Hydration (adding water to the skin) and Emollience (adding oil to the skin) fall under the same word technically (moisture is usually a mixture of water/oil) so often times you will just hear most companies saying to use a moisturizer. I try to go one step further than this to explain how our skin needs both oils and water to be happy and healthy.

Some ladies use only a water based serum and an oil based serum/and or butter and are fine with this. Some use these along with a moisturizer too and are fine. And some ladies use only a moisturizer. There is no right way, you just gotta find what works best for your skin.

Now, knowing what you are lacking can be difficult sometimes because you can be:

1. dry and dehydrated,

2. dry and not dehydrated,

3. dehydrated and not dry

I know that was a lil confusing, sorry! but I'll give you examples..

Dehydrated means lacking water

Dry means lacking oil

So dry and dehydrated would mean lacking both.

You can have dehydrated skin which REALLY needs hydration, but does not need oil.

And you can have oily skin which REALLY needs hydration

And then you can have a type of dry skin which REALLY needs both!

And surprisingly you can also have Oily skin which REALLY needs oils to help balance out the oil production.

I can usually look at an individual’s routine and figure out what they are missing. But you know sometimes its not only skincare. Sometimes its internal stuff going on too, like medications can effect dryness of skin.. chlorine in water, drinking tap water, what we're eating.. etc. So if someones routine looks balanced, I start looking at possible internal factors (or even environmental too)

Here are some signs to look for to tell you what kind of skin you may have:

Dry skin from lack of oil can sometimes be cracked, flakey, and tight

And skin which is both dry and dehydrated can also be cracked, flakey and tight too so as you can see its not always easy to tell.

Where as dehydrated skin that is not lacking oil is usually flakey but not cracked.

One way to see how your skin is doing is to wash with a non drying cleanser then let your skin sit for 20 mins and take a good look at the condition of it..

Does it look parched? add some hydration

does it look VERY dry? add some oils or butters

does it look super parched and dry? (lines and wrinkles and cracks coming on and flakey? then you probably need both and a good moisturizer as well to help seal it all in.

Jennifer Flanagan