“I have formulated skincare for two decades now and I have learned that sometimes the simplest solutions are the best. So for medium to severe body skin dryness the best solution is to use a medium thickness natural oil, such as cold pressed, unrefined almond oil. On the other hand, for face use do not waste your money on expensive and pointless facial oils and use a good hydrating cream. Full analysis below.”
Dry skin? Struggling to hydrate? Try a thick oil or vegetable butter, not a cream or lotion.
What causes dry skin
Why body creams and lotions are not always the solution for dry skin - and they never are for very dry skin
Dry or very dry skin? Use an oil or vegetable butter.
Almond oil for dry skin
Olive oil for dry skin
Sesame oil, sunflower oil, avocado oil, apricot/plum/peach kernel oil for skin dryness
Body oil blends
When to use cream or oil for different body skin types
Be careful of some body butters - they may contain hydrogenated oils
That’s all good for dry body skin but what about dry skin on the face?
Have a skin tightening/cellulite treatment with London’s cellulite experts
The Cellulite School™: Get advanced training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening
What causes dry skin
Many people suffer from dry skin in winter - and sometimes throughout the year too.
The causes of dry skin can be internal and/or external, from hormonal issues, dietary patterns and even genetics to dry winter weather, hot showers and tight clothes, such as leggings, that absorb skin moisture.
Most people who suffer from dry skin turn to body creams, either based on vegetable oils or mineral oils.
Mineral oil-based creams (usually mentioning paraffinum liquidum in the ingredient list) are artificial and alien to skin.
On the other hand, some vegetable oil-based creams can contain hydrogenated oils (the worst type of oil you can ingest or apply on your skin), highly processed oils or humectant oil derivatives and oil fractions, which are not very natural either, despite their initially natural origin.
Both types of creams can contain quite bad excipients too.
Why body creams and lotions are not always the solution for dry skin - and they never are for very dry skin
A good, natural oil-based body cream is sufficient for most uses, including mildly dry skin. For dry or very dry skin, however, a cream is not that effective and there are various reasons for that. Let’s have a look.
A body cream aims to combat dryness:
Either by covering skin with an oily layer to stop the loss of water through the skin (transepidermal water loss, TEWL)
And/or by covering skin with a humectant, such as glycerine, propylene glycol, hyaluronic acid etc, that draws and retains water in it
However all creams have limits. A cream is an emulsion, comprising, water, oil and emulsifier to bind the two together (a lotion is a looser, more liquid cream emulsion). A lot of things can go wrong with a cream/lotion, in terms of not preventing / fixing skin dryness:
Sometimes the emulsifier itself can contribute to skin dryness - or even irritation
Sometimes the formulation results in all the oil being absorbed into the skin a bit too effectively, with the skin surface getting back to dry in a few minutes or hours
Using a low molecular weight hyaluronic acid can have the same effect: both hyaluronic acid and water get absorbed into the skin, leaving skin dry
Using a high molecular weight hyaluronic acid can result in tackiness / sliminess
Glycerine, propylene glycol and other humectants suffer from the same problem. Glycerine, specifically, is extremely sticky and tacky. Propylene glycol is not much better in this respect.
A cream emulsion based on thin/dry oils, such as thistle/safflower oil, sunflower oil, rosehip oil, evening primrose oil, borage oil, hemp oil, walnut oil and grape seed oil, tend to absorb fast and not prevent TEWL that well
Castor oil is a quite thick oil but also tends to be very sticky (and smelly). Plus a lot of castor oil used in skincare tends to be hydrogenated.
Despite its legendary status, coconut oil is not very good at preventing skin dryness
Hazelnut and jojoba oil are neither here nor there, so they can only help with mild skin dryness in a cream
On the other hand, a cream/lotion based on thicker oils, such as cocoa butter, shea butter, macadamia oil, olive oil, avocado oil, sweet almond oil, apricot oil, peach oil or plum oil are definitely better at preventing TEWL but sometimes they may still not be enough.
The best possible skin dryness fighting cream could have some of the above oils - plus high molecular weight hyaluronic acid but at low levels. But good luck finding a good one, at a low enough price to be used all over the body and without unwanted additives.
All in all, for very dry skin, creams and lotions are problematic:
The really good ones tend to be impossible to find and definitely too expensive, especially when applied on large body areas
And the cheap ones are just not that good for your skin, as they can contain all sorts of junk and artificial ingredients
Dry or very dry skin? Use an oil or vegetable butter.
