Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating General Should a moisturizer be applied while the skin is damp?

  • Should a moisturizer be applied while the skin is damp?

    Posted by DaveStone on September 13, 2021 at 9:29 pm

    I’ve read articles that state applying it to dried skin is pointless as the surface water has already evaporated. Thus it wouldn’t be keeping any water in. True?

    Sincityfire replied 3 years, 3 months ago 5 Members · 4 Replies
  • 4 Replies
  • vitalys

    Member
    September 14, 2021 at 3:08 pm

    Water evaporation from the skin’s surface (which is TEWL - TransEpidermal Water Loss) is permanent, never ending process. If a moisturizer has occlusive ingredients in the formula, they prevent TEWL resulting in skin hydration. If additionally, the moisturizer has such ingredients as Urea, Lactic acid and its salts, polyols, etc, they will help retain water in epidermis. 
    Thus, the complete evaporation of “the surface water” is nonsense. 

  • OldPerry

    Member
    September 14, 2021 at 3:35 pm

    @DaveStone - What @vitalys says. Skin is never really “dry”

  • Abdullah

    Member
    September 15, 2021 at 4:09 am

    The product itself also has 80% water if it needs it

  • Sincityfire

    Member
    September 16, 2021 at 5:13 am

    I don’t think moisturizers needs be applied on damp skin unless the product specifically says you could.

    This abstract (I couldn’t find the full article) suggests that using a moisturizer designed for application to damp skin is easier to apply on wet xerotic skin than traditional moisturizers on dry xerotic skin.

    The results showed no significant improvement on skin dryness, quality of life, and skin barrier function between the two moisturizers, interestingly the traditional moisturizer performed slightly better in barrier function.

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