Dry vs Dehydrated Skin

Dry vs Dehydrated Skin

Winter skincare routine

Dry Vs Dehydrated skin

Aslamualykum and hello people. Since the winters are coming your skin feel itchy patchy or flaky which may considered as dry are dehydrated skin. The symptoms are almost the same for both skin conditions but the main difference in two is that Dry skin lacks oil  whereas Dehydrated skin lacks water but both can be treated with moisturiser and skincare products.In this post we will discuss the main differences in both and also how to take care of your dry dehydrated skin so keep on reading.

Let’s start with DRY skin . Dry skin is a skin type which means it is built in your skin and isn’t going to change too much. It is exact opposite to oily skin which means your skin doesn’t produce enough oil. Oil is an important factor in your skin as it keeps skin flexible, water barrier it stops water from getting in and out of skin also act as a chemical barrier meaning stops other  chemicals to getting into the skin.

These are the effects of oil on skin. But how much oil your skin is going to produce depends upon number of factors which include Diet, genetic, stress, weather(colder weather means more dry skin), age(ageing cause less oil production)and medications( like birth control or accutane ).

See above figure helps to understand your skin type. If your skin is producing right amount of oils then it is normal skin and if certain parts of your face showing different skin types I.e. oily dry or normal your skin is combination skin. 

Now let’s talk about Dehydrated skin. We refer dehydrated skin as a skin condition rather than skin type since it can happen to anyone at any time and skin hydration levels can change suddenly very quickly. Any skin type whether it is oily, dry , normal or combination can loss water and become dehydrated .

Hydration is important for skin. Having a right amount of water in you skin can keep it flexible, smooth and plump also helps it to process normal and slows ageing process for example shedding of dead skin cannot occur properly if the skin hydration levels are not right. These are its effects. Now the question is what causes dehydrated skin? This includes some factors like barrier integrity when you skin barrier is disturbed it cause loss of water resulting in dehydration. Other factors include weather , skincare routine(over washing and over exfoliating), wind and exposure to sun.

How to identify dry skin?

Dry skin usually have features like

  • Tiny pores,
  • no visible patches of oils all over your face
  • More prone to cracking/rough patches
  • More fine lines
  • Moisturiser sinks in the skin
  • Makeup creases or settle into fine lines

How you identify if your skin is dehydrated?

Hydration is pretty straight forward . Unlike dryness there is no happy medium for hydration which means you want your skin to be as hydrated as possible. Dehydrated skin feels tight and stiff instead of soft and plump. It also feels like you have a film on your skin.

In general if your skin is dry, it is likely to become dehydrated since oils help keep the water balance.

How to treat dry/dehydrated skin?

For the basic skincare routine what you follow is

  1. Cleansing
  2. Balancing
  3. Treatment
  4. Moisturising

A gentle cleanser is good which doesn’t dry out your skin. Look for a cleanser without harsh surfactant like SLS. They will only dry out your skin.

Balancing means to balance out pH of your skin sometimes using cleanser harsh for skin may change pH levels so toners helps with that. An honourable mention of my fav toner is by Oriflame love nature toner for dry skin. Toner is not a must but good to have.

Treatment includes products with ingredients works certain conditions e.g. for dehydrated skin look for glycerin or hyaluronic acid which are humectants and attracts water.

Lastly apply a thick moisturiser or oil which suits your skin. My favourite moisturiser are Nueage moisturiser and dermive moisturiser. Both are amazing for dry skin.

Hope you like this post and find it helpful. Let me know what kind of skin type you have in comment below also you can purchase my favourite pocket friendly moisturiser from