Very Dry Skin Strategies

You’re welcome! I hope the below helps. It’s good to consider all the reasons your skin may be so dry.

What IS Dry Skin?

I know that sounds like an odd question, but it helps to get to the root and a fix. We are born with different numbers of oil glands on our faces. We have all had a friend who had so much oil it drove them crazy, and friends who were dry even when young. The amount of oil we have is inherited for the most part and everyone gets drier as they age; hormone treatment will affect this. Oral contraceptives can be helpful for those with acne and conversely, for post menopausal women, small amounts of estrogen, if no downsides, will increase oil usually. Ideally, our skin would be in perfect balance… okay …but how often is it truly like that?

Dry skin is also a disruption of the barrier layer of the skin such that it doesn’t hold onto hydration/water well and it evaporates too fast through the skin. Oils/lipids help the outer layer retain it’s integrity.

Pros/Cons of Dry Skin vs. Oily skin

Dry skin is often perceived as “thinner”; the pores are finer, acne is less, but it wrinkles more while texture often looks “dull”. Oily skin is more prone to acne, including more severe cystic acne, and the pores are definitely larger resulting in texture that looks coarser and shinier, but fewer wrinkles.

Strategies for Very Dry Skin

• Skin rest.  I’m going to lobby hard for 1–2 weeks of this because often “dry skin” is truly irritated skin, but at a subtle level of irritation. Could I convince you to use just a bland cleanser, cream and maybe (if you live somewhere sunny) a sunscreen? CeraVE usually works fine. At the end of 1–2 weeks, you’ll know if your skincare products may be irritating you.
• Add products slowly.  If your skin is better, then try adding your products back one at a time about a week apart to see which ones work well and which ones don’t.
• Avoid chemicals.  Avoid skincare products with a lot of chemicals. If you look at the label and see 20 ingredients, maybe skip that one. Don’t be fooled by all the “plant extracts” that companies are adding. Most of the time, they are not that useful and can irritate the skin. MadisonMD Skincare is our line, with better and more hypoallergenic bases, but still including the science. There are other good lines too.
• Layer your products. Start with a hydrating serum that contains vitamins like a hyaluronic acid serum, or our Niacinamide + Copper Deaging Serum that contains vitamin B3. Even if these don’t feel like a lotion, they prep the skin and feed it. Then, use a lighter weight moisturizer with nutrition like a thicker, gentle antioxidant, and then over that put a moisturizer with lots of lipids or natural oils in the first 3–5 ingredients. Finally, sunscreen over that if it’s morning.

But truly, it’s the correct mix of products, coupled with consistency, and eliminating subtle irritation that’s the key. Also, don’t forget to get at least 2 tablespoons of olive oil or other healthy oils a day…and more is better. Many drugs will make you drier so look at those as well.

Hope this helps,

Dr. Brandith Irwin, MD
Founder of SkinTour & MadisonMD Skincare
Follow my skin tips and travels on Instagram!