How many of you are feeling a little parched this winter season? Does your skin feel a bit tight and maybe even itchy? Have you noticed a few extra fine lines around the eyes, lips and along the forehead? This is called dehydration. Obviously our bodies can become dehydrated pretty quickly with a few extra glasses of wine when socialising, but there are many causes for dehydration.
If you’re experiencing dryness, flakiness, a rough texture, or tight feeling your skin is probably dehydrated. When the skin's defensive barrier is lacking in moisture the skin doesn’t function effectively. In fact, lack of moisture in the skin can exacerbate breakouts, cause more oil production and increase skin sensitivity.
I swear I read somewhere that 90% of the world has dehydrated skin, but more recent studies show that it's only 30%... seems the world has upped their skincare game, healthy lifestyle regimes and water consumption over the past five years!!
Dehydrated skin is caused by the depletion of hydration through stress, lifestyle, and environmental factors. For example 65-75% hydration in the skin can decrease to 30-40% when we’re stressed. The skin’s Natural Moisture Factor (NMF) is a cocktail of ingredients that the skin naturally creates to keep the top layers of the skin hydrated and maintain the skin's barrier function. So it’s important to give the skin a boost with skincare.
“Think of skin hydration as a cycle. When skin is dehydrated water flows in one direction: from inside the skin, out into the atmosphere. To keep skin hydrated we want to complete the cycle, creating a circular flow of hydration as water evaporates out of the skin it's consistently replenished.“ - International Dermal Institute
Four ways to combat dehydration and bring back that glow:
1. Nourish - Use a nourishing cleanser to cleanse away impurities, whilst reinforcing the skin's natural barrier lipids. Our favourite is Intensive Moisture Cleanser which leaves the skin clean and more comfortable.
2. Hydrate - Spritz skin with a moisture-binding toner throughout the day to replace lost moisture. Multi-Active Toner leaves skin refreshed, thirst quenched and can be spritzed over makeup. Spritzing after cleansing also aids even absorption of your moisturiser.
3. Layer Up - Apply a serum to layer hydration and quench the deeper layers of epidermis. The new Circular Hydrating Serum deeply hydrates skin for over 10 hours and increases hydration levels over time. This revolutionary serum floods skin with hydration, replenishes trans epidermal water loss from within and helps prevent future evaporation by sealing in hydration.
4. Protect - Moisturise and apply sun protection during the day. Hyaluronic Acid is the go-to skin hydrating ingredient for all skins. Apply BioLumin-C Gel Moisturizer with 5 types of Hyaluronic Acid to hydrate and glow all day long. We power up our moisturiser by mixing one pump with our daily moisturiser.
Hydration can be improved from topical application (aka skincare), a healthy diet and drinking actual H2O!
6 Hacks to Boost Hydration:
Moisturise twice daily
Invest in a humidifier or keep a stainless steel bowl on top of your heater or woodburner - add some essential oils to scent the room.
Exfoliate at least once a week - one of our favourites is the exfoliating hydro mask exfoliant It’s a two in one… apply, scrub, leave to nourish and hydrate, wash off. (Great in the shower while you’re washing your hair)
Add a hydrating serum to your regime - we are loving the new Circular Hydration Serum
Hydrate from within - drink 2 -3 litres of water a day
Boost with a hydrating mask - our favourites are the skin hydrating mask or the melting moisture mask for drier skins to lock in the mosture
If you’d like personalised skincare advice or to book in a professional skin treatment to help refresh your skin this season, we’d love to see you! You can book online www.orchidsretreat.co.uk
Thank you for reading glowgetters ~ Díana x
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