What's the Key to Proper Skin Hydration?

Is your skin feeling dry? While the cold might be to blame, it could also be due to your habits. Many things, from using the wrong skincare products to over-exfoliating, could contribute to your skin feeling tight and flaky. But don't worry—we've got a list to help you through this dry patch. Here are 10 ways to properly moisturize your skin and 10 ways you're drying it out.

1. Cleanse Your Face Before Moisturizing

Ideally, you should be cleansing your face morning, noon, and night. This helps wash out oil, grit, and dirt that may have seeped into your pores overnight or throughout the day, and leaves a clean base to apply moisturizers.

2. Use Toners

You may think toners don't really do anything, but choosing the right toner for your face makes a world of difference. Depending on the type of toner you choose and the main ingredients it offers, toners act both as an extra step to the cleansing process and can help rebalance your skin's natural pH.

3. Apply Masks

Masks are also for not only providing hydration to your skin but also locking that moisture in. Scrub or wash-off masks are typically for exfoliation, while sheet and overnight masks tend to be saturated with ingredients like hyaluronic acid that pamper your skin. You can also dampen a few cotton pads with your toner to use as a mask.

4. Use Serums

After cleansing and applying wash-off or sheet masks, use serums to give your skin another hydration boost. In particular, search for serums that are formulated with hyaluronic acid, glycerin, or panthenol, which not only provide moisture but help restore your skin barrier.

5. Use Moisturizers with Hydrating Ingredients

Similar to serums, when choosing a good moisturizer, find ones that include hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and panthenol for ultimate hydration. Other ingredients, like ceramides or aloe vera, are also great for soothing and protecting the skin barrier.

6. Use Skincare Tools

Jade rollers, gua shas, and LED masks can all help your skin better absorb the serums and moisturizers you apply. But that's not to say you should immediately run out and buy these tools. In fact, warming up lotions and creams with your fingers before lightly tapping them into your skin also helps with better absorption.

7. Wear SPF

You might have heard of how important it is to wear sunscreen. And it's true: applying SPF doesn't only protect you from harmful sun rays—which can lead to worse things than just dry skin or burns—but it also helps to prevent discoloration and premature aging.

8. Exfoliate Weekly

Since exfoliation gets rid of trapped dirt and gunk in your pores, you might think you should scrub your face every day. But over-exfoliating, especially with products that have harsher ingredients or ones that may break you out, can destroy your skin barrier and dry it out more. To play it safe, stick to scrubbing just once or twice a week.

9. Use a Humidifier

Using a humidifier offers various benefits. For skin, having increased moisture in the air can help keep it hydrated, which is especially great for those who suffer from conditions like eczema or psoriasis. Humidifiers can also prevent chapped lips, relieve allergies, and may make certain spaces in your home feel warmer.

10. Stay Hydrated

Good skin starts with good health and hydration, which means drinking at least eight cups of water every day. Your body needs water to survive and regulate temperatures and processes, so it's crucial to drink enough of it.

Now that you know the 10 proper ways to moisturize your skin, let's jump into the 10 ways you might be drying it out.

1. Sun Exposure

Sitting too long under the sun, even if you're wearing sunscreen, will dry you out. The heat and damaging ultraviolet rays destroy your skin barrier the longer you stay under it, so it's important to continuously reapply SPF and wear other shades and clothes to protect you.

2. Wrong Cleanser

Using the wrong type of cleanser for your skin will also do more harm than good. Cleansers, especially bar soaps, can contain harsh ingredients that strip away natural oils and disrupt your skin's microbiome, leaving it vulnerable to irritants and bacteria.

3. Wrong Skincare Products

On top of using the wrong cleanser for your face, the wrong skincare routine can also dry your skin out and cause breakouts. Products for acne, like benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid, can strip natural oils, as do other treatments that contain alcohol or acids. Starting retinol at a high concentration can also damage your skin barrier.

4. Makeup

Sometimes, the reason for dry skin can be a combination of having the wrong skincare routine and the wrong makeup. When choosing bases or foundations, make sure they don't contain harsh ingredients such as alcohol or fragrance that could end up irritating your skin. In addition, pick non-comedogenic products so they won't clog pores.

5. Not Drinking Enough Water

Dehydration could be the number one culprit behind dry skin. If you aren't drinking enough liquids, your body will start pulling water to other parts of your body to prioritize and maintain proper functioning. This is why it's so important to drink at least eight cups of water every day.

6. Not Accounting for the Weather

In the summer, when humidity levels are high, a light moisturizer and ample sunscreen should do the trick; we only need to protect our skin from the sun. But during the colder months of autumn and winter, you should wear enough layers to combat the chill and dry air. Not doing so could lead to tight, flaky skin.

7. Smoking

Smoking can also dry you out. Not only is it bad for your health—nicotine narrows blood vessels, which disrupts blood flow to your organs—but its harmful chemicals are also absorbed by your skin, Over time, this leads to premature aging, delayed wound healing, and increased risk of infections and chronic diseases. If you ever needed a reason to quit, do it for your skin and your health.

8. Taking Hot Showers

Steaming showers are relaxing and needed once in a while, but when you're constantly running hot water over your body and face, it'll end up drying your skin out by stripping its oils. Stick to lukewarm water (we know it's not as great, but do it for your skin) and keep your showers short.

9. Excessive Exfoliation

We've covered that you should only be exfoliating your skin at most twice a week. This is because doing it every day or more times than your skin can handle will dry it out in the long run. While a good scrub is great for cleaning out gunk, you'll end up cleaning out all the bad and good if you're doing it too often.

10. Irritation from Fragrances

Another cause for dry skin may come from an unlikely place—your detergent. Note what fabrics touch your face, from your clothes to your bedsheets. If your skin is irritated even after doing the laundry, you could be allergic to certain ingredients or fragrances.