The Truth About Water and Your Skin

It's the main ingredient in most beauty products and a crucial element of every skin care regimen ... but I still encounter lots of misconceptions when it comes to plain ol' water!

Yes, water is essential to all of our biological processes. When it comes to skin, H₂0 is necessary for the proper functioning of enzymes that enable skin to continually replace itself and slough off old, dead cells. And yes, if the body is severely dehydrated, you will see changes in your skin. But true dehydration is very different from the occasional need for a tall glass of water.

In the vast majority of cases, then, dehydrated skin is not indicative of a dehydrated body - and drinking more water will not have a significant impact on your skin's hydration. Make no mistake: As a doctor (and a human being!), I'm a big fan of water and advocate drinking plenty of it. But if you're experiencing dry skin - and more of us will be as the weather turns cooler and humidity drops in many parts of the world - the only way to get relief is to strengthen your skin barrier.

So, what's the skin barrier? That's the layer of skin - right in the middle of the epidermis - that's rich in lipids (a.k.a. fats) like fatty acids, cholesterol, and ceramides. When it's healthy, it is responsible for keeping moisture in your skin, and irritants out.

But when this barrier is compromised, your skin loses water to the environment, resulting in dry skin, and is also more susceptible to allergic reactions and irritation. That's also why you may feel plagued by dull skin during the winter: When the skin barrier is disrupted, its lipids aren't holding your skin cells together effectively. As a result, cells' edges begin to curl up, resulting in dry skin's rough, lifeless appearance.

The best way to tackle dry skin, then, is to help bolster the skin barrier so it can do its job and retain moisture. In fact, you can find the same lipids that are naturally present in your skin barrier in many moisturizers - fatty acids (like stearic acid), cholesterol, and ceramides are readily available in many creams and lotions. Glycerin, another rich moisturizer, is also easy to find. Best of all, these top-notch ingredients are affordable, and you'll find them in the aisles of your very own drugstore.

from skinguru.com