Why Is It Essential to Moisturize Your Skin?
There is no doubt that everyone dreams of having healthy and elastic skin. Especially, without applying any makeup. Such healthy skin undergoes a lot of preventive factors to gain its smooth and vibrant characteristics.
One of the most important factors for beautiful skin is moisture. It is the main reason behind whitening the skin and helping it from any unhealthy ultraviolet rays and dust.
In the past, endocrine disorders were, almost always, regarded as the root cause of wrinkles and aging of the skin. However, the latest studies have shown that lack of water and moisture is the number one factor that causes rapid skin aging.
In the past, endocrine disorders were, almost always, regarded as the root cause of wrinkles and aging of the skin. However, the latest studies have shown that lack of water and moisture is the number one factor that causes rapid skin aging.
A sufficient amount of moisture on the surface of the skin should be around 15-25%, this amount indicates that skin is full of water to keep it smooth, elastic, soft, and without fine lines. But, as we grow older, that moisture percentage on the skin gradually decreases, resulting in dryness of the skin that leads to the formation of wrinkles and fine lines. And that is why moisturizing your skin is one of the most crucial habits that you should be following on a daily basis.
Cleansing – The First Step to Care For Your Skin
Since moisturizing is absolutely important when it comes to skincare, it would be useless without cleaning your skin first. Think of it this way, cleaning has to be done for more notably effective moisturizing results on your skin.
Since our skin is always exposed to dirt, dust, and germs that stack all kinds of unhealthy grease on it, cleaning refers to washing your face, hair, feet, and showering on a daily basis.
It is more like cultivating a field. First, you will need to protect the environment in which the seeds grow, second, is to remove any excess weeds in the field. Given that the seed here is the “Keratinocyte” of the skin’s hair layer, which takes a month to complete its growth cycle.
Although people are becoming more and more aware of the benefits of cleaning and how to do it properly, many still struggle with facial skin related problems such as redness, dryness, and overall burning sensation of the skin caused by a damaged skin barrier. For this specific matter, we suggest the following 3 points when you’re washing your face:
- Water should not be containing any amount of soluble calcium salt, magnesium salt, and any properties of “soft water” such as tap and distilled water.
- By all means necessary, you should be avoiding overheated water. The water temperature should have the temperature of lukewarm water as it is the most conducive to pore expansion and thoroughly cleaning oily skins.
- The ideal washing frequency is twice a day, once in the morning when you wake up and then again once in the evening before you go to bed. It’s worth to note that the process should take anywhere between 5 – 10 minutes.
But, what about applying a gentle facial cleanser you might ask.
A facial cleanser is normally used against your skin’s condition and the severity of the situation. If it’s a mild situation then it will not be necessary to use a facial cleanser every time you wash your face. Especially, if you don’t normally face pollution or ultraviolet rays more often. Also, some people have very sensitive skin that won’t accept the application of a facial cleanser on a daily basis. Instead, they just choose to clean their faces with clean water for a period of time until their skin has a chance to breathe and rest, then apply a facial cleanser every now and then between a longer interval of time.
You should know for a fact that it is not about how many times you use a facial cleanser, sometimes the more you use it and apply it on your skin can have a very negative effect and cause irritation to it. Nevertheless, too little application cannot thoroughly clean the skin as well. It all depends on your skin type. People with neutral, dry, and very sensitive skin should always choose a soft facial cleanser product with a mild formula so as not to be hurt.
Generally speaking, facial cleansers contain oily ingredients that are very suitable for dry skins. So, people that naturally have oily skin should not use facial cleansing products with strong alkaline. Although, alkaline can control oil on the skin, the stronger the alkaline in a cleansing product, the greater the effect of oil removal, causing the skin to be dry. Crystal and transparent cream products do not contain strong oil ingredients in them, and if deployed properly, it can be used by almost all types of skin.
On the other hand, a facial cleanser product with excessive foam characteristics often contains higher alkalinity and causes greater irritation to the skin, especially, the sensitive skin. So, it is not advised to choose that kind of product.
The most appropriate thing to do when applying a facial cleanser is to generally take a diameter of about 1 cm, so it can form a foaming amount that can effectively cover the whole face and properly clean it completely without leaving any dryness sensation afterward. As a rule of thumb on how to distinguish whether or not the product you are using does contain too much alkaline is by how dry is your face after applying the cleanser on it. If your face is significantly dry after washing it and using a certain facial cleanser, then this product is too high in alkaline. on the other hand, if there is no sense of dryness after applying the cleanser, then the alkaline level in that product is weak.
Finally, when you are washing and cleaning your face, make sure that you avoid touching your eyes and gently massage it in a gentle circular motion. Take a small amount of the cleanser and start by cleaning the T-area of the face. Then, gently massage the skin in a circular motion back and forth for at least 10 times. Then, wash it with lukewarm water and gently wipe it off with a clean towel.
Moisturizing – How to Do It Properly?
