Following the most recent lockdown, the skin concern facing most clients streaming through our salon doors was dehydration.
1. It all starts with your diet
Unsurprisingly, drinking water is top of the list of things to do when it comes to hydrating the skin, but it’s also important to combine it with a healthy dose of essential fatty acids. Foods like nuts, seeds, avocados and oily fish can have a positive effect on the overall hydration levels of the skin, as well as the dermal levels. We also advise taking an omega supplement. We love Omega+ supplement.
2. Step away from the actives
For really hydrated skin, we must also look at the ingredients we are using that could be causing dehydration ). You can use all the hydrators in the world, but if you are overusing ingredients like alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs), you’ll always find yourself suffering the effects of dehydration. While actives like acids and retinol are brilliant ingredients that can work wonders on the skin, our experience is that most people don’t know how to use them properly.
We always advise listening to your skin. If it is feeling dehydrated or especially irritated, stop or at least drastically reduce any exfoliation, and use ingredients that help reduce trans epidermal water loss by fortifying the skin barrier (like ceramides and niaciamide). Also ensure you use a gentle cleanser to clean the skin, rather than anything too harsh.
3. Fill your skincare routine with hydrators
While hyaluronic acid is the ingredient everyone raves about – quite rightly – for its hydrating abilities there are other hydration heroes to look out for on skincare ingredient labels. Glycerin very much acts as the natural moisturising factor of the skin. It’s inexpensive but we rarely hear about it because it is overshadowed by hyaluronic acid. Glycerin can be found in a number of excellent products and, as a smaller molecule, has the ability to penetrate much deeper into the skin than HA, as well as help to prevent irritation.
Other humectants to incorporate into a routine, including hyaluronic acid, panthenol and aloe vera.
As with all skincare, consistency and long-term use is key if you want to see results.
Our AZRA Botanical Simplicity products, especially serums contain the above mentioned ingredients. Have you already tried our serums?
