What is Dehydrated Skin? How can you hydrate your skin? What is the best treatment for dehydrated skin?

All your questions answered under one hood!

Do you notice redness or white flakes on your skin after coming back from a nice cozy sunbath? Or you are a mountain person who feels itchiness after coming back from a long hike!

Well, my friend, the chances are your skin is not properly hydrated!

Relax don’t worry as dehydrated skin is a condition that you can get easily! It’s easy to treat and usual to come by if you love outing. As weather is a condition it may be hot or cold, humid or dry your skin also behaves the same way under the impact of different factors like humidity in the atmosphere etc.

One thing that most people do and I cannot stress it anymore is that they confuse dehydrated skin with dry skin!

Dehydrated skin is not dry skin!

Dehydrated skin is a condition while Dry skin is a skin type. So don’t confuse them! (Read Dehydrated skin vs Dry skin).

What makes your skin Dehydrated?

So now that you know what dehydrated skin is, you might be wondering how did I get it?

Well to spoil it for you: the answer is simple!

Lack of water!

Due to various reasons like:

Caffeine

Frequent urination due to diabetes or dumping a large amount of caffeine in your system may result in dehydration in your body!

 What caffeine does to your kidneys is a little technical but this study presented by:

https://www.coffeeandhealth.org/topic-overview/coffee-caffeine-hydration-in-the-general-population/

shows:

“A 41% increase in 24-hour urine excretion was observed when the participants were given six cups of coffee (642mg of caffeine).”

Lots of exercises

Another reason for a lot of water loss could be your new exercise craze. Now don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that exercise is bad by any means but moderation is the key here. Just let your system get the hang of the daily strain you put on it!

External factors

   External factors like humidity or dryness of the atmosphere can have a tremendous impact on your soft little pillowy skin. For example, windy areas like the beaches of Miami and coastal areas of California can zap the moisture out of your skin making it dehydrated!

Test for a dehydrated skin:

Follow these simple steps to confirm whether you got dehydrated skin or not:

• Pinch your skin from your hand abdomen thighs or legs.
• Release your skin and observe:
• If it snaps back to its original condition at the very moment you release: it means you are well hydrated.
• If it takes some time to settle in its original position it means that you are dehydrated.

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003281.htm#:~:text=You%20can%20quickly%20check%20for,in%20its%20return%20to%20normal.

States:

“Mild dehydration will cause the skin to be slightly slow in its return to normal.”

Signs that your skin lacks proper hydration:

Itchiness

The major symptom that most people face because of dehydrated skin and probably the reason why you are here is itchiness. Dehydrated skin lacks water which essentially means it lacks life!

Without water, your skin can’t discharge the free radicals that it produces and the pollution from the atmosphere makes the process even more complex giving you itchiness that just never ends.

Eyes may start sinking in

Due to the lack of water and essential minerals that it stores, your eyes may not get what they need to look young and attractive making them close to the underlying bone of your eyes.

Darker complexion

 Have you suddenly noticed that your skin has become a little darker in complexion? It may be because of a process called cell turnover. I’ll spare you the details as it’s a technical term but essentially it means that due to lack of water your skin can't perform its regular function of sloughing off old dead skin cells and making the new ones visible.

Sensitivity issues

Skin becomes less sensitive by dehydration, shows a study conducted by https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/srt.12224:

“The result indicated that dehydrated skin was less sensitive than normal skin.”

Dehydrated Skin vs Dry Skin:

Dehydration meaning the lack of water is a condition that may occur to any skin type (Read our article on skin types) while Dry skin is in your genes. Dry skin means that your skin lacks the necessary fats or sebum that is required to make your skin look soft and cushiony. It is completely irrelevant to the fact that your skin is hydrated or not!

How to keep your skin naturally hydrated?

The answer is:

Water!

Plain and simple, the cure to your dehydrated skin is water!

Do you think you drink enough water in a day? Well, Mayo clinic says otherwise:

“

An adequate daily fluid intake is:

•       About 15.5 cups (3.7 litres) of fluids a day for men
•       About 11.5 cups (2.7 litres) of fluids a day for women”

Says Mayo clinic staff at:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/

So drink enough water to keep your system hydrated and cool!

Drink in moderation if at all

Your skin may not be the no. 1 reason for you to quit drinking but it surely impacts your skin at a deeper level. So try to avoid drinking or drink in moderation if you want to make your skin glow and make it leather soft.

Exfoliator 

When it comes to rinsing out old cells along with the dust particles and pollution, a good exfoliator is your best friend!

Use a high-quality one and see your skin look the best it possibly can by protecting your skin from dehydration.

Hyaluronic Acid Serum

Hyaluronic Acid Serum is long known to have an impact on the skin’s outer layer. It forms a protective coating on the outer layer of your skin helping in retaining the moisture it already has thus made your skin look healthy and plump.

By using a good serum you can also get rid of the wrinkles as most of them occur because of dehydrated skin.

Thecleanbeauty.co also brings you many useful skin care options to fight against skin dehydration. These moisture creamserums for TheClinicalBeauty, OrganicTheNewBeauty and Skin Alphabet are best picks for your skin treatment.