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LIVRAISON GRATUITE À PARTIR DE 65 € (NL)
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LIVRAISON GRATUITE À PARTIR DE 65 € (NL)
Read time: 13 minutes
Junita products are cosmetics, not medical treatments. If your skin is cracked, bleeding, painful or not settling, please see a GP or dermatologist.
Every year, as the evenings draw in and the heating goes on, the same thing happens. Skin that was fine all summer starts to feel tight after a shower. Hands get rough. Shins flake. You reach for more moisturiser, and it helps for an hour, and then it does not.
That last part is what this piece is about. If you are moisturising more and your skin is not getting better, the moisturiser is not the whole problem. Here is what is going on underneath, and what actually helps.
You will often read that “dry” skin is short of oil and “dehydrated” skin is short of water. It is a tidy line, but dermatologists do not draw it that neatly.
Les American Academy of Dermatology describes dry skin as what happens when skin loses water too quickly, and says deodorant soaps and harsh cleaning products can strip oils and fats from the skin along the way. It also says that excessively dry skin has lost so much moisture that it is noticeably dehydrated. Cleveland Clinic defines dry skin simply as skin that does not have enough moisture in it to keep it feeling soft.
So the more useful way to think about it is as two jobs. One is holding water in the outer layer of the skin. The other is keeping that water from escaping. The fats in your skin do the second job, and when they are depleted the first job fails too. That is why “add water” and “add oil” are both half an answer.
The outermost layer of your skin, the stratum corneum, is often described as bricks and mortar. The bricks are flattened skin cells. The mortar is a mix of lipids.
The mortar. A review in the Journal of Lipid Research describes the lipid matrix between the cells as made up mainly of ceramides, cholesterol and free fatty acids, and says it is this matrix that forms the barrier to water. A review of moisturisers in Clinical Medicine & Research puts the consequence plainly: loss of these intercellular lipids damages the water barrier and leads to dry skin.
The water inside the bricks. Inside the skin cells is natural moisturising factor, or NMF, a mixture of small, water-attracting molecules. A review in Dermatologic Therapy describes it as formed inside the cells from the breakdown of a protein called filaggrin. The Clinical Medicine & Research review adds that about half of NMF is amino acids, with the rest made up of salts such as lactate, urea and electrolytes, and that NMF production is directly related to how humid the air around you is.
The leak. Water is always evaporating through the skin. Dermatologists call this transepidermal water loss, or TEWL. The same Dermatologic Therapy review explains that the processes that build a good moisture barrier are themselves influenced by how hydrated the skin is, and that they are often disturbed by environmental challenges, resulting in dry, flaky skin. In other words, dry skin makes it harder for skin to repair the very barrier that would stop it being dry.
If you are putting on more and more cream and your skin keeps going back to tight and rough, one or more of these is usually behind it.
Humectants, such as glycerin and hyaluronic acid, attract water into the outer layer of the skin. But the Clinical Medicine & Research review notes that humectants can also draw water up from the deeper skin to the surface, where it easily evaporates, which is why they are so often combined with occlusives. A light, humectant-heavy lotion can feel lovely going on and still leave your skin no better off an hour later.
The American Academy of Dermatology says ointments and creams add more moisture to skin and are more effective than lotions. Thuisarts, the Dutch GPs’ patient site, says a thin body lotion or body milk is often not greasy enough for dry skin. Its first piece of advice is a plain base cream (basiszalf), such as cetomacrogol cream, on the whole body twice a day or more. You can buy it at a drogist or pharmacy without a prescription. A German position paper on dry skin puts it as a rule of thumb: the drier the skin looks, the greater the lipid content of the product should be.
You cannot moisturise your way past something that is stripping your skin every day. A review in Dermatologic Therapy describes how harsh surfactants in cleansers can damage skin proteins and lipids, leading to after-wash tightness, dryness, barrier damage, irritation and even itch. That review also found that high-pH solutions, even without any surfactant, can swell the outer skin layer and change its lipids. Hot water adds to it, as the section on washing below shows.
Indoor air is drier once the heating is on. More on that below.
Sometimes dryness that will not settle is a symptom of something else. The American Academy of Dermatology names atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and kidney disease among the conditions that can cause overly dry skin. That is a job for a GP, not a new cream. See when to see a GP.
A review in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology looked at how humidity and temperature affect the skin. It concluded that low humidity and low temperatures lead to a general decrease in skin barrier function, and make skin more reactive to irritants and allergens. It notes that people in northern Europe, exposed to harsh winters, may experience dry and itchy skin.
Indoors is part of the problem. Thuisarts explains that in winter the air inside is drier because it is so much warmer indoors than out. Put that together with NMF production depending on the humidity of the air, and the heating going on is a reliable trigger.
We wrote more about how skin reacts to the change of season in Your skin knows the season has changed before you do.
For readers in the Netherlands, there is local data too. The Rotterdam Study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, had doctors grade the skin of 5,547 middle-aged and older adults. 60% had dry skin. Outside temperature was one of the factors significantly linked to it, along with age, being female and eczema. And daily cream use was associated with less localised dry skin. That is an association from a single point in time, not proof that the cream caused it, but it points the same way as everything else here.
Age plays its part. The American Academy of Dermatology notes that the skin makes less sebum, its natural oil, from middle age onwards, and that by 60 nearly everyone has dry skin.
