The Cornerstone of Facial Care by Zurko Research

The skin, as the largest organ in the body, is daily exposed to external agents that can alter its characteristics; water is essential for its proper functioning.

At present, we see more and more new and increasingly advanced claims. But the importance of guaranteeing basic aspects in our skin care routine, such as maintaining optimal hydration, should not be neglected, this optimal hydration will provide both aesthetic and functional benefits.

The stratum corneum of the skin is the outermost layer of the epidermis, and the one on which cosmetic products can have the greatest effect. As for cosmetic products, we could highlight in their composition different substances designed to improve skin hydration.

We can differentiate between moisturizing substances, which are those preparations that release water to the stratum corneum, usually solutions or emulsions of external aqueous phase. We can also find formulations aimed at forming an occlusive film to reduce transepidermal water loss, and thus prevent dehydration.

Finally, the moisturizing substances would be those hygroscopic substances that have the property of absorbing water from the environment, thus increasing the hydration of the skin.

Regarding the formulations, we could make two large groups, leave on and rinse off products.

In rinse off products, what we will generally look for is that the use of the products does not alter the skin by dehydrating it. On the other hand, for leave-on products we will seek an increase in skin hydration.

The ideal execution for these types of tests is to try to test them on a type of dry skin, more prone to changes in terms of hydration values. And of course, count, whenever possible, with an experimental control zone without product application.

In addition to performing instrumental measurements, we can also evaluate certain parameters related to xerosis of the skin using several widely recognized clinical scales. These scales can involve subjective opinion parameters such as itching to be evaluated by:

the panelists,
visual evaluations of parameters such as flaking, redness and cracks
tactile evaluations, for example of roughness or smoothness by one or more specialists.

In conclusion, hydration of the skin is essential to maintain its good health and avoid skin alterations with repercussions on all skin types and especially on those skins with a tendency to xerosis.

It is convenient to use cosmetic active ingredients on a daily basis that, in one way or another, allow the skin to be properly hydrated.

The ideal protection against dehydration is based on applying preparations with hydrating active ingredients daily, and not waiting for the skin to show symptoms of dryness.

Depending on the type of skin and age, it is important to select the type of substance or a combination of these to use the best treatment in each case.