Can’t stand the feeling of dry, rough skin after washing your hands too much? Well, we can’t stand it either. Give your hands a rich layer of skin cream or serum to achieve that baby-soft skin.
SKINTIP
&
In this skintip, Dr. Barbara Geusens gives more in-depth advice on treating DRY SKIN. If you suffer from dry skin, you know what an absolute burden it is to find the right treatment.
Detergents and their drying ability
Whatever soap you use, it contains ingredients that will surround oily particles and dirt to be rinsed away with water. We usually know these cleaning agents under the name detergents . The scientific term for cleaning agents is surfactants . These substances have amphiphilic properties . This is a rather complicated term to indicate that an ingredient has both water-loving and oil-loving properties .
Since most of the dirt particles on our hands are oil-based, they can easily be trapped in the core of the surfactant. The water-loving parts of the surfactant, which are on the surface, work together with water to easily remove the dirt from the skin.
How cleansers weaken the skin barrier
Our outermost layer of skin (stratum corneum) is made up of dead skin cells and a lipid layer that are structured as a 'brick-and-mortar' model. The bricks in this case are the dead skin cells and the lipid layer is the mortar. These form the skin barrier .
This lipid layer contains ceramides along with cholesterol and triglycerides and prevents water from evaporating from our skin. This is crucial to prevent skin from drying out. The not-so-fun fact is that when we wash our hands too often , this lipid layer is essentially stripped away and we lose a significant portion of our skin barrier, leaving us feeling dry and irritated.
Does water dry out your skin?
Alcohol is a diuretic, which means that it forces water out of the body. After drinking, a fluid imbalance occurs and vitamins and minerals are extracted from the body. The body will have difficulty rehydrating afterwards. This imbalance not only causes headaches (hangover), but also leads to dehydrated skin . Considering that hydration is one of the most important factors for healthy and radiant skin, dehydration will cause fine lines and wrinkles to become more visible due to a lack of water. Therefore, it is important to drink plenty of water to restore the water balance.
Which Hand Soaps Cause Skin Irritation and How to Avoid Them
The local form of irritation is characterized by flaky , cracked , dryskin and redness with a burning and painful sensation. This condition is called hand eczema . Even though you think that all soaps work the same way, that is not the case.
The classic soap that comes in a bar or liquid is effective in removing bacteria, viruses and dirt particles. What people like about these soaps is the fact that they give a lot of foam . This is often associated with a clean feeling. However, foam is not always positive, because it contains a high concentration of the more aggressive surfactants, which makes our skin feel dry. In addition, they have a higher pH (pH 10) than the skin (pH 5.5) , which contributes to the aggressiveness of the classic soaps.
You may have come across the syndets. These are formulated to contain a milder blend of surfactants. Their pH is more compatible with the skin , which is beneficial for a gentler cleansing of our hands. They are very effective in removing dirt particles, but are often rejected because people experience a less pleasant washing sensation.
How about a combination of soap and syndets ? It exists! It is called a combar . Think of the Dove beauty cream bar for example. It gives a gentle cleansing experience and is effective against bacteria, viruses and dirt while respecting the pH value of the skin.
There are questions circulating among scientists about the effectiveness of these different hand soaps on removing viruses , because they differ in composition. Some claim that using classic soaps is still the best way to remove viruses from our skin, despite the irritating feeling that occurs afterwards.
The reason for this may be that a higher pHis less desirable for viruses to survive. Additionally, it has been found that the rubbing time with hand soap and water also affects the removal of viruses. A rubbing time of 15-20 seconds reduces the chance of infection more than 5-10 seconds of rubbing. Keep the rubbing time in mind if you prefer milder soaps such as syndets or combats.
How to treat dry hands
Using a good hand cream daily can do wonders for your skin. Use a cream that:
Contains both water and oils (lipids) . This way the oils will absorb the moisture into the skin and water makes the cream more pleasant to use because it absorbs better and faster.
Is not occlusive like Vaseline. This prevents water loss from the skin, but only remains on the surface. For people with very dry skin this can help for a while, but at the same time it creates an 'addictive' feeling of the skin. We recommend that you use a cream that is rich in oils, but also contains a certain amount of water.
Containsno fragrances . 26 fragrances such as limonene, benzyl alcohol, citric acid, eugenol, etc. are associated with allergic reactions when used >0.001% in leave-on and >0.01% in rinse-off products. Since it is mandatory to list these fragrances in the ingredients list, you can recognize them immediately.
Nomige Skin Tip
Your Nomige products can be used to give your hands a soothing feeling:
Use the night serum for an extra moisturizing boost as it is enriched with skin-mimicking lipids such as ceramides .
You can recognize dry skin by redness, flakes or lumps. You will notice this especially after taking a shower or bath. Your skin is weakened, feels like it is going to crack and needs extra care.
