If you have dry skin, it means your skin is missing fatty acids. Not water. Dehydrated skin is missing water. This oil is great for dry skin because of its fatty acid content. https://twitter.com/krazyessentials/status/972474675858235395

How to tell if your skin is dry or dehydrated. A thread.

Let’s first cover skin types. Your skin type is genetic and CANNOT be changed. Manipulated with a consistent routine? Yes. Changed? Nope.

Here are the 4 main skin types:

1. Normal (rarest)
2. Oily (you age slower with oily skin!)
3. Dry
4. Combination

Okay so now that we’ve discussed skin types, DRY skin is a skin type. DEHYDRATED skin is a skin condition.

Just like acne, hyperpigmentation, eczema etc. They’re all skin conditions, not skin types. That’s the first big difference.

The second biggest difference, dry skin lacks essential fatty acids that can be replenished with oils. Dehydrated skin lacks water and that can be solved with hydrating.

(Not by drinking water, your skin is the last organ to absorb water when you drink it)

Now, before I tell you what products you need for dry and dehydrated skin, let’s first discuss the signs of each.

Symptoms of dehydrated skin:

- Tight skin (even after you do your routine)
- Shiny, even when it’s not oily
- Breaking out more often
- Fine lines are suddenly more pronounced
- Skin looks dull

Symptoms of dry skin:

- Rough/textured skin
- Flaking
- Redness
- Increased sensitivity
- Itchy

Now, ALL skin types need both oils/fatty acids and water. Dry skin types don’t need *just* fatty acids. They can also be dehydrated and need water. The key is to make sure your skin always has both.

Oily skin naturally produces sebum which contains the fatty acids that your skin needs. Sometimes it overproduces them if triggered

Harsh soaps trigger your skin to produce excess oil.

*stares at every oily skinned person who uses African black soap or St. Ives*

When you have dry skin, this also means that your skin’s barrier is always compromised. Fatty acids help build your skin’s acid mantle and without them, your acid mantle is almost nonexistent and your skin is more susceptible to damage.

This is really the main reason why dry skin ages quicker. It’s sooooo susceptible to being damaged. So if you don’t constantly protect it, you’ll see signs of aging way quicker than someone with oily skin would.

I forgot to add this early but, your skin produces little to no sebum when you have dry skin. Sebum is good for your skin when it’s not overproduced.

Dehydrated skin can be caused by a number of factors:

- Hard water
- Dry climate
- Alcohol
- Harsh products
- Age

How do you treat dehydrated skin?

By using humectants. Humectants are ingredients that draw water from the air into your skin.

Here are a few to look for in products:

- Hyaluronic acid (my fav!!!)
- Glycerin
- Aloe Vera
- Urea
- Panthenol
- Sorbitol
- Sodium PCA

Now, humectants can’t work alone. They need to be sealed. The reason for this is because a process known as TEWL (transepidermal water loss) occurs on your epidermis.

Think of TEWL as evaporation occurring on your face. To prevent/slow this, you have to seal in the humectant.

To seal in humectants, you use occlusives. Occlusives create a barrier that doesn’t allow anything in or out, which is great if you don’t want water leaving your skin because it’s already lacking water.

Some occlusives are:
- Dimethicone
- Oils

We’ve covered [mostly] everything to do with dehydrated skin, now on to dry skin!

You treat dry skin with oils high in omega 3 and omega 6. These are the essential fatty acids our skin needs.

Here are some oils high in essential fatty acids that should be your best friend if you have dry skin:

- Sunflower seed
- Evening primrose
- Sea buckthorn
- Avocado
- Grapeseed
- Kukui nut
- Argan
- Rosehip
- Amaranth
- Maracuja
- Watermelon seed

So, to sum everything up:

- Dehydrated skin lacks water. You can have oily skin that’s dehydrated because it’s producing sebum but still lacks water. Hydrate it.
- Dry skin is genetic and needs to be treated with oils high in essential fatty acids. Protect it.

Now that you understand your dry skin type and know how to treat it, are you going to be giving your skin an oil change?

If you have dry skin, what oils do you use?

Let’s discuss!