Every woman needs to know how to care for dehydrated facial skin, since this problem affects everyone without exception. You may not even suspect that your face is not receiving enough banal fluid. Meanwhile, you see changes that are not for the better - grayness and dullness of the skin, the appearance of a fine network of wrinkles, peeling and unpleasant itching. And all this is due to lack of fluid.
There is no need to entertain yourself with the illusion that such a problem is inherent only to young ladies with dry skin. Skin type and dehydration are completely different things. If the first is genetically determined and cannot be avoided, then the second is a condition of the epidermis that needs to be corrected immediately.
Wash your face regularly (and thoroughly)
It's no surprise that minimizing pores starts with good skin care, and one of the easiest ways to minimize pores is to always cleanse them thoroughly. However, according to a GH study, 12% of women do not use facial cleansers regularly. “When dirt clogs pores, they expand and appear larger. So it's important to always cleanse your face with a gentle cleanser, especially before bed, to remove excess dirt and oil, explains Margarita Lolis, MD, a dermatologist in Hackensack, New Jersey.
“To cover all areas of the face, including the hairline and around the nose, where dirt can accumulate and clog pores, apply cleanser from the middle of the face up, then down the hairline and around the perimeter just below the chin,” says senior beauty lab chemist Good Housekeeping Institute Sabine Wiesemann. Using a facial cleansing brush has shown in GH Beauty Lab testing that it can help provide an even deeper clean.
In addition to daily cleansing, always use clean makeup brushes (clean them at least once a week) and never touch your face with your fingers. Your complexion (and your makeup brushes!) will thank you.
Basic tips for caring for dehydrated skin
To cope with facial dehydration, it is important to follow these rules:
- Drink enough fluids throughout the day
- Use mineral water to wash your face or soften hard tap water.
- Use suitable cosmetics
- Eat more fruits and vegetables
- Avoid spicy and salty foods
- Sleep at least 8 hours a night
- Give up bad habits
- Eliminate passive smoking
- Remove makeup before bed
- Monitor indoor humidity
And remember – prevention is always better than cure. Be beautiful!
Exfoliate your skin twice a week
Unlike cleansing alone, exfoliation helps remove and cleanse dead skin cells that can clog or block pores. "Exfoliation can be achieved in several ways, both physical (such as facial scrubs or a cleansing brush) and chemical (products with gentle acids that promote cell regeneration)," says Joyce Imajierobo-Ip, MD, a Dedham dermatologist. , Massachusetts, and consultant for HydroPeptide.
Look for gentle cleansers that contain low concentrations of salicylic (0.5-1%), lactic or glycolic acid (2.5-5%), which will stimulate cell turnover and keep pores clear.” You can also try using a prescription topical retinoid, which can increase cell turnover, thereby exfoliating pores and making them appear smaller.
What do beauty salons offer to restore dehydrated skin?
Mesotherapy can quickly restore dehydrated skin, saturating it with moisture for a long time. During the procedure, a mixture of vitamins and hyaluronic acid is injected under the skin using a thin needle. In the subcutaneous layer, blood circulation increases, metabolic processes accelerate, and cell renewal occurs faster.
Biooxytherapy is a method of exposing the skin to a high-speed stream of pure oxygen, which penetrates into the deepest layers of the epidermis without disturbing the integrity of the stratum corneum of the skin. As a result, the skin is not just moisturized. She starts to breathe.
Moisturize your skin twice a day every day
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You already know what can happen to your skin if you stop moisturizing it (dryness, flaking, irritation). Enlarged pores are another problem. "It's important to use a high-quality, non-comedogenic facial moisturizer twice daily," says Dr. Imajierobo-Ip. Regularity is key in this case, so you should apply the product morning and evening. "If you leave your skin without hydration, it will react by producing excessive oil, which can clog your pores," he says.
Signs of dehydrated skin
You can calculate dehydration yourself: focus on the sensations and appearance of your skin. There are several simple signs of dehydrated skin.
Gray color and dullness
Do you notice that instead of rosy and glowing skin, your face has a dull, almost gray tint? This is the first sign of his dehydration. Moreover, it is typical for all types of dermis.
Why does the skin become dull when dehydrated? The thing is that it stops renewing itself, and the accumulated dead cells make the face gray and lifeless.
Dryness and tightness of the face
If your skin is dehydrated, you may often feel discomfort and tightness. After washing, the dermis becomes drier and withering. Moisturizing cosmetics help for a short time.
Appearance of wrinkles
Wrinkles suddenly begin to appear and your skin loses its elasticity? Don't rush to use anti-aging products. After all, the cause may be skin dehydration. Without sufficient hydration, the face quickly loses its youth.