This is the heart of the Junita approach. Before you think about brightening, smoothing or anything else, get the barrier holding water again. For dry skin, that means covering all three jobs.
| Job | What it does | Examples on an ingredient list |
|---|---|---|
| Humectant | Attracts water into the outer layer of skin | Glycerin, sodium hyaluronate, panthenol, urea, sodium PCA |
| Emollient | Fills the gaps between skin cells, softens and smooths | Plant oils and butters, fatty acids, fatty alcohols |
| Occlusive | Forms a layer on top that slows water loss | Petrolatum, mineral oil, beeswax, dimethicone |
A few things from the research are worth knowing:
You do not need three separate products. Many creams combine two or three of these jobs in one jar, and reading the ingredient list tells you which. The lines are not hard ones, either: fatty alcohols such as cetyl alcohol soften the skin, and a review in Skin Therapy Letter also lists them among the occlusives, so a cream without petrolatum or dimethicone can still do a little of the third job. What matters is that something is holding the water in, not only pulling it up.
If your skin is dry, the American Academy of Dermatology advises you to stop using skin care products that contain alcohol (except hand sanitiser), fragrance or retinoids. Brightening and resurfacing can wait until the barrier is back.
This part is easy to overlook, and it matters as much as what you put on afterwards.
For hands washed many times a day
Sodium PCA, glycerin, panthenol et sodium hyaluronate to draw water in, argan oil et shea butter to soften, and cetearyl and cetyl alcohol for a light seal. It also lists alcohol and cedarwood oil (Cedrus Atlantica), which is on the EU fragrance allergen list, so if your hands are dry and reactive, let them settle first.
Daytime moisture for the face
Glycerin et sodium hyaluronate to draw water in, grape seed oil, mango seed butter et argan oil to soften, and cetyl alcohol for a light seal. It also lists alcohol and terpineol, which is on the EU fragrance allergen list, so if your skin is dry and reactive, wait until it has settled. 30ml.
It is not for skin that is cracked and bleeding, weeping, infected or painful. That needs a GP, not a change of routine.
Most dry skin can be managed at home. But see your GP (in the Netherlands, your huisarts) if:
The American Academy of Dermatology also recommends seeing a dermatologist if your skin stays dry after trying these steps, because overly dry skin can be a sign of an underlying condition such as atopic dermatitis or psoriasis.
Junita® exists because our founder could not find products that worked on difficult skin without demanding something from it first. Everything we make starts from the same idea: support the barrier first, and let the skin do the rest. That is also why we would rather tell you to turn the shower down than sell you another jar.
Our own creams do all three of those jobs, the third only lightly. All of them are made with glycerin and sodium hyaluronate, a form of hyaluronic acid, to draw water in, and with plant oils and butters, three of them with shea butter, to soften. Glycerin, hyaluronic acid and shea butter are all on the American Academy of Dermatology’s list of what to look for in a cream for dry skin. For the third job, holding water in, every one of them contains cetyl alcohol, one of the fatty alcohols the Skin Therapy Letter review above lists among the occlusives. Despite the name, it is a white solid, not the alcohol (ethanol) that labels list simply as “alcohol”. Its seal is much lighter than petrolatum’s, and none of our creams contains petrolatum, dimethicone or another classic occlusive, so on very dry patches a plain base cream or ointment on top is still the right call. Most of them also list alcohol, and most list at least one of the fragrance allergens the EU requires to be named on a label. So if your skin is dry and reactive, the advice above applies to ours as much as to anyone’s: put them aside until your skin has settled. We would rather say that plainly than pretend otherwise.
Build before you brighten.
Beauty writing often says dry skin lacks oil and dehydrated skin lacks water. Dermatologists do not separate them that neatly. The American Academy of Dermatology describes dry skin as skin that loses water too quickly, and very dry skin as noticeably dehydrated. In practice both water and the skin’s fats are involved, because the fats are what hold the water in.
Usually because something is still drying it out, such as hot showers, harsh cleansers or dry indoor air, or because the moisturiser only attracts water without holding it in. Humectants on their own can draw water to the surface where it evaporates, so they work best combined with oils, butters or occlusives.
Long, hot showers make dry skin worse. The American Academy of Dermatology recommends five to ten minutes in warm water, and Thuisarts advises no warmer than 37 or 38 degrees. Research has also found that cleansers irritate skin more at higher water temperatures.
It contributes. Heated indoor air in winter is drier, and a review of the evidence found that low humidity and low temperatures reduce skin barrier function. The skin’s own natural moisturising factor also depends on the humidity of the air. A humidifier in the bedroom can help.
A cream or ointment. The American Academy of Dermatology says they add more moisture and are more effective than lotions, and Thuisarts says a thin body lotion is often not greasy enough. The drier your skin, the richer the product should be.
A humectant such as glycerin, hyaluronic acid or urea, alongside emollients such as plant oils and butters, and ideally an occlusive such as petrolatum or dimethicone. Urea has particularly strong evidence for dry skin, and glycerin is one of the best-studied humectants.
Yes. Skin makes less sebum from middle age, and the American Academy of Dermatology says nearly everyone has dry skin by 60. In the Dutch Rotterdam Study, 60% of 5,547 middle-aged and older adults had dry skin.
It can be. If your skin does not improve with good care, gets worse, cracks, bleeds or itches enough to disturb your sleep, see your GP. They can check whether it is eczema or another condition that needs treatment.
With love and science,
The Junita® Lab Team
