Can Water Hydrate Your Skin?

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Water is obviously an integral part of maintaining your overall health. But, there’s some confusion regarding its role in hydrating the skin. A lot of people believe that soaking in a bath or drinking more water will help keep their skin hydrated. Unfortunately, neither is true. It’s entirely possible to drink a gallon of water each day and still cope with dryness. Similarly, you can soak in a tub all day and actually cause more harm than good.

Aside from the topmost layer of dead skin cells, water does not get absorbed into the epidermis. As a result, it receives little to no hydration from soaking in it. Water does play a vital role in flushing toxins from your body and helping with metabolic processes – these two functions alone can help skin to look better, but it won’t necessarily help to hydrate dry skin. Below, I’ll explain how to ensure your skin retains moisture through the use of moisturizers and sunscreens.

The Role Of Moisturizers

Most skin types are always vulnerable to dryness due to epidermal water loss. The less water that is lost, the less dryness and flaking you’ll experience. Moisturizers and emollients provide a barrier to water loss. In effect, they bind water in, helping the skin to retain moisture. It’s important to note that oily skin is less susceptible to dryness due to increased activity in the sebaceous glands, but not impervious in severe conditions. Moisturizers can still be effective if they’re light and water-based.

How Sunscreen Helps

You should always use a high-quality sunscreen that provides broad spectrum protection against UVA and UVB rays. Not only does it help limit oxidative stress and the spread of free radicals, but it protects your skin from signs of photoaging. Exposure to the sun also has a drying effect on your skin and increases water loss. By regularly applying a sunscreen, you can prevent the sun’s UV rays from causing excessive drying and flaking.

Effective Hydration

As noted above, ensuring that your skin remains moist and healthy-looking cannot be accomplished by drinking or soaking in water. Live skin cells will not absorb it. That’s why it is important to include moisturizers and sunscreens in your daily routine. While moisturizers help bind water in, sunscreens prevent UV rays from causing additional loss of moisture. Here are a few topical solutions that have a proven track record:

Anthelios Sunscreens – La Roche Posay’s patented formulation contains effective UVA and UVB blockers to protect skin from the damaging effects of UV radiation. 

La Roche Posay Iso UreaBody Milk – This nourishing emollient helps the skin remain moist and smooth. It’s designed for excessively dry skin and includes urea and Shea Butter to help prevent epidermal water loss.

Lipikar Lipid Replenishing Cream</a> – This moisturizer compensates for a lipid deficiency while delivering essential fatty acids and Shea Butter to provide needed hydration.

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  1. Barbara

    “You should always use a high-quality sunscreen that provides broad spectrum protection against UVA and UVB rays. Not only does it help limit oxidative stress and the spread of free radicals, but it protects your skin from signs of photoaging. Exposure to the sun also has a drying effect on your skin and increases water loss. By regularly applying a sunscreen, you can prevent the sun’s UV rays from causing excessive drying and flaking”
    I completely agree! Sunscreen is very important even on a cloudy day you don’t realize how much damage the sun can be doing to your skin!

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