How To Properly Hydrate Your Skin?

Each skin has its own needs! What are the different ways to hydrate your skin? Why is it necessary, and how to choose your hydration? Lighting.

Why Moisturize Your Skin?

We often ignore it, but the skin is the most voluminous organ of the human body because it represents 16% of its total weight, but also the most visible and, therefore … the most exposed. As a result, his hydration needs are high.

The Skin: A Few Reminders About Its Composition

As an organ, the skin comprises several layers of tissue, forming a barrier between the external environment and the body. It is essentially composed of the following:

1. Water (70%)
2. Protein (nearly 30%)
3. fat
4. Mineral salts and trace elements

All of these components help form the three layers of skin tissue:

1. The Epidermis corresponds to the superficial layer. It is composed of different types of cells with distinct functions. They participate in giving pigmentation to the skin, forming hair and nails, or developing the immune system. The Epidermis itself is made up of five layers with protective and nourishing properties.
2. The Dermis, the intermediate layer, aims to support and protect the Epidermis. It is also made up of several distinct layers, which are made up of nerves and elastic fibres.
3. The Hypodermis, the deep layer, is crossed by vessels and nerves connecting it to the Dermis. It plays several roles: protector between the Dermis and the bone, fat storer, thermal insulator and designer of the silhouette according to the age, sex and nutritional intake of each.

Is Hydration Of The Skin Essential?

Frequent baths, cold, pollution, exposure to the sun… There is no shortage of external aggressions for our skin, not to mention the effect of aging, which affects it from a certain age. Properly hydrating it is, therefore, a valuable aid for it to cope with these attacks.

Without sufficient and appropriate hydration, the skin risks weakening and being less able to renew itself at the cellular level. In addition, using a moisturizer such as a cream makes it easier for the skin to retain the water it needs to protect itself and continue to perform its functions for our body. Moisturizing your skin is, therefore, essential.

What Are The Different Moisturizers?

In various forms but essentially creams, gels or serums, the moisturizers used today are four in number:

1. The NMF ( Natural Moisturizing Factor ) is mainly present in its natural state, more precisely within the upper layers of the Epidermis. In creams, it comes in the form of fractions, making up a set of substances: amino acids, proteins, sugars, ureas or hydrolysates. The primary function of NMF is to fix the water present in the different layers of the skin and, thus, to hydrate it durably.
2. Hydrophilic polymers. These molecules slow down the evaporation of water by forming a protective barrier on the skin. Collagens, algae, and hyaluronic acid are some of the most used hydrophilic polymers in moisturizing creams.
3. Water flow regulators (lipids). They make it possible to form a protective film on the skin’s surface, thus regulating its hydration.
4. Unsaturated fatty acids. They reinforce the protective and nourishing barrier of the skin. In the form of vegetable oils, omega 3 and 6, ceramides or even lanolin, they are mainly represented in cosmetic products.

Choosing Your Hydration: A Question Of Skin

Depending on your skin type and its hydration needs, the creams and their components will not be concentrated in the same way. But each contains a “winning trio”, dosed differently depending on the type of skin concerned:

1. Humectants that bring moisture,
2. Occlusives that bind moisture to the skin,
3. Emollients are composed of oil, water and a component to bind them.

If you have dry skin, it is better to favor a rich, therefore oily and thick moisturizer. Do you have combination skin? In this case, you need to compose a skilful mixture alternating the mattifying and light side in the morning; and oilier in the evening so that your skin regenerates overnight.

Oily skin is generally rich in sebum. But she also needs to be hydrated. To do this, adopt a mattifying cream combined with a purifying treatment. Another criterion to consider when choosing your moisturizer: is your age. As you become mature, your skin becomes thinner and therefore risks drying out more quickly. The solution is to adopt an anti-ageing cream and treatment.

To Summarize

Whatever your skin type and age, skin hydration is essential, whatever the season! In addition to helping the skin to fight against many external aggressions, it allows it to play its many roles durably and effectively within the body. But to properly hydrate your skin, the way to do it must be carefully chosen according to its type to meet your needs fully.

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