Notice your skin is dryer than usual? There can be plenty of reasons for dry or dehydrated skin, such as spending too much time in air-conditioned environments, hormones, age or a change in weather. Keep at a diligent routine, and hydrating your skin back to normal, won’t be a hard task. These 5 tips will help you hydrate effectively and deliver plumper, firmer, better skin – and fast!
Choose a Gentle Cleanser
We all love a pump on a cleaning bottle but many foam cleansers come with sulfates. Although sulphates help to remove oil from the skin, they can be too harsh and strip out plenty of your natural oil with every wash. When your skin loses too much sebum, the protective barrier breaks down, allowing for UV rays, and external aggravators like pollution to affect it more than normal. This is why choosing a mild cleansing formula, without sulfates can help clean your skin, while keeping its moisture intact!
Don’t Wait Too Long For Your Next Skincare Step
If you wait too long between each of your skincare steps, you may actually be harming your skin! After washing your face, apply a toner immediately(make sure it’s alcohol-free) and add serum and moisturiser quickly after. If you leave your skin bare for more than a minute, it starts to dehydrate. Whereas when you perform your skincare routine in a quick sequence, your skin begins to feel softer and gets adequate protection. Some beauty influencers also suggest using a hydrating mist between steps to keep skin moist and ready to absorb!
Hydrate When Asleep
Moisturising well during the day is extremely important but it is when you sleep that your body kicks in to repair mode and need the hydration most! Night creams work best at this stage as skin permeability is high so any active ingredients can be easily absorbed. For extra hydration choose ingredients such as Hyaluronic Acid and Peptides that provide deep moisturising abilities while you sleep. Also consider applying a sleep mask, a few days in the week to get that hydration high your skin really needs!
Don’t Skimp on Sunscreen
It goes without saying that SPF protection should be the number one priority in your skincare regime. But when you have dehydrated skin, you can cause even more damage with sun exposure. Dry skin hurts the moisture barrier, which can lead to further exposure and damage by UV rays. Even if you are indoors all day, UV light can still pass through your windows, so it is essential to keep your skin protected at all times – rain or shine! Better still, choose a hydrating SPF for dry skin, so you can get the benefit of both – hydration and protection in one go.
Hydrate Based on the Weather
Very often, the skincare you use in summer may not be enough for the winter months. This is especially true in the case of moisturisers and serums where hotter months command lighter textures while cooler days need extra hydrating love! So, keeping an eye out for the weather can really help you plan your skincare accordingly. It may seem like hard work, to begin with, but understanding how your skin is feeling is half the hydration battle won!
