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Which Moisturizer is Best for Your Skin? 

Who doesn’t love to receive compliments for flawless and glowing skin? However, maintaining healthy and gorgeous skin requires you to follow a dedicated skincare regime. Keeping your skin moisturized is one such must-have skincare routine that helps flaunt eye-turning looks.

Moisturizer serves as an ideal skincare solution for protecting sensitive skin and improving skin texture. Applying a moisturizer helps you to mask imperfections and treat dry skin. Daily moisturizing is essential for staying young and keeping blemish-free skin.

Whether you would like to reduce skin problems, fight wrinkles, or replenish the skin’s moisture after a hot shower, moisturizer is the one-stop solution for various skin issues. First, however, you need to find the right kind of moisturizer that works great for your skin.

Read this article without skipping to find out the best moisturizer for your skin.

Make sure to pick a moisturizer that helps in maintaining perfect skin balance. Moisturizers keep your skin hydrated by holding water in the outer skin layer. Generally, moisturizers come in the form of gels, creams, serums, and water-based lotions.

Moisturizers contain humectants like lactic acid, glycerin, or urea, which helps in drawing water into the layers of skin. Moreover, it also includes emollients like jojoba oil, sunflower oil, lanolin that smoothen the skin for ensuring flawless texture.

The best way to find out the moisturizer that suits your skin is to try the various moisturizers and observe their effects. There are multiple factors to consider for picking the best moisturizer, including your age, skin type, any specific skin condition, convenience, etc.

Moreover, choosing a moisturizer also depends on its targeted area. For example, you may use a cream form for applying on your face, neck and eyes; and a lotion form for spreading on the rest of the body.

Let’s discuss suitable moisturizers for various skin types.

Normal Skin

Normal skin is well-balanced skin that is neither excessively oily nor too dry. It comprises balanced moisture and sebum levels. To keep the natural moisture balance in such skin, you need a water-based moisturizer with a light and non-greasy feel.

The moisturizers for normal skin are made using lightweight oils and contain silicone-derived ingredients such as Cyclomethicone.

Dry Skin

If your skin feels rough, itchy, or flaky, you have dry skin. To restore the ideal moisture balance in dry skin, you need a heavier and oil-based moisturizer packed with ingredients that help retain water.

Make sure to pick a moisturizer that contains lactic acid or a combination of lactic acid & urea. This comes in handy when your skin feels dry after using other moisturizers, especially in the arms, lower legs, hand, etc.

If you have dry skin with cracks, apply an ointment with petroleum jelly. This helps in retaining moisture and reducing water loss from the skin more effectively than lotions.

Apply this moisturizer at bedtime to avoid its greasy feeling during the day.

Oily Skin

The oily skin feels greasy and shiny, and it is more prone to breakouts and skin issues like acne. To restore moisture balance in oily skin, you need a light moisturizer that helps in protecting moisture loss in the skin after a shower.

Apply moisturizer on oily skin after using skincare products that dry the skin and remove oils from skin layers.

For acne-prone skin, apply moisturizing lotions as they have a higher percentage of water than moisturizing creams. Also, for such skin, avoid using products that contain coconut oil, petroleum jelly, or cocoa butter on your face.

Pick a water-based and lightweight moisturizer with oil-free and noncomedogenic properties for preventing clogging of pores. If your skin is excessively oily, apply sunscreen for restoring moisture rather than a moisturizer.

Combination Skin

Combination skin contains both dry as well as oily skin areas. For example, individuals with combination skin have oily forehead, nose or chin while their cheeks are dry.

For maintaining moisture in combination skin, apply a medium-weight lotion along with broad-spectrum sunscreen. Alternatively, you can use a heavy moisturizer on your arms & legs and apply a light moisturizer to your facial area.

Sensitive Skin

If your skin is susceptible to rashes, redness, itching, or irritation, you have sensitive skin. You need a moisturizer packed with soothing ingredients like aloe or chamomile for restoring moisture balance in sensitive skin.

Make sure to pick the mild, fragrance-free and hypoallergenic moisturizing products for sensitive skin. Also, avoid products that contain masking fragrances or acids as these may irritate the sensitive skin, although they are labelled as unscented.