On the other hand, you can simplify your life from all the above complications and apply a medium or thick oil on your body, which will prevent transepidermal water loss and fix your skin dryness.
Again, cocoa butter, shea butter, macadamia oil, olive oil, avocado oil, sweet almond oil, apricot oil, peach oil, plum oil and perhaps even hazelnut oil, sesame oil and jojoba oil can do a very good job in this respect.
From the above list:
Cocoa butter and shea butter can be a bit difficult to apply, as they are solid. Plus they can feel quite sticky on the skin
Hazelnut oil, sesame oil or jojoba oil may not do a very good job on drier skin
But the rest of the oils mentioned above display a good balance between thickness and promoting skin hydration: macadamia oil, olive oil, avocado oil, sweet almond oil, apricot oil, peach oil and plum oil are all great for skin dryness and have a good skin feel
Almond oil for dry skin
Of all the above oils, olive oil and almond oil are widely available at a good price to quality ratio.
You can buy a litre of quality cold pressed almond oil, with a subtle almond aroma, at a quite low price and it will last you all winter and beyond. Refined almond oil is almost as good and even better priced.
You should be able to buy a litre of almond oil for £10-40/kg, depending on quality and on how much money you want to splash out and this is the best choice that we recommend for a single-oil solution for dry/very dry skin.
But in the name of God don’t be a victim and buy one of those pathetic £30 per 30ml bottle body oils (i.e. £1,000/kg), which are sold to people with more money than sense.
Olive oil for dry skin
Regarding olive oil, many people would not like to slather themselves with the very healthful and nutritious extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), due to its herbal and earthy aroma.
But a quality refined olive oil is almost as good for skin application and even better priced than almond oil. So if you are on a budget, this is the oil to buy.
(Nevertheless, for a little bit more money, extra virgin almond oil is purer (as it is not refined), has a nice, faint aroma and its cost is still very reasonable.)
Sesame oil, sunflower oil, avocado oil, apricot/plum/peach kernel oil for skin dryness
Sesame oil, sunflower oil and avocado oil are all great for skin dryness but, just like EVOO, they just smell too much to be used unrefined / cold pressed.
The refined versions are fine but not better in any way than good old cold pressed or refined almond oil, which is much more affordable and of still very high quality.
Refined apricot, plum and peach kernel oil are almost identical to almond oil, but more difficult to source and usually a bit more expensive.
Body oil blends
If you wish to make your almond oil thicker, buy some shea butter or cocoa butter, add them in a bain-marie (double boiler) at a ratio of 1:10 to 5:10, gently heat them until they melt and let them mix naturally.
That will make a thicker, more moisturising oil, which is easy to apply and still not sticky. If you wish, you can also buy some pure vitamin E and add 0.5-1% in your mix, to help your oil keep for a really long time and reap some of the benefits of vitamin E.
Adding more oil-soluble active ingredients, though, will not be that helpful, as they will not absorb as well as when added into a cream.
So keep your oil or oil mix with no active ingredients for superficial application / hydration. And apply a body cream with active ingredients separately at a different time, for good skin absorption* (e.g. night for oil, day for cream or vice versa) .
(* Sure, you can use a thin oil with active ingredients and that will absorb faster than a thick oil with actives, but it will never absorb as well as a properly formulated cream or lotion.)
Another benefit of using a body oil is cost: with an oil, a little goes a long way, so that one litre of almond oil or oil blend can last you for up to a year.
When to use cream/lotion or oil for different body skin types
So, in summary:
If your body skin is not too dry, use a cream or lotion
If body skin is oily don’t use anything
If your body skin is dry or very dry, follow the above advice and use an oil or an oil blend
It’s simple.
Be careful of some body butters - they may contain hydrogenated oils
Some oils are solid at room temperature and are therefore called butters. Cocoa butter and shea butter are a good example. You don’t ever hear about cocoa oil or shea oil because those fatty extracts have a buttery appearance.
On the other hand, coconut oil can be solid at cooler temperatures and liquid at warmer temperatures. As a result it is variously called coconut butter or coconut oil.
All other commonly available oils are liquid (unless when put in the fridge) and are called oils.
However, the last few years you can find “olive butter”, “avocado butter”, “almond butter” and similar products. Those oils become “butters” simply by hydrogenation of the actual oil or by adding a hydrogenated oil together with olive/avocado/almond/other oils to create a so called “luxurious” butter. However, there is nothing luxurious about hydrogeneted fats / trans fatty acids.
