Just say no to lizard skin.

As we age, our skin becomes thinner and less plump and smooth as it loses fat. One wrinkle appears, then dozens. Legs, elbows, and arms feel rough and scaly. Then winter arrives and heaps more abuse–wind, central heating, space heaters, fireplaces, low humidity, even cold-weather sunburns. Lizard skin seems inevitable. But we say, just say no.

The effects of cold winter weather can be minimized by adopting some healthy practices–stay hydrated, reduce the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, take fewer or shorter showers and baths, with warm rather than hot water, gently exfoliate to remove dead skin, and use a humidifier. Then top off these routines by applying the right moisturizer.

Finding the right moisturizer Moisturizers are the most frequently purchased beauty category. There’s a good reason for this: we purchase body lotions, foot creams and hand creams, day creams and night creams for our faces, and eye creams for under our eyes. Moisturizers are also one of the categories most likely to disappoint buyers. Why is that?

The anti-aging promise

Even smart, accomplished women go weak in the knees and open their wallets for the promise of anti-aging ingredients. Cosmetic companies spend millions of dollars on research in the quest for the moisturizer that smooths out surface lines (we know that nothing short of injections or surgery can take care of the deep ones) and makes our faces glow without makeup. The truth is that many of these ingredients affect people very differently. And not only that, in this fast-paced world, we like to see results sooner rather than later. If we don’t, we tend to believe that the product we purchased doesn’t work.

But does it feel good?

As much as anti-aging may be important to us, the first thing we tend to consider is how the moisturizer feels on our skin. If it doesn’t feel good and isn’t convenient to use, we are not going to use it. So how do you find the most effective moisturizer for your skin type? Let’s leave the anti-aging promise behind for the moment and get down to basics.

First, read the label

Most people are savvy enough to read labels when they shop for groceries. If you picked up a jar of peanut butter that claimed to be “the world’s tastiest peanut butter” you would still turn the jar around to read the ingredients. But often we fail to be as diligent with a moisturizer’s claim of “the world’s most effective moisturizer.” Even if we did, what should we look for? We’re here to help you find the most effective ingredients for your skin type, based on scientific research and the irrefutable principle of effective moisturization.

A quick biology lesson

Skin is the largest organ of our bodies and water is the key ingredient of young-looking skin. Hydrated skin looks plump and healthy. It is reflected in the names that cosmetic organizations use for their moisturizers, names like WaterDrench, Hydro Boost Water Gel, Tidal Brightening Enzyme Water Cream, Moisture Surge, Aquasource, and Overnight Water Pack. Just about any moisturizer on the market (and there are thousands) will give the appearance of working simply because it smooths the agitated cells of the stratus corneum—the cells that comprise the very top layer of your skin. However, to have any long-term effect, a moisturizer should be able to attract water to your skin or to preserve the water that is already there.

Skin cells renew themselves every two to three weeks, moving up from the lower level called the dermis. During this progression through the skin layers, lipids are released into the spaces between cells. Your skin has its own natural moisturizing factor (NMF). These lipids form a barrier to water loss and help retain the skin’s NMF. Disrupting this lipid matrix and the subsequent loss of hydration can lead to dry, flaky skin.

Differentiating moisturizers by their properties

Typically, cosmetic moisturizers improve dry skin by utilizing one or a combination of three major ingredient types: occlusive agents, humectants, and emollients.

Occlusive agents increase moisture levels in skin by providing a physical barrier to water loss. The classic cosmetic occlusive agent is petrolatum, or petroleum jelly (like Vaseline). It is a by-product of petroleum products and was first used as a cosmetic ingredient in the late 1800s. It is the most effective occlusive agent, capable of blocking 98% of water loss from the skin. Many occlusive agents can leave a heavy feeling on skin, particularly if you are going to apply makeup immediately afterwards. To counteract this, they are often combined with other ingredients like emollients to improve consumer appeal. Some oils, like castor, mineral, and jojoba oil, work as both emollients and occlusive agents. Occlusive ingredients are ideal for dry and very dry skin types.

The most common occlusives (to prevent water loss) found in moisturizers are:

Petroleum jelly
Propylene glycol
Squalene
Lecithin
Silicone derivatives, such as dimethicone and cