Most trips to our favorite facialists result in a diagnosis of the dreaded dehydration. However much you look after your skin, it’s a common problem to be faced with.
“Dehydrated skin is skin lacking water or that which has reduced ability to hold onto water, and it can feel tight, dry and, in more severe cases, you could see scaling and irritation,” says Dr. Ifeoma Ejikeme, general medicine consultant and expert aesthetic physician. Many of us know from personal experience that dry skin also often looks dull and sallow, and fine lines can appear more pronounced. It immediately—and devastatingly—hinders a luminous glow.
Aside from the luminosity factor, Pamela Marshall, clinical aesthetician and co-founder of Mortar & Milk, says it’s important for skin to be well hydrated and moisturized because it makes it less likely to exhibit inflammatory markers, like acne breakouts or flushing. “Dehydrated skin will send messages to the sebaceous glands to produce more sebum,” she explains. “This excess sebum goes into the pilosebaceous unit, causing it to swell and inflame. The capillary network will also expand when skin is dehydrated [causing increased redness].” Hydrating the skin properly will calm these inflammatory markers down.
But how? Here, Vogue finds the simplest ways—with some help from the experts.
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. “Internally, our skin is both hydrophilic [has a tendency to mix with water], and lipophilic [attracted to lipids], meaning we need both water and lipids to keep it hydrated,” says Marshall. “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.” She also advises taking an omega supplement. We love Artah’s Essential Omegas.
Step away from the actives
“For really hydrated skin, we must also look at the ingredients we are using that could be causing dehydration (or transepidermal water loss). You can use all the hydration in the world, but if you are overusing ingredients like alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs), you’ll always find yourself suffering the effects of dehydration,” says Marshall. While actives like acids and retinol are brilliant ingredients that can work wonders on the skin, Marshall says that most consumers don’t know how to use them properly. “Actives are like a piece of cake—wonderful to have now and then but, used daily, they can wreak havoc on the health of your skin. It’s about finding a balance between actives, antioxidants, and protectors.”
For those who’d like a foolproof way to reap the benefits of exfoliation without stripping the skin, she is a big fan of incorporating polyhydroxy acids (or PHAs) into a skin-care routine, as they do everything an AHA does—from exfoliating to smoothing—in a way that’s more sustainable in the long term. Since they are higher in molecular weight than an AHA, they don’t irritate the skin and help to reduce inflammation, while exfoliating. They also work as antioxidants and humectants, which help to protect and hold hydration in the skin, respectively.
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