Do you want your skin to be supple, plump and radiant? Then don’t skip out on moisturizing! Repeated every day, this key gesture allows you to keep your skin healthy and beautiful, on your face as well as on your body.
Let’s face it: for both face and body skin, moisturizing is the number one skin care reflex. It is thanks to this good habit that we delay the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines, that we keep a radiant complexion and a perfectly soft skin in all circumstances.
But why does this gesture absolutely have to be done every day? We make the point with an expert of the skin.
Moisturizing, an essential gesture to strengthen the skin
The cutaneous hydration rests on well broken natural mechanisms. “Water from the blood plasma irrigates the extracellular matrix of the dermis, composed of highly hydrated polysaccharides (such as hyaluronic acid) . That form a kind of soft, dense gel in which support fibers (collagen, elastin, etc.) structural glycoproteins are immersed,” explains Frédéric Hornec, Director of the Esthederm Institute and Etat Pur. “Water circulates from the dermis to the epidermis on the surface, and crosses the different layers of the skin to moisten them, in a dynamic and adaptive movement to the ambient humidity.”
On a daily basis, the skin is a living organ that does everything possible to maintain an optimal level of hydration: “it regulates the insensible loss of water (water that evaporates naturally from our body, ed. note), and it produces water sensors and lipids that help maintain water in the epidermis and capture water from the atmosphere,” continues the expert.
So why moisturize daily if the skin is already doing so well on its own? Well, because on a daily basis, it is threatened by multiple factors that dehydrate it: the vagaries of the weather, pollution, baths and showers too hot, inappropriate or too stripping cosmetics … All these elements contribute to alter the hydrolipidic film of the skin, whose role is “to waterproof the skin and prevent dehydration by preventing the evaporation of water contained in the epidermis,” says Frederic Hornec.
Conscientiously moisturizing your skin every day will help strengthen this shield and keep your skin as supple and radiant as possible. This is all the more important when you know that with time, the skin’s hydration naturally decreases. Another good reason not to skip this essential step!
How to properly moisturize facial skin?
Thinner than the skin of the body, and not protected by clothing, the skin of the face is in the front line when faced with the many daily aggressions that jeopardize its beauty.
“Good hydration from a young age is the key to delaying the first signs of loss of radiance,” says Frédéric Hornec. But what is good moisturizing? To do it right, you should apply at least one serum and one moisturizing cream adapted to your skin type, age and season every morning and evening. A quick reminder: the ideal skin care product should provide water (to moisturize) but also lipids (this time to nourish) that will help the skin retain water and prevent dehydration. Dry skin is the type of skin that most needs to be nourished.
“Apply a moisturizing mist enriched with hyaluronic acid, such as Esthederm’s Cellular Water Mist, after cleansing and before applying the serum, which is also a good hydra-booster reflex to include in your routine,” the specialist points out.
Don’t forget: the eye contour is the first area of the face to show signs of dehydration. It is therefore important to use a daily eye care product, to be applied just before the serum and moisturizing cream.
How to properly moisturize the body?
We tend to pamper our body skin less than our face skin, and that’s a mistake. Because it too needs hydration to remain soft and firm for as long as possible.
“The ideal is to moisturize the whole body once or twice a day (for example after the shower), choosing a pleasant texture so that the application is a real pleasure”, advises Frédéric Hornec. “Focus on a biomimetic formula, in perfect affinity with the skin (i.e. with ingredients similar to the components naturally present in the skin or perfectly assimilable, editor’s note) allows to maintain an optimal level of hydration.”
On particularly scaly areas such as heels or elbows, you can apply your moisturizer in a thick layer, after a scrub that will reduce the thickness of the stratum corneum (the outermost layer of the epidermis) and facilitate the penetration of the moisturizing actives. For heels, it is possible to use products with a more oily texture, to be applied in the evening in a thick layer, under socks, always after a scrub.