Mature Skin

Your skin becomes drier, thinner, and loses its elasticity as you get older. This mature skin is not able to protect itself against damage. Pick an oil-based moisturizer for keeping mature skin supple, soft, and well-hydrated.

A moisturizer that contains petroleum jelly works great in holding moisture in individuals with mature skin. Moisturizing helps in reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Apply moisturizing products enriched with antioxidants or alpha hydroxy acid for preventing

flaky and scaly skin. These moisturizers are also used to manufacture wrinkle creams along with antioxidants, peptides, retinoids, or other ingredients.

The regular use of moisturizers is essential for ensuring an optimal and consistent skincare routine. Let’s discuss the various tips that help to extract the most out of your moisturizer.

Add Few Drops of Moisture-Enhancing Serum

If you are looking to enhance the effect of your preferred moisturizer, add a few drops of moisture-enhancing serum for enriching it with humectants and hyaluronic acid and experiencing ultimate skin-hydrating benefits.

Apply Moisturizers While Your Skin is Moist

When you are done taking a shower, shaving, or bathing, ensure to dry your skin by using a towel. This helps in keeping the skin damp and retaining a little bit of moisture. Now apply a moisturizer so that the water gets trapped in your skin.

Reapply moisturizer multiple times a day depending on your skin type to keep your skin hydrated. Every time you wash your hands, ensure to apply moisturizer on them.

Experiment a Lot to Find the Best

Don’t be shy of experimenting a lot to get your hands on a moisturizer that perfectly fits your skin type. This includes trying out the various brands with varying ingredients.

As you keep trying, you will find an ideal moisturizer for keeping your skin rejuvenated and making it feel soft and hydrated.

Avoid Exposure to Sunlight

You should make conscious efforts to protect yourself against the sunlight by applying sunscreen throughout the year. Use a broad-spectrum sunscreen that contains an SPF value of 30 or higher. Reapply it after every two hours to minimize the damaging effect of sun rays.

Ensure to apply sunscreen again after swimming or sweating. Pick a moisturizer or apply cosmetics that contain sunscreen formulation. Before you apply sunscreen, cosmetics or moisturizer on your skin, ensure to use a topical medication you have been using.

Apply Medicated Creams Before Using Moisturizer

If you are using medicated creams like corticosteroid or tacrolimus, apply it first and wait for half an hour before applying a moisturizer. Also, read the specific instructions on your medication package beforehand.

Apply Appropriate Quantity of Heavy Creams and Oils

Avoid using heavy creams and oils unless required. For example, if you don’t experience excessive dryness, don’t use them. Instead, you can use baby oil on your face and apply heavier lotions on your hands, feet, and legs as these areas get drier.

Wash Your Face Gently and Regularly

Ensure to wash your face daily. Do it multiple times if needed and especially after sweating.

Avoid using hot water for washing your face and instead use either water or warm water and a mild facial cleanser.

Also, don’t rub your face too harshly by using loofahs or pumice stones while showering.

I prefer to use fragrance-free bath oil and a shower gel with added moisturizer for bathing. Ensure to rinse thoroughly. Bath only once a day and that too not longer than 30 mins.

Get Your Personalized Skincare Plan

You should not continue using a moisturizer that does not improve your skin condition. You should see your doctor or dermatologist and create your personalized skincare plan based on your skin condition and skin type.

• Always pick your moisturizer based on your skin type. For example, a lotion works great for oily or combination skin, while a cream suits better for dry skin that needs more nourishment.
• Apply a broad-spectrum SPF protection along with your morning moisturizing cream
• If you want to experience anti-ageing benefits, pick a moisturizer with antioxidants and use it as your morning and evening moisturizers.
• Avoid using a moisturizer with SPF during the evening.
• Use different moisturizing creams for morning and evening. For example, use a moisturizer with SPF in the morning for protection against UV and apply an evening cream enriched with regenerative ingredients for skin repair.
• Use separate moisturizers for humid summer (lighter moisturizer) and dry winter (hydrating moisturizer)
• When you apply moisturizer, ensure to move upwards against gravity from collarbone to forehead.
•  Remember to apply your moisturizer under your makeup and over your serums.