
How to tell the difference between dry skin and dehydrated skin?
A dry skin is a skin type, just like oily or combination skin. The factors of dry skin have been listed previously. This drought is mainly due to a lack of lipids and water at the level of the stratum corneum. In general, the sebaceous glands work slowly and do not produce enough sebum to maintain the effectiveness of the hydrolipidic film.
On the other hand, dehydration is a temporary condition caused by a lack of water in the upper layer of the skin, often resulting from an unbalanced diet, a temporary alteration of the skin barrier, an unhealthy lifestyle or the use of treatments not suited to your skin type.
It's entirely possible for dry skin to also be dehydrated, just as oily skin can be at some point. The signs of a dehydrated skin are characterized by tightness after a shower, more pronounced expression lines and a dull complexion.
Is dry skin sensitive?
Unlike dry skin, sensitive skin is not a skin type, but rather a skin condition. A person with oily or dry skin may have sensitive skin.
In the case of sensitive skin, the barrier of the skin's hydrolipidic film is considerably weakened, which makes the epidermis very reactive and irritated in the face of external stimuli that it perceives as attacks. This sensitivity can be either temporary or permanent.
Your sensitive skin can overreact to external and physical factors such as temperature changes and sun exposure, as well as psychological factors such as stress, and behavioral factors such as smoking and poor diet.
Signs of sensitive skin may include tingling and discomfort, often characterized by tightness or burning sensations.
What causes dry skin?
Understanding the underlying factors of dry skin is essential to developing an effective care plan.
Several environmental elements can influence skin dryness, including exposure to sun, cold, and wind in winter, as well as excessive heating or air conditioning and temperature variations. Excessive hygiene and the use of unsuitable products can also contribute to dry skin.
Some medical problems can also be the cause of this skin type. For example, taking certain medications or the presence of certain diseases such as kidney failure, hypothyroidism and atopic dermatitis can be triggering factors.
Sebum production decreases with age, especially in postmenopausal women facing hormonal changes, which significantly reduces the skin's natural nutrition.
Three deficiencies main contributors to dry skin:
- Lipids in the skin barrier: These epidermal lipids bind the cells of the stratum corneum and are essential in creating a protective barrier, as well as their ability to retain moisture.
- Natural hydration factors (NMF): composed of lactate, pyrrolidone carboxylic acid, salts and sugars, these elements absorb and retain moisture in the stratum corneum, preventing the skin from drying out or peeling.
- The skin's natural hydration network: composed of small microscopic water channels, this system allows the transfer of water inside and outside the cells, thus ensuring balanced hydration of the different layers of the skin. epidermis.
How to take care of your dry skin?
Now that you have identified that you have dry skin, as well as its different causes, here is how to take care of it:
Start by cleansing your skin
The first step is to cleanse your skin with a gentle cleanser . This is an essential step to prepare your skin for the application of skin care products. Choosing a gentle cleansing product is important to ensure effective hydration. Choose lukewarm water rather than hot water when cleansing your skin so as not to worsen dehydration.
Try our cleansing and moisturizing oil , formulated with apple seed oil and organic sesame and sunflower oil. It gently removes makeup while leaving a protective veil on the skin after rinsing.
Provide hydration to your skin throughout the day
Skin hydration is influenced by several factors, so it is essential to act daily to maintain good protection and hydration.
Use products containing urea, lactic acid, sodium PCA, amino acids and sugars to moisturize the skin. To strengthen the skin barrier, choose nutritious ingredients such as ceramides and vegetable oils. Additionally, natural moisturizers like aloe vera, olive oil, or shea butter can also be beneficial in hydrating and protecting the skin.
OUR Soothing moisturizing serum , enriched with apple acids and sugars, creates a protective film on the surface of the skin. It also contains hyaluronic acid, silanol, apple water and organic aloe vera for optimal hydration, while organic shea butter, jojoba and sunflower wax strengthen the hydrolipidic barrier of the skin.
For an even more complete and effective action, Poméol has developed a dietary supplement to improve skin hydration.
Our skin hydration food supplement contains an exclusive complex composed of vitamins A, C and E, selenium, hyaluronic acid and a wheat lipid extract. This complex also helps restore the skin's hydrolipidic film, thus ensuring optimal hydration.
Provide hydration to your skin overnight
During this period, the skin repairs and regenerates, becoming more permeable and losing moisture more quickly because the water in the cells evaporates more quickly. This increase in skin permeability also means better absorption of active ingredients, making nighttime the ideal time to apply quality care.
Opt for highly nutritious night creams or some night masks to provide your skin with everything it needs during this period of rest and regeneration.
Improve your lifestyle for well-hydrated skin
As you have understood, skin hydration is closely linked to the hydration of your body .
It is recommended to drink between 1.5 and 2 liters of water per day. It can sometimes be difficult to drink enough water every day, depending on your job and lifestyle. A tip to adopt: buy a bottle of water that you fill every morning and that you commit to finishing before the end of the day. You can also find different aids to make drinking water easier, like flavored tablets containing vitamins and minerals to improve hydration, or capsules that make water taste better just by smelling them.
Remember to avoid tobacco, pollution, alcohol and hard water, as they can contribute to dehydration of your skin.
Taking care of your dry skin requires a delicate and regular approach. By identifying the signs, understanding the causes and choosing appropriate treatments, you can not only relieve discomfort but also reveal healthy-looking skin. Remember that regular hydration and appropriate daily care are the pillars of healthy and beloved skin.
