Have you been looking for a good moisturisers for your dry AND sensitive skin? Has the search led you to try out many products that didn’t work? I’ve been there and done that! Which brings me to this: creating a list of the best moisturisers for dry and sensitive skin so you don’t have to go through all that trouble!
CHOOSING A MOISTURISER FOR DRY AND SENSITIVE SKIN
People with dry skin often blindly reach out for creams that have too many oils, which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, if we’re looking at dry skin that is also sensitive, it becomes a different story.
So, if you want to target your skin’s dryness without causing irritation, keep a check on the following points while picking your moisturiser:
- Stay away from moisturisers that are too fragrant, be it natural or artificial. A subtle faint scent is still fine but the preference should be “100% fragrance-free”.
- Avoid or Limit Essential Oils in your moisturiser. Essential Oils do have skin benefits but sensitive skin can have a reaction to it. It can cause redness, rashes or itchiness on your skin. Many times, essential oils are used in a skincare product for a natural scent and you can do without it.
- Pick a cream that doesn’t contain Denatured Alcohol.
- The moisturiser should be artificial colourant-free.
- Opt for creams that contain a good quantity of occlusive like waxes, silicones and petrolatum to prevent Transepidermal Water Loss from the skin. Occlusive does not aid any skin benefit directly but they make sure they seal everything on to your skin, just like a lid of a jar!
- Also, look out for gentle emollients, including plant butter (Shea butter, cocoa butter), plant oil (sunflower oil, jojoba oil, olive oil, almond oil, etc), squalane (this is my favourite), etc. An emollient fills the gap between cracked skin, thereby making it soft.
Keep a check on ingredients. Always have a glance at the ingredients list and avoid using a product that contains an ingredient to which you have had a skin reaction in the past.
Reading the ingredient list on any product can get a bit confusing. Find out how to decode it and know more about why it’s important.
BEST MOISTURISERS FOR DRY AND SENSITIVE SKIN
A good moisturiser for dry sensitive skin has a good combination of occlusive and emollients and many times few ingredients act as both. Below are the moisturisers that are best in my opinion and deserves a shot from people with dry and sensitive skin.
COSRX Advanced Snail 92 All In One Cream
The Cosrx Advanced Snail 92 all In One Cream contains 92% of Snail Mucin Filtrate to hydrate, moisturise, nourish and brighten the skin. It also has Allantoin and Dimethicone to moisturise and improve the skin barrier. I highly recommend this cream for hot and humid climates.
ETUDE House Soon Jung 2x Barrier Intensive Cream
If you have a badly damaged skin barrier and live in dry climates, the Etude House Soon Jung 2x Barrier Intensive Cream is a must! It contains Centella Asiatica to calm and heal the skin, and also has sunflower seed oil and Shea butter to moisturise it.
ETUDE House Soon Jung 5-Panthensoside Cica Balm
In case, you are someone who wants to avoid the conventional plant oil, butter and want something that’s vegan too, the ETUDE House Soon Jung 5-Panthensoside Cica Balm is your product. It also contains Centella Asiatica but in a little higher concentration and has my favourite ingredient, squalane, to moisturise skin. This is very nourishing in nature but has more of a skin calming effect.
Klairs Midnight Blue Calming Cream
The Klairs Midnight Blue Calming Cream has a good combination of occlusives and emollients along with the skin calming Centella Asiatica and Guaiazulene, which gives the cream a tinge of blue. However, this product contains Lavender Oil, Lemon Peel Oil, Eucalyptus Oil, Ylang-Ylang and Rose Geranium Oil, so make sure your skin does not react negatively to these ingredients before you use it.