Building a Skincare Routine for Dry Skin

Understanding Dry Skin

Dry skin type is characterised by a dull appearance, tight feeling, flaky and occasionally red and painful. This dryness is a result of your skin not producing enough sebum to hold in moisture. Dryness can be the result of many factors such as genetics, environment, medication, and harsh skincare products. Dry skin can still experience breakouts if the skin starts to overproduce sebum, and the sebum sits on the skin clogging the pore. 

What Causes Dry Skin?

Skin that is dry is lacking oils in the outer layers. Imagine the outer layer of skin (stratum corneum) as a brick wall containing bricks and mortar. The bricks are the corneocytes (or skin cells) ready to shed off naturally, and the mortar is made up of natural lipids, holding the cells together. 

In dry skin, the lack of oils leads to the skin barrier becoming impaired as the skin cells are not bound together as effectively, resulting in tiny cracks forming on the skin’s surface. This leads to accelerated water loss through the skin, drying the skin out even further, as well as causing skin to become flaky. This also means substances can get into the skin more easily, and ingredients that didn’t irritate when the barrier was intact may now irritate, so we need to be extra careful with our skincare if we are experiencing this. 

Which Ingredients Should Be Included In Skincare Routines For Dry Skin?

With dry skin, you need to topically replace the natural lipids or fats in the skin that the body is not producing enough of. Products with lipids in them support the natural barrier of the skin and can replace the function of sebum in dry skin types. This can be done in two ways:

• Naturally-Occurring Lipids e.g. Cholesterol, Ceramides & Fatty Acids. These ingredients occur naturally and are essential in binding skin cells together to maintain a healthy barrier. Adding them topically can help to reinforce this barrier, allowing the skin to repair.

• Sebum-mimicking oils e.g. Jojoba oil, Squalane. Jojoba Oil and Squalane are both structurally very similar to that of our skin’s natural sebum, meaning they are well absorbed by the skin. Including these ingredients in our skincare can help to replace the natural function of the skin. 

Building a Skincare Routine for Dry Skin

• Avoid over-exfoliating. I know it can be tempting to scrub off the dead skin but this can exacerbate the problem and cause the skin to become even drier. Give your skin a chance to recover and you won't regret it.

• Use a cream or oil-based cleanser. Foaming gel cleansers use surfactants to remove makeup and oils from the skin, but this can cause more damage to the lipid barrier, especially if it is already impaired. Cream-based cleansers are just as effective at removing dirt and debris while keeping the lipid barrier intact. 

• Support your skin with lipids. For dry skin, look for products containing lipids to nourish your skin and replace the natural oils. Don’t worry if you don’t like heavy creams, there are light textures too that contain these nourishing ingredients. 

If you’re feeling unsure about how to build a skincare routine to suit your skin, we are here to help. Start your skin consultation today to get matched with a Renude skin expert who can help you to better understand your unique skin, and hand-select a skincare routine that really works for you.