Most consumers are aware of trans / hydrogenated fatty acids in food but the vast majority do not even stop to think what could possibly be in their skincare products.
Well, things are simple: look at the label. If you see the term “hydrogenated XYZ oil” just don’t buy that product, exactly as you would do with a food item with the same ingredient.
And definitely don’t think that there is such a thing as natural avocado butter, olive butter, almond butter etc.
(In some cases the “avocado butter” is avocado with lots of mineral oils instead of hydrogenated fat. These are almost as bad as the hydrogenated fat version. Stick to natural, nutritious for your skin, oils.)
That’s all good for dry body skin but what about dry skin on the face?
First off, do not bother with face oils, get a good face cream.
As mentioned above, creams are way better for active absorption than any oil. Plus facial skin almost never gets as dry as body skin. So, compared to creams, those silly £30/30ml oils (i.e. £1,000/kg) are a waste of money down the drain*.
Use a good face cream for dry, medium or oily skin - never a facial oil - and reap the benefits of active ingredients contained in those creams.
And if you really, really want to use a facial oil, don’t spend a fortune on an oil with benefits (i.e. with actives in the oil), because those oils do not absorb.
(* Did you know that the actual manufacturing value of those 15-50ml facial oils, sold for £50-£250, is not more than £1-£3 per bottle? The rest of the cost is fancy bottles, excessive packaging, wholesale distribution, retail space, marketing, PR brainwash, “influencing” (lots of influencing 🙄 these days) and profits (lots of profits) - not benefits for your skin. But that’s another story…)
Have a treatment in London with the cellulite experts
At LipoTherapeia we have specialised 100% in skin tightening and cellulite reduction for more than two decades and 20,000+ sessions.
This is all we study and practise every day and have researched and tried hands-on all the important skin tightening equipment and their manufacturers.
As strong, deep acting radiofrequency and deep-acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation are the technologies of choice for skin tightening and cellulite reduction, we have invested in the best RF/ultrasound technologies in the world.
(Of course, we keep looking for new technologies every day and if/when a better technology materialises we will be the first to provide it. However, we will never follow the latest ineffective gimmick, just because it’s good marketing to offer the latest hyped up - yet ineffective and/or unsafe treatment.)
Furthermore, over the last two decades we have developed advanced RF and cavitation treatment protocols in order to make the most of our technologies, for maximum results, naturally and safely.
And for even better, faster results, we now combine our RF/ultrasound treatments with high-power red/infrared light LED treatment.
Our radiofrequency/ultrasound/LED treatments are comfortable, pain-free, downtime-free, injection-free, 99.5%+ safe and always non-invasive.
(No unsafe and ineffective RF microneedling or HIFU and no safe but ineffective acoustic wave therapy, superficial RF (bipolar/tripolar/multipolar etc), low power RF/cavitation, electrical muscle stimulation, lymphatic massage, cupping, dry brushing and no ridiculous bum bum creams.)
Our focus is on honest, realistic, science-based treatment, combined with caring, professional service, with a smile.
We will be pleased to see you, assess your cellulite, skin laxity or fibrosis, listen to your story, discuss your case and offer you the best possible treatment.
The Cellulite School™: Get advanced training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening
Why train with The Cellulite School™?
We all know that training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening is as basic as it gets. It is typically a 4-6 hour training, involving only basic instruction from the manufacturer on how operators can use the machine; lots of myths, erroneous information and misconceptions; and some basic health and safety on how to use the machine.
There is no proper, real training in the science or cellulite, skin tightening, radiofrequency, ultrasound and all related technologies is non-existent - worldwide.
Do you want to deeply understand radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, LED phototherapy, cellulite and skin tightening?
Get proper training based on 25-year theory and practical application of cellulite reduction and valuable insights from 24,000+ sessions and 4,200+ clients.
Now you can get instant access to our expertise and save yourself literally thousands of pounds, dollars or euros of expensive mistakes and thousands of hours of study, research and practical application by attending one of our half-day, 1-day, 2-day or 3-day professional consultancy / training courses.
Understand deeply - and get properly trained in - the science of radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, LED phototherapy, cellulite and skin tightening and confidently offer your clients the safest, strongest and most effective treatment possible.
Service available via Zoom or at our central London practice.
Learn more or check prices and book training at our London clinic or via Zoom.