To maintain your skin looking soft, smooth, and healthy, you need to nourish it with moisturizers on a regular basis. Moisturizers keep your skin supple and soft and lock the moisture in, preventing their evaporation. However, when you go to the market, you often encounter the sight of an array of skincare products including a variety of moisturizers, and you end up being perplexed about - which is the right one for me?
What Goes into a Moisturizer?
There are many ingredients that help the moisturizers carry out their functions effectively. Let us look at some of them:
- Glycerin: This is the main ingredient present in moisturizers. Glycerin, being a humectant, helps draw out the water from the atmosphere and helps your skin stay moist. Glycerin is available as an odorless gel in most chemists or druggist stores. When you have run out of your moisturizer, mixing a little glycerin with water and applying it on your skin helps.
- Hyaluronic Acid: Many skin products have this ingredient in them. Hyaluronic acid also works similar to glycerin, in that it draws the moisture from the atmosphere and helps the skin remain soft and supple. Hyaluronic acid is naturally present in human tissues and experts say that it can trap 1000 times its own weight of water. This product is used in burn wards of hospital to help with healing of burns faster in patients with burns.
- Jojoba Oil and Other Essential Oils: Skin requires a good balance of oil and water. While water hydrates the skin, oil keeps the water inside and prevents its escape from the skin surface. Oil also protects your skin from other elements. Jojoba and squalane oil are two oils that are used in skincare products. However, people with oily skin should go slow on oil-based moisturizers.
Different Skin Types
To understand what is good for your skin, know your skin type. It goes without saying that what works for one type of skin, may not effectively work for other types. Broadly, skin types are classified into three types; oily, dry, and normal. Apart from this, other categories are sensitive, mature, etc. According to your skin type, here are some tips to look for moisturizer according to the skin type:
- Oily Skin: People with this skin type are more prone to developing acne and should avoid moisturizers that have mineral oil, waxes, shea butter, lanolin, etc.
- Dry Skin: Dry skin people should choose thicker moisturizers with antioxidants, dimethicone, or petrolatum in them which help to keep the skin hydrated for long period of time.
- Normal Skin: The skin of normal-skinned people are neither too dry nor oily. They can use water-based, non-greasy formulas of moisturizers that contain cyclomethicone or cetyl alcohol.
- Sensitive Skin: Sensitive skin gets easily irritated and may develop redness and rashes. Select moisturizers that contain ingredients such as chamomile or aloe vera that are soothing for the skin. Avoid moisturizers containing acids and potential allergens.
- Mature Skin: As you age, your natural capacity of keeping the skin supple decreases and you require extra help with keeping your skin soft and supple. Oil-based moisturizers containing antioxidants and alpha-hydroxy acids work well to prevent formation of wrinkles, flaking, and scaling.
Other Tips for Using Moisturizers
- Ideal time to apply moisturizer is while stepping out of your bath. Just pat dry and apply moisturizer.
- Apply moisturizer on your hands every time you wash your hands.
- Use two types of moisturizers; heavier one for your legs and hands, and milder one for your face.
Regular application of a moisturizer helps keep the skin moist and supple. Sometimes, you may have to experiment with different types of moisturizers to arrive at one that works best for you. However, if you have been experiencing any irritant or eczematous conditions, it is advisable to take expert advice (from a good dermatologist) to arrive at the skincare products that are good for you.