Moisturizing is not only very important for the overall health of our skin, but its the most basic element and concept of beauty. Unfortunately, with the constant rise of environmental pollution, temperature instabilities, and mental stress levels, the loss of skin moisture is more common nowadays, resulting in all sorts of skin problems such as wrinkles, dark circles, rough pores, and dullness. This is why the most important thing to do with your skin is to always keep it hydrated.
While using a wide variety of skincare products that could help you keep your skin moisturized and vibrant, you always need to educate yourself of what type of moisturizer you are using on your skin. Here a list that covers all kinds of moisturizers:
Astringent
Astringent is a general term for firming lotion, toner, and soothing toner. They all share the effect of moisturizing, cleaning, and protecting the skin barrier while balancing the acidity and alkalinity of the skin. To better get to know what these three powerful moisturizers are capable of doing to your skin, let’s talk about them in detail:
- Firming Lotion: suitable for oily skin, firming lotions are well-known for refining pores and effectively balancing the secretion of oil to the skin.
- Toner: this is more suitable for a neutral type of skin and is strongly advised to be used in hot summer weather as it is very refreshing and not greasy whatsoever.
- Smoothing Toner: best moisturizer for dry skin, and is very suitable to use in a dry climate.
Lotion and Facial Cream
Lotions and facial creams have a very powerful water retention function. They also contain a wide variety of nutritional factors that maintain the nourishing factor of the skin.
From a professional point of view, there are 2 types of oil and water mixes under the action of emulsifier, the first is a water-in-oil type (Lotion), and the second is an oil-in-water type (Cream). In short, lotions are richer in water than creams because of its type and formation.
- Lotion: as mentioned above, the most significant characteristic of lotion is that it is very high in the content of water which can moisturize the skin in a blink of an eye even if it’s very dry. Lotion usually builds a layer of a hydrated sebaceous membrane of the skin to enhance its water retention and prevent any skin dehydration.
Therefore, when it’s compared with other moisturizers, the lotion plays an integral role and is more suitable in dry seasons. - Facial Cream: facial creams can be divided into day creams and night creams. The day cream has the characteristics of a moisturizer and is known for repairing, tightening the skin, preventing wrinkles, and so on, The night cream is designed to soothe and nourish the skin when you’re sleeping,
The biggest difference between day and night creams is that the day cream has the capability of protecting your skin from any ultraviolet rays produced from the sun. - How to Choose Between Lotion and Cream?
This will all depend on two things, seasons and skin type. The lotion is significantly lighter and is more refreshing which is suitable in the summer season. The cream is a thicker substance with a very powerful moisturizing effect, which is suitable for the dry winter season.
Essence
When compared with lotion and facial cream, the function of essence is more powerful since the molecular structure is smaller. It plays an effective role in the dermis layer of the skin. It has a very effective anti-aging, anti-wrinkle, moisturizing, and whitening functions.
Facial Masks
The masks can be divided into 4 main types: A Peeling Mask, A Gel Mask, A Mud Mask, and A Packing Mask.
- The peeling mask is the most common mask of all.
- The gel-type mask comes from a commonly used medical therapy that covers the face for a short time and temporarily isolates the surrounding air and pollution from the skin, then it increases the facial temperature, resulting in pores expansion. This type of mask is very beneficial when it comes to eliminating accumulated grease from the skin, resulting in a fully hydrated and healthy skin with an enhanced absorption function. This kind of mask is recommended to be used no more than 2 times a week.
- The mud paste and the packing masks
These 2 types of masks are mainly used for cleaning. The mud paste mask often adds the physical powder that enhances the oil absorption of the skin. While the pack mask depends on cleaning the face through a formation of some kind of glue on the surface of the skin, resulting in absorbing the dirt and any inactive keratinocyte on the surface of the skin to achieve ultimate cleaning results. It is recommended to use these 2 types of masks once every 4 weeks.
Q&A
Q: What are the most common, effective, and useful moisturizing ingredients?
A: The highly praised moisturizing ingredients are as follows:
Glycerine: among all the ingredients of the many different skincare products, glycerine is the most useful ingredient when it comes to moisturizing. It is relatively cheap and very effective. Also, it is worth to mention that it is added in most of the skincare products out there.
Hyaluronic acid: this is a necessary moisturizing ingredient in mask products because of its efficient moisturizing performance. In a low humidity environment, hyaluronic acid can form a layer on the surface of the skin that absorbs water from the surrounding environment and locks it down in the epidermis to achieve a wonderful moisturizing effect.
Natural moisturizing factor: the composition of NMF can help balance and maintain the normal metabolism of Keratinocyte. The main components of the natural moisturizing factor are amino acids, sodium lactate, urea, and pyrrolidone carboxylic acid. These raw materials are not high in price and very good for the skin.
Q: Are more expensive moisturizers better than cheaper ones for your skin?
A: this is a huge misconception.
The short answer is no, this is not necessary. The price of a product is not determined by anything but the brand itself and not the ingredients or the technology used on it. Some products are just expensive as they are more commercially out there, advertised by celebrities and superstars, that’s it. While in fact, many of the cheaper products may contain the same ingredients and might be better for your skin.
