Why is moisturizing important for your skin? Beautiful, healthy-looking skin needs one thing above all: moisture. The skin dries out and loses its natural radiance if this is not sufficiently available.
Knowing how your skin is made up and its protective mechanisms work allows you to easily maintain your skin’s youthful glow and prevent wrinkles with the right moisturizer.
Why is moisturizer important?
Our body consists largely of water. Around 30% of this is in our skin.
In this optimal ratio, the water contributes to a plump and fresh appearance of the skin.
Our skin is constantly in contact with its environment: it constantly releases moisture to the outside through evaporation and, at the same time, absorbs moisture from the surrounding air.
The skin is equipped with the so-called Natural Moisturizing Factor (NMF) for this process.
This is a mixture of metabolic products that naturally binds moisture. However, the NMF alone is not enough to keep the moisture in the skin, especially in dry ambient air. This is where the skin’s protective barrier comes into play.
The natural skin protection barrier
The skin’s fats (lipids), dead skin cells, and secretions from the sweat and sebum glands form the skin’s natural protective barrier.
This barrier protects the skin from the penetration of bacteria and various substances. At the same time, it protects the skin from excessive moisture loss.
If external or internal influences weaken the protective barrier, it cannot fulfill its function properly. The skin increasingly loses moisture without being able to compensate for this loss itself.
A Moisturizing cream not only provides the skin with important moisture but also with skin-strengthening active ingredients. This supports the natural balance of the skin’s protective barrier.
What actually is a face cream?
Face creams mainly consist of an oil-in-water emulsion.
The water and oils ratio varies depending on the cream and its care goal.
The formulations thus range from very light to very rich. Various components are added to the face cream, depending on its use.
These include, for example, humectants, vitamins, minerals, and fragrances.
Thanks to the different compositions, you can choose a moisturizing cream that suits your skin’s needs.
What is the difference between cream and serum?
Creams and serums are both important and valuable products in skin care. However, they differ in their texture and mode of action.
- A Cream has the task of moisturizing the skin and protecting it from the effects of harmful environmental influences. Due to the texture of the cream and its molecular size, the ingredients are absorbed into the top layer of skin or form light and protective barrier around the skin.
- A serum usually contains very high concentrations of active substances. The active ingredients used are generally aimed at a specific skin concern. A serum has a rather liquid consistency, which means that the ingredients can easily penetrate the deeper layers of the skin. This way, a moisturizing serum can optimally develop its regenerating effect.
Please note: A serum has an intensive care effect but should not replace your protective face cream. Therefore, always use the two products consecutively. First, apply the serum, and then pamper your skin with a face cream.
Which ingredients have a moisturizing effect?
There are many active ingredients in face creams that provide the skin with optimal moisture.
Hyaluron: the moisture magnet
Hyaluron is an endogenous, transparent, and gel-like substance. Hyaluronic acid is found in different body areas and can bind enormous amounts of water.
About half of the body’s hyaluronic acid is found in the skin, absorbing moisture like a sponge, giving the skin a plumped-up and fresh appearance.
A moisturizing cream with hyaluronic acid provides valuable moisture and contributes to plump and smooth-looking skin.
Glycerin: protection against moisture loss
Glycerin is a natural component of the skin’s Natural Moisturizing Factor (NMF).
The trivalent sugar alcohol is integral to many creams and counteracts excessive moisture evaporation through the skin.
Moisturizing face cream with glycerine helps to better lock the supplied moisture in the skin and thus maintain suppleness.
Algae: anti-aging power from the sea
Algae contain a whole range of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
They are true anti-aging all-rounders: As an ingredient in care products, they have a moisturizing, regenerating, and blood circulation-promoting effect.
In addition, algae can regulate sebum production and stimulate collagen and elastin production.
The powerful algae extract obtained from the depths of the sea. Face cream with red algae extract counteracts the signs of skin aging.
Ceramides: the essential fats of the skin
With a share of 50%, ceramides are among the lipids, i.e., the skin’s fats, in the skin’s protective barrier.
If ceramides are missing in the top layer of skin, this affects the function of the barrier, and the skin loses valuable moisture.
A cream with ceramides strengthens the protective barrier and supports it in retaining moisture in the skin.
Which face cream is suitable for which skin type?
The face cream should always suit your skin type. In this way, you provide the skin with all the active ingredients it needs for its healthy and radiant appearance.
Face cream for dry skin
Building up the protective skin barrier is particularly important for skin that tends to be dry.
Dry skin, therefore, needs important lipids in addition to moisture.
These help to ensure that moisture can be better stored in the skin.
A rich moisturizing cream for dry skin has a calming effect, strengthening the skin’s ability to regenerate and supple.
Moisturizing cream for combination skin
Strictly speaking, the combination skin hides two different skin types on the face that occur at the same time.
Typically, the T-zone area (forehead, nose, and chin) is oily, while the rest of the skin – especially the cheek area – tends to be dry.
It is also important to restore the balance of the skin’s protective barrier.
Light and moisturizing care with a higher water content provide combination skin with moisture without clogging the pores.
Face cream for oily skin
An overall oily sheen characterizes oily skin. This skin type usually enlarges the pores, making the complexion slightly restless.
In addition, oily skin is particularly prone to the formation of impurities such as pimples and blackheads.
Like with combination skin, you shouldn’t do without moisturizing care for oily skin.
A light, oil-free moisturizing cream with salicylic acid also reduces skin imperfections and contributes to a refined skin structure.
Face cream for sensitive skin
Sensitive skin is usually accompanied by redness or burning and often reacts with irritation to certain ingredients in creams.
Face cream for sensitive skin should be minimalistic. Avoid certain ingredients such as alcohol, mineral oils, and potentially allergenic fragrances.
Face cream for normal skin
Normal skin types are relatively rare but can consider themselves all the happier.
Normal skin usually shows no signs of dryness, oily shine, impurities, or redness.
It is best to care for this skin type with a moisturizing cream to maintain the balance of the skin’s protective barrier and protect it from harmful environmental influences.
Which face cream for which age?
Our skin keeps changing over the years. Since their needs change at the same time, you should adapt your skincare to the respective phases of life.
Face care from 30
Up to around the age of 25, it is not necessary to think about special anti-aging care.
A high-quality moisturizer is completely sufficient at this age.
From around 25, however, our skin begins to age slowly but steadily.
In the early 30s, the first visible signs of skin aging usually appear.
The skin often tends to develop dryness lines, especially around the eyes.
At this point, at the latest, you should use an anti-aging moisturizer.
It counteracts signs such as fine lines, wrinkles, and pigment spots.
Face care from 40
From around the age of 40, the signs of skin aging are usually more pronounced.
The body gradually produces less and less collagen and elastin. However, both substances play a key role in the firmness and elasticity of the skin.
Due to the breakdown of collagen and elastin, the skin increasingly loses volume and elasticity.
Ideally, you should use a moisturizing anti-aging cream with collagen building blocks that stimulate the skin’s collagen and elastin production.
Face care from 50
In this phase of life, the appearance of the skin is often influenced by the hormonal changes associated with menopause.
A steadily falling estrogen level can promote the development of skin blemishes and acne.
In addition, the skin becomes thinner and often drier due to the decreasing hormone activity, making it even more prone to wrinkle formation.
Therefore, care for your skin over 50 with a rich and revitalizing cream that promotes the balance of the skin’s protective barrier and makes your skin glow.
Face care from 60
Even in this phase of life, the skin needs intensive moisture and pampering active ingredients.
Care for your skin for about 60 years with a particularly rich, revitalizing, and intensively moisturizing care.
In this way, you strengthen the natural protective barrier and give the skin back its natural radiance.
At the same time, the skin is protected from daily external influences.
What types of facial care are there?
So that you can care for your skin at any time with the right care, in addition to the traditional daycare, various variants with their respective special features are available.
Tinted day cream
A tinted day cream combines the nourishing and protective properties of a moisturizer with the covering effect of a light foundation.
This type of care is particularly suitable if you want to even out unevenness or skin discoloration without applying makeup.
Daycare with UV protection
At up to 80%, the influence of UV radiation is one of the main causes of premature skin aging. Daily use of UV protection is therefore recommended.
You can use a face cream with UV protection as an alternative to pure sunscreen. The sun protection factor it contains protects your skin from light-induced skin aging.
Night care
When we sleep, our skin recovers from the harmful influences it had to fight off during the day.
The body releases growth hormones in this regeneration phase that stimulate cell renewal.
Applying a moisturizing and rich night cream after cleansing your face in the evening supports the skin’s regeneration process with valuable active ingredients.
Moisturizing for the body
Care for your face and the rest of your body regularly with a moisturizer.
Frequent showering or bathing with hot water robs the skin of valuable lipids and moisture.
Therefore, apply a nourishing and regenerating body lotion to the entire body after the bath or shower.
The right care routine for everyday
With the proper facial care routine, you can pamper your skin day and night with all the active ingredients it needs for a healthy and radiant appearance.
- Cleansing: Cleanse your face in the morning and evening to reliably remove makeup, dirt particles, excess sebum, and dead skin cells from the skin. Rich cleansing milk or a delicate cleansing mousse care for dry and sensitive skin with intensive care even during cleansing.
- Toner: Toner, also known as face tonic, completes facial cleansing. It removes any remaining makeup or dirt residue and clarifies the skin. You can also use beneficial micellar water. Micellar water is rapid and practical, combining cleaning and purifying in just one step.
- Serum: After cleaning, your skin is prepared for subsequent care. A moisturizing serum can now penetrate the skin particularly well. Gently massage the serum into the skin with circular movements and let it dip in for a moment before moving on to the next care step.
- Eye cream: You optimally round off the care routine with a moisturizing eye cream. Eye creams are specially designed for the thin and sensitive skin around the eyes and can help prevent dark circles and the like
Tip: Add a moisturizing mask to your care routine once or twice a week for an additional moisture boost. Apply the mask after cleansing your face and before your moisturizer.
Conclusion
Moisturizing is an important part of any skincare routine.
It keeps the skin healthy and glowing.
You should apply moisturizer at least once a day in cold and dry weather or after washing your face.
Choose a moisturizer that suits your skin type.
If you have oily skin, choose a light lotion for daily use; oil-free formulations and water-based products are best for such skin types.
If your skin is dry, then choose products that contain natural oils like olive oil, coconut or almond oil, etc.
I hope you find this blog helpful, then share it with your friends and family. If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comment box.