Oily shine
Dehydrated dermis produces large amounts of sebum, a substance that prevents moisture loss. Therefore, an oily sheen appears on the face.
Hypersensitivity
If the skin is dehydrated, it becomes more sensitive. Redness often occurs on the face. Areas of irritation can be difficult to make invisible. Environmental factors have a particularly negative impact on such skin.
Itching
Peeling may appear on dehydrated skin. They cause discomfort and itching.
Areas of inflammation
Dead cells accumulate on the surface of the face. Such areas are habitats for pathogenic microorganisms. Therefore, pimples, redness and blackheads appear on the face.
Uneven surface
Enlarged pores are a common sign of dehydrated facial skin. As a result, the surface of the face becomes lumpy and uneven.
Apply sunscreen every day
Daily use of a broad-spectrum sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher is an essential part of any skin care regimen for healthy skin and anti-aging, including preventing enlarged pores. “Ultraviolet radiation not only causes sun damage like wrinkles and dark spots, but it also breaks down collagen and elastin, causing pores to widen,” says Dr. Solis.
“The best way to prevent enlarged pores is to protect yourself from the sun.” Some sunscreens can make skin look shiny or oily by emphasizing pores, so choose an oil-free or lightweight gel formula with a matte finish.
How to restore moisture to your skin at home?
You can cope with this scourge on your own, although it will not be as easy and quick as you would like. What to do in such a situation?
The most important thing is to be patient and act in accordance with all recommendations.
If the treatment is regular and competent, then in a couple of weeks or even earlier your skin will look better.
How can this be achieved?
- Caring for dehydrated facial skin begins with restoring internal water balance. Force yourself to drink a glass of water every hour between 8 am and 4 pm. Only drink clean, non-carbonated and not boiled water. It is not necessary to give up tea and coffee, but their consumption should be kept to a minimum. Ideally, of course, it would be good to replace them with some kind of dairy products - for example, kefir or drinking yogurt. Of course, you should forget about alcohol and soda.
- If your work environment is such that you frequently interact with or be around dust, fumes, hazardous substances, and high temperatures, consider taking time off while your skin is being treated. In the future, use various protective agents and creams with a protective effect at work.
- Change your diet by including more fresh vegetables and fruits and remove pickled, canned, salty foods and unhealthy fast food.
- Understand your lifestyle. Get a good night's sleep, stop smoking, breathe fresh air more often. During the treatment period, completely avoid going to the beach to get a tan, or visiting a solarium or sauna.
- If facial dehydration is the result of any disease, of course, you must first cure it, otherwise you will not be able to get your skin in order. In general, do not be lazy to undergo a medical examination and then undergo treatment. Only after undergoing therapy will you be able to restore your skin to its former beauty and health.
- Choose cosmetics correctly. Cheap cosmetics are not always effective, so it is better to use products from popular, reputable brands that at least guarantee quality. It is also recommended to always use one line of cosmetics. Moisturizing scrubs, creams and other products must be developed specifically to solve the problem of skin dehydration.
Choose a mask that suits your skin type
They're not just a good way to relax, face masks can also tighten your pores over time. “Home treatments such as facials and peels work with consistent long-term use,” says Dr. Imajierobo-Ip. Incorporate once or twice a week into your beauty routine. If you have large pores and oily skin, masks containing ingredients like clay or charcoal will work best for you.
For other skin types, "multitasking" by applying these formulas to the T-zone (forehead, nose and chin), where pores tend to be most visible, is best.
Home Remedies Recipes
In addition to drinking clean water and quitting smoking, it's also a good idea to restore your skin's moisture balance with inexpensive home remedies.
The most effective masks for dehydrated skin are prepared from common products.
- Mix a tablespoon of kefir, one raw egg yolk, just a little vegetable oil and two drops of sea buckthorn oil (a concentrated decoction of St. John's wort is also suitable instead). Before applying the mask, the skin needs to be steamed, then apply the composition and hold it on the face for about 20 minutes. The mask is washed off with plain water, after which a nourishing cream is applied.
- Mix half a teaspoon of honey, strong tea leaves, cream and apply the mixture to already prepared skin. The mask is left for 30 minutes, washed off and cream is applied. Use only black tea, you can keep the honey in a water bath.
- Grate the carrots through a fine grater, take 3 tablespoons of carrots and grind it with one fresh chicken egg, then apply to the skin of the face for 20-30 minutes. This mask should be repeated twice a week.
- To prepare the next mask, you will need to mix two tablespoons of cucumber juice and heavy cream, and also add 20 drops of rose water to them. Apply the product for half an hour, then rinse with running water.
