Lauryl Sulfates
These are a range of surfactants found in many cleansers. The trouble with these are that they can quite strip any oils from the skin, making it feel dryer. If you use a sulphate cleanser with hot water with hot water your skin is going to be in double trouble as the oils get removed from the skin and the heat cause water to evaporate from your skin amazingly quickly.
Exfoliating Scrubs
No one should use an exfoliating scrub on the face, but for dry skin it can be really disruptive to the skin barrier. The skin barrier contains natural moisturising factors that hold in and bind water to the skin - any manual exfoliation is going to rub these right off.
Soap (at least on your face)
Cold processed soap is a wonderful ingredients for washing your hands and body, but keep it away from the delicate skin on your face. The pH of soap is around 9 or 10 (alkaline) while your skin is around 5 or 6 (acid). The soap can disrupt your acid mantle, a protective layer of oils covering your skin, letting water evaporate out into the air.
Alcohol Denat
Denatured alcohol has a low molecular weight (it is made up of tiny particles) that are really good at soaking into the skin, killing cells that produce oils and then evaporating taking moisture with it. This is why your hands get dry after using hand sanitiser.
Strong Retinoids
Retinoids (various types of vitamin A) are a fantastic anti-aging product. They make the skin cells turn over more often, giving you a glowing wrinkle free appearance. However, if you have really dry skin strong retinoids and cause the skin cells to turn over so much that you lose a lot of moisture and oils from the skin resulting in peeling.
These are a range of surfactants found in many cleansers. The trouble with these are that they can quite strip any oils from the skin, making it feel dryer. If you use a sulphate cleanser with hot water with hot water your skin is going to be in double trouble as the oils get removed from the skin and the heat cause water to evaporate from your skin amazingly quickly.
Exfoliating Scrubs
No one should use an exfoliating scrub on the face, but for dry skin it can be really disruptive to the skin barrier. The skin barrier contains natural moisturising factors that hold in and bind water to the skin - any manual exfoliation is going to rub these right off.
Soap (at least on your face)
Cold processed soap is a wonderful ingredients for washing your hands and body, but keep it away from the delicate skin on your face. The pH of soap is around 9 or 10 (alkaline) while your skin is around 5 or 6 (acid). The soap can disrupt your acid mantle, a protective layer of oils covering your skin, letting water evaporate out into the air.
Alcohol Denat
Denatured alcohol has a low molecular weight (it is made up of tiny particles) that are really good at soaking into the skin, killing cells that produce oils and then evaporating taking moisture with it. This is why your hands get dry after using hand sanitiser.
Strong Retinoids
Retinoids (various types of vitamin A) are a fantastic anti-aging product. They make the skin cells turn over more often, giving you a glowing wrinkle free appearance. However, if you have really dry skin strong retinoids and cause the skin cells to turn over so much that you lose a lot of moisture and oils from the skin resulting in peeling.