Oct 23, 2021
Do’s and Don’ts for Dry Skin
Upon clearing out the excess oil production within my skin (the wrong way, I might add,) my skin did a complete one-eighty.
My skin soon flaked, felt extremely tight, itched beyond any word to describe, and remained in a red hue due to over drying. This went on for a few months. As with oily skin, it’s important to maintain a balance with which products to use when you are in a state of dryness.
Do’s and Don’ts for Dry Skin
Do’s
- Creamy cleansers. The main purpose of a creamy cleanser is to hydrate and calm while restoring necessary lipids without disrupting the balance.
- Toner. With dry skin, the balance within the skin’s barrier is off and toner is mainly made for solving such issue.
- Oil or serum. If you are already using a night cream and a creamy cleanser, I recommend the serum route. If you are only using the creamy cleanser with regular moisturizer at night, an oil would be your best bet. With the oils, it also works wonders when mixed in with your moisturizer before putting on.
- Lactic acid; an acid derived from lactose to hydrate and brighten (helps with redness.)
- Vitamin C; helps repair and hydrate dry skin.
- Hyaluronic acid; a popular hydrating ingredient.
- Night cream. While we sleep each night, our skin regenerates itself. Ensuring we lather a decent amount of moisture to help stimulate a generous oil production soon creates a balanced *skin barrier.
- Gentle exfoliation once or twice a week to sluff off those dead/dried skin cells and prevent clogging.
- Broad spectrum SPF
Don’ts
- Chemical peels. It’s akin to placing lemon juice on an open wound.
- Salicylic acid/Benzoyl peroxide. These ingredients are used to dry up excess oil and if you are lacking in this department, will make matters worse in all sorts of ways.
- Sulfur. Also a drying ingredient that will lead to months of regret.
- Which hazel…just no.
- Harsh scrubs. I am completely opposed to harsh scrubs all together if I’m being completely honest, but with dry skin it will only cause a deeper irritation.
Skincare Recommendations for Dry Skin
Cleanser: Bioelements’ Moisture Positive Cleanser
Toner: Skin Scripts’ Cucumber Toner
Serum/Oil: Any products containing Vitamin C/Hyaluronic Acid
Day Moisturizer: Skin Scripts’ Cacteen Balancing Moisturizer
Night Cream: First Aid Beauty’s Ultra Repair Cream
Mask: Skin Scripts’ Strawberry Mint Mask/Aloe Mask, a homemade mask of part aloe vera gel and part honey.
*The skin barrier is the film of balanced lipids that protect our skin from environmental damage and dirt. When this is unbalanced (as with excess oil production or overly dried skin,) we become susceptible to break outs and difficult to manage skin irritations.
When trying to bring our skin back to it’s natural balance, we must not go too far on one side with our products. Using all of our products with hydrating ingredients will ensure our skin to do an one-eighty to the opposing side. Balance your skin with balance.
