The Best Moisturizer- Path to Healthy Skin

The best moisturizer for your skin is created to restore and maintain the natural balance of your skin

My struggle with dry skin goes a long way back. No matter what moisturizer I used, the result was short lived. I kept trying as dry skin really bothered me till I told myself “enough is enough” and set out a mission to find the best moisturizer.

My study (of course, informal), exploration & inquires revealed how moisturizers work. This new knowledge gave me an opportunity to find the best moisturizer suitable for my skin. Let me share an interesting fact which amazed me. Moisturizers don’t actually moisturize our skin. Ha, Ha, Ha, is that ironic? Why the heck, should we then waste our hard earned money buying these products? That is a good question, right? A normal skin contains 80% water and the role of a moisturizer is to prevent water from evaporating, and thus letting the skin remain moist as much as it naturally is.

I believe finding the so called best moisturizer for an individual calls for a bit of experimentation and here is why. We are all unique despite of common body elements. No one can argue with that. But each body works somewhat differently because of both internal & external factors like hormones, gender, age, body constitution, eating & drinking habits, habitat, type of clothes, climate, exercise, skin care etc. And all of these things matter when it comes to choosing the best moisturizer.

We now know how moisturizers work but how does it prevent water evaporation? Not all moisturizer’s act in similar fashion. Occlusive moisturizer’s (I know it sounds technical) creates a thin protective film over the skin it is applied to, preventing the water to evaporate. Humectants are substances with hygroscopic characteristics i.e. capable of absorbing moisture from the air. The moisturizers containing humectants use ambient water to moisturize the skin. And, of course, there are the complex formula based moisturizers. I must confess that these are smart products that work in very subtle ways. They are so smart that they can restore the natural balance of our skin if used properly.

I’m sure that many of you believe that only dry skin needs moisturizing. And who could blame you? The same was going on in my mind too. Why would I need moisturizer if my skin was already moist?  Now this may blow you away, all skin types need moisturizing simply because every type of skin loses water. How could I not see this? Water evaporates no matter how much or how little.

Getting back to the best moisturizer, I admit that this was a turning point for me. I completely changed my tactics and opened my eyes and ears and here is what I learnt. Dry skin as it is dry already it becomes even dryer with just a tiny loss of water. A good moisturizer for the dry skin should have a 2 prong approach: stop water evaporation and nurture the skin. An oil based moisturizer seemingly is best bet here.

Oily skin is rich with water but it still loses water and showering for example dries your skin. By applying oil based moisturizer oily skin will sort of seal the pores which will trigger acne and other surprises. Therefore water based, NON-COMEDOGENIC moisturizer is the best solution. If you are gifted with normal skin, though such skins too lose water but much less, a simple water based moisturizer should work well.

The best facial moisturizer is probably the most difficult to find of all moisturizers. The skin on our face is many times more sensitive and dry as compared to the skin elsewhere on the body. I somehow got confused and imagined that dryness made my skin sensitive. That is not entirely true. Dryness usually aggravates sensitivity but is not the cause.  I had a hard time trying to find the best moisturizer or a suitable moisturizer for my face. Finally I understood that the best facial moisturizer for sensitive skin is the one that does not only stop evaporation but calms the skin at the same time. Once again, I went back to the books and doctors and asked questions. The answer has been in front of me all the time but I couldn’t see it somehow. The best moisturizer for sensitive skin must have in its composition some sort of element(s) such as chamomile or minerals that have soothing effect. How simple is that??

The best moisturizer is a means of protecting our skin from dehydration. It is the right combination of substances that can make our skin soft and supple. That is the end result that we aim for, right? We don’t need water to flood our skin we just need enough to have a healthy, supple & glowing skin. I am not saying that it is the easiest thing in the world. I’m just saying that, with the right information and effort we can get there in our quest to find the best moisturizer.