14 December Is your moisturiser drying out your skin?
A Gentle Reminder on skin health
Is your moisturiser drying out your skin?
It sounds crazy but experts now believe skin lotions can do more harm than good
Even if your beauty regime is rather haphazard and if you are anything thing like I used to be, the one thing you probably can’t live without is moisturiser. As a nation, we buy more moisturiser than any other skincare product.
But we now know that moisturiser can do more harm than good, as prolonged use can make skin weaker.
Cosmetic doctor Dr Victoria Manning explains:- as moisturiser is so effective, skin actually forgets how to soften itself. Normal, healthy skin keeps itself moist by producing ‘natural moisturising factors’ (NMFs). How many of these it produces depends on its environment.
So if you go somewhere dry on holiday, your skin will produce more NMFs. But if you cover your skin in moisturiser, the NMFs presume everything is fine and become idle”.
‘If your skin is healthy, it can look after itself,’ says Dr Manning So despite the creams smelling divine and your skin feeling soft. ‘Moisturiser creates a cling film-like barrier, which making it feel soft by stopping moisture escaping from its lower layers. But it also blocks the skin’s natural repair mechanism. So if you stop using it, your skin feels terribly dry
So, using moisturiser traps your skin into a vicious cycle. Dr Charlotte Woodward , clinical director of River Aesthetics Lymington says -: ‘Women have been conditioned to use moisturiser, but it doesn’t help their skin. We get asked every day by customers which moisturiser they should use from our range, and we tell them to forget it.
‘Our products work from within to balance and correct the skin so it is able to look after itself
So if moisturiser is not the answer, what is?
If left to its own devices, your skin recovers most of its ability to moisturise itself after a few weeks of feeling dry and tight.
Dr Manning recommends a specialised but simple start to good skin care starting with an anti-oxidant serum in Form Of a Vitamin C Serum and an SPF 30.
‘Unlike most moisturisers, which just sit on top of the skin and stop water escaping, this contains ingredients which encourage the skin to replenish its own natural moisture,’ she says.
So should you give up moisturiser?
Only if you are prepared to commit to a new way of looking after your skin – and make a small investment in the process, but the results will so be worth it.
