From the time you are born to your growing years, your skin begins to lose its elasticity and look shriveled. This is probably because your skin is experiencing moisture loss and some signs of aging too.
You have often heard people saying that the secret to looking young and youthful is to cut down on sugar, daily exercise, and eat plenty of vegetables. But what if we tell you that keeping yourself hydrated at all times can give you the smoothest and younger-looking skin.
Before you delve deeper into how to keep your skin hydrated and what are the best ingredients for moisturizing, let’s understand more about skin hydration, the benefits of skin hydration, and how to increase skin hydration.
What causes dehydrated skin
- Using harsh soaps and cleansing products
- Excessive use of exfoliation
- Sun damage
- Extreme hot or cold weather
- Diet and lifestyle
- Inadequate water intake
Ways to keep your skin hydrated
- Ditch your cleanser if it contains paraben and sulphate.
- Use alcohol-free toners
- Use a moisturizer that has hydrating properties
- Sunscreen is a must
- Pat your dry skin
- Consume water-rich foods
1. Ditch your cleanser if it contains paraben and sulphate
Cleanser is an essential part of the daily skincare routine. It helps in cleaning dirt and extra oil from the skin.
However, there are some cleansers loaded with harsh ingredients which strip off the essential oils from the skin and make it extremely dry.
Therefore, it is always suggested to use a cleanser that is paraben sulphate, phthalate, and toxic ingredients free.
2. Use alcohol-free toners
Toners are the important part of the skincare routine just like serum and moisturizer.
A toner is the liquid that penetrates deep inside the skin, provides quick hydration, and helps in removing dead skin from the top surface of the skin.
Just make sure to opt for a toner that is alcohol-free, so that it does not dry out your skin.
3. Use a moisturizer containing humectant and emollients that have hydrating properties
Using a good hydrating moisturizer helps to keep your skin hydrated by locking the moisture in the uppermost layer of your skin.
Hyaluronic acid and ceramides are recognized as the best ingredients to keep your skin moisturized. Hyaluronic acid brings many surprising benefits to your skin. It works by withdrawing the moisture from deeper layers (dermis) to the top layer of your skin (epidermis). This ultimately makes your skin more plump and supple.
Similarly, ceramides are fatty acids that form a protective layer to prevent the loss of water and shield your skin from environmental damage. Dermatologists explain that ceramide-based moisturizers help to improve the barrier function and increase skin hydration to prevent skin dryness.
4. Sunscreen is a must
Exposing your skin to the harmful rays of the sun can lead to loss of moisture, excess melanin production, and collagen degradation. This ultimately makes your skin dehydrated, dull and decreases the chances of water retention.
Dermatologists explain using a broad sunscreen with SPF 50 offers wonderful protection to your skin from the damaging rays of the sun.
5. Pat your dry skin
After face wash or taking a shower, it is always advised not to rub your skin vigorously with a towel as it can damage your skin and lead to dryness and irritation. Instead of rubbing, use a soft towel and gently pat dry your skin.
6. Consume water-rich foods
Eating food items that are higher in water content is a great way to hydrate your skin both internally and externally.
Fruits and vegetables like watermelon, strawberries, oranges, broccoli, lettuce, celery are some of the best hydrating foods. Intake of such foods can offer ultimate hydration and nourishment to your skin.
It’s true when they say—the best foundation you can wear is healthy and glowing skin. When your skin doesn’t receive the right amount of hydration, collagen begins to decline at a rapid rate.
This decrease leads to cracks, wrinkles, fine lines, and dry flakes on your skin. Hence, to retain the moisture content in the skin, it becomes imperative to keep your skin hydrated. A moisturizer that comes with skin hydrating ingredients is the first and foremost step to prevent dehydrated skin.
Prefer using a moisturizer that contains skin-hydrating ingredients such as ceramide and hyaluronic acid that can keep the moisture locked in your skin.
P.S.
Including exfoliators in your skincare routine is a very effective step. Exfoliation helps in removing the dirt, debris, and dead skin cells from your skin, allowing the hydration and moisturizers to get easily absorbed in the skin.
However, before using exfoliation, it is important to understand the difference between physical and chemical exfoliation.
Physical exfoliation is commonly made up of small nutshell, sugar, or salt that causes micro-tears in your skin when rubbed hard on the face.
On the other hand, enzymatic exfoliation is the type of chemical exfoliation that gently removes dead skin cells and other impurities from your skin surface without causing any damage to the skin barrier. Additional benefits of enzymatic exfoliation include increased cell turnover and brighter skin tone.