- Prepare a herbal mask from yarrow, hop cones, St. John's wort and chamomile flowers by pouring a glass of boiling water over a tablespoon of each herb. After cooling, add two egg yolks, a teaspoon each of lemon juice and honey and mix. The mask can be washed off half an hour after application.
It is recommended to repeat the listed masks 2 times every 7 days, since with their help you will not only moisturize, but also rejuvenate and nourish your skin.
Consider laser treatment
To permanently reduce the size of your pores, see a dermatologist who can recommend professional laser treatments. “A series of treatments using non-ablative lasers builds collagen, resulting in smoother skin and smaller pores,” explains Dr. Lolis.
Another option is Fraxel laser treatment, which resurfaces the skin and reduces the appearance of enlarged pores, explains Ellie Summers, a medical esthetician at Tribeca MedSpa in New York City. “Fraxel technology uses heat to create controlled microscopic wounds in the skin to stimulate the body to produce new collagen, resulting in a smoother texture and clearer pores.”
Diagnostics
Skin diagnosis is carried out using various methods, from visual examination to taking smears and analyzing biological fluids.
Dehydrated facial skin - anyone can identify the signs upon careful examination: dryness and itching, a feeling of tightness and irritation, wrinkles
Diagnostic methods are divided into types:
- Visual inspection. Skin color, its elasticity and relief, pattern.
- Palpation examination. The degree of skin dehydration is checked by recovery after indentation and after grasping the skin between the fingers. The methods are rarely used.
- Hardware methods involve the use of devices and their non-invasive effects for diagnosing skin diseases and the functional state of the skin.
Methods of hardware diagnostics of the skin are:
- Corneometry. The electric field generated by the sensor penetrates the skin 10-20 nm into the stratum corneum. This layer of skin is sensitive to changes in water balance. The moisture contained in the stratum corneum changes the capacitance of the sensor capacitor and these changes are the result of the study.
- TEWL test. The partial pressure of moisture in the skin is measured by sensors, which cause an increase in pressure. The interpretation of the result will depend on skin type, age, and chronic skin diseases.
Today's medicine has in its arsenal a number of methods for hardware diagnostics of the skin.
- Sebumetry. An indicator tape sensitive to lipids inside the skin is applied to the skin and the result is obtained based on the change in optical density. The method shows the work of the sebaceous glands, the level of the lipid layer playing a barrier role in retaining moisture in the skin.
- Optical coherence tomography. A method using B-mode ultrasonic waves. The refractive index of these waves is sensitive to moisture in the skin and its value serves to evaluate the optical properties of the skin. Used to assess the functional state of the skin.
- Ultrasound scanning method. Evaluates the degree of skin hydration, thickness of layers and their structure.
- MRI. Contained moisture changes the signal image and reflects metabolic activity in different areas of the skin.
- Skin hydration is assessed using methods such as indentation, longitudinal deformation, and torsion with devices. The methods are not very common because they are not convenient in the technique of implementation.
The temperature of the skin depends on the level of its moisture content and heat transfer during its evaporation. Temperature is measured with a thermometer or thermocouple - a non-contact sensor using infrared radiation. Diagnostics are carried out in aesthetic medicine clinics, skin clinics, and diagnostic centers.
Cosmetological methods to combat dryness and dehydration of the skin
It is worth knowing that any cosmetic products can help improve the condition of the skin, but their effect lasts no more than a day. Whereas special cosmetic procedures - biorevitalization and mesotherapy help get rid of the problem for several months. A cosmetologist can offer prp therapy, special masks and injections with hyaluronic acid and other medicinal ingredients, the result of which will help change the skin type to normal.
How to choose a cream for a certain age
In addition to the composition and price of the preferred brands, it is important to take into account the age category for which the manufacturer recommends the cream and other care products.
Until the age of 25–29, almost no additional care is required; all the necessary substances are present in the body. To maintain natural beauty, you can use protective cosmetics that reduce the impact of negative factors.
Such products maintain a normal level of humidity, protect against frost and scorching sun rays, radiation and UHF radiation, and poor-quality tap water. In youth, it is enough to use protective products with collagen and glycerin, cream and milk for dehydrated skin. Reviews on websites on the Internet will help you choose a specific brand, but a specific product should be purchased taking into account individual needs.
After 30 years, the beauty and health of the face should be supported with vitamins that prevent aging and dehydration of the skin. Products with vitamins E and C protect against oxidation processes.
At around age 40, moisture deficiency becomes a problem for almost all skin types, including oily skin. The reason is the thinning of the hydrolipid layer. From this age, dehydrated skin needs constant care - daytime and nighttime products of the appropriate purpose and composition.
