Understanding and Treating Dry Skin
What Causes Skin Dryness?
Like all skin types, dry skin is genetic. Dry skin produces less oil than other skin types. It is characterized by an insufficient supply of sebum, which lubricates the skin, and lipids, which maintain the skin’s moisture barrier. Without these essential factors, the skin can’t produce or retain enough moisture. On the surface, this deficiency presents as dry, flaky skin and a lackluster complexion. This can lead to an increase in transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and worsen if the skin barrier is compromised.
Skin naturally becomes thinner and drier with age because our internal stores of hyaluronic acid—the substance that attracts and retains water—diminish over time. However, hydration is only half the battle. If you have genetically dry skin, your skin lacks the essential sebum and lipids needed to seal that hydration in. Without this protective oil barrier, water quickly evaporates from the skin. This means having a genetically dry skin type makes you highly prone to dehydrated skin as well. Ultimately, whether dealing with a permanent skin type or a temporary condition, all skin requires a strong, lubricated barrier to stop moisture loss and prevent a flaky, tight, or itchy complexion.
5 Dry Skin Symptoms You May Notice
Take a glance at the following symptoms to identify whether you have dry skin:
The skin on your face and body feels very tight after showering, swimming or cleansing
Generally, your skin has a rough texture
The skin around your lips or on your face is flaking
Fine lines or deep cracks are developing
You experience dryness that’s painful, itchy or scaly
Best Moisturizers & Targeted Products For Dry Skin
While dehydration can often be addressed with ingredients like hyaluronic acid, dry skin requires more than hydration alone. For long-term relief, a skincare routine that locks in moisture and helps prevent TEWL is essential. The right moisturizers support softness, suppleness, and protection.
For dry skin, look for richer formulations with oils that strengthen the skin barrier. Humectants like hyaluronic acid and glycerin help draw in moisture, while plant oils such as avocado, coconut, and shea butter help nourish and seal it in. Here are our recommended moisturizers for dry skin.
Coconut Age Corrective Moisturizer: This formula is ideal for dry skin, featuring deeply moisturizing coconut oil and shea butter. Rich in fatty acids and triglycerides, shea butter helps restore and retain moisture, while coconut oil provides antioxidant benefits to replenish the skin’s appearance.
Monoi Age Corrective Night Cream for Face & Neck: Target the neck and face overnight. Enriched with the superstar ingredient monoi—a soothing and protective oil that deeply hydrates the skin—it helps improve the appearance of elasticity while reducing the look of fine lines and wrinkles, leaving skin firmer, smoother, and more rejuvenated by morning.
Marine Flower Peptide Night Cream: If you struggle with dry skin, the Marine Flower Peptide Night Cream deeply hydrates while helping protect against transepidermal water loss (TEWL). Formulated with botanical peptides and collagen, it improves the look of elasticity and helps reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles overnight.
Strawberry Rhubarb Hyaluronic Hydrator: If your skin feels dehydrated, this gel-cream moisturizer delivers intense hydration with a Botanical Hyaluronic Acid Complex to revive dull-looking skin. Strawberry naturally contains salicylic acid to gently exfoliate and brighten the complexion.
Ashwagandha Ultra-Rich Restorative Cream: Another skincare multitasker, this Ayurvedic herb—also known as “Indian ginseng”—has been used for over 3,000 years. With antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, it helps cleanse impurities, improve breakouts, hydrate dry skin, support elasticity, and reduce stress.
Radiant Protection SPF Fluid: This multitasking sunscreen helps restore moisture to dry, sun-exposed skin. It is an all-mineral SPF 30 with zinc oxide for broad-spectrum protection, bakuchiol to help smooth the look of fine lines, and niacinamide to support hydration and retain moisture—making it ideal for dry skin.
Strategic Solutions for Dry Skin
Moisturize Correctly
The first line of defense for dry skin is usually a moisturizer. Oil-based ointments, creams and lotions that are rich in essential fatty acids (EFAs) can compensate for dry skin’s lack of oil and lipids. They lubricate the skin’s surface as well as fortify the skin’s moisture barrier to replenish and seal in much-needed moisture.
When choosing moisturizer for dry skin, aim for a heavier formula and look for ingredients like hyaluronic acid. Other ingredients to look for include shea butter and lactic acid, which provide hydration and exfoliation.
When you shower or wash your face, make it a habit to apply a generous layer of moisturizer and spend a good amount of time massaging it into the face. Choose an oil-rich cream that replenishes moisture and repairs your skin’s lipid barrier.
Pro Tip: Apply moisturizer while your skin is still slightly damp, either post-cleanse or after a spritz of a revitalizing or refreshing mist to lock in extra hydration.
Use Gentle Ingredients
Like extreme temperatures, harsh cosmetic ingredients can impact the skin’s moisture barrier, causing dryness and irritation. To protect your skin, avoid skin care products that include chemical ingredients like parabens, petrolatum, mineral oils, propylene glycol or sodium lauryl sulfate. All Eminence Organics products are free of these ingredients, so making the switch could make all the difference. As a general rule, avoid anything with alcohol, which will dry your skin out further.
What About Dehydrated Skin?
Dry skin is often confused with dehydration, but they are really quite different. While dehydration is preventable and easily treated, dry skin is a skin type requiring ongoing care. One of the best ways to replenish dehydrated skin is to add products containing hyaluronic acid to your skin care routine. Products that contain hyaluronic acid keep skin hydrated, plump and looking healthy. This ingredient can hold a thousand times its weight in water, making it a powerful humectant. That means hyaluronic acid draws moisture from the environment into the skin for increased hydration and a complexion that’s plump, smooth and luminous.
Strawberry Rhubarb Masque: This masque combines the antioxidant-rich benefits of strawberries and rhubarb with hyaluronic acid to deeply hydrate and gently exfoliate.
Strawberry Rhubarb Hyaluronic Serum: This serum contains hyaluronic acid, a natural humectant derived from the marshmallow plant. It draws in and retains moisture, leaving skin smooth, hydrated, and visibly reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Strawberry Rhubarb Hyaluronic Hydrator:This gel-cream moisturizer deeply hydrates with a Botanical Hyaluronic Acid Complex to revive dull skin. Strawberry naturally provides salicylic acid to gently exfoliate and brighten the complexion.
Not sure which moisturizer is right for your unique skin? A personalized facial treatment is the perfect starting point. Every session includes a comprehensive skin analysis and tailored product recommendations from our experts, ensuring your home routine is exactly what your skin needs to thrive.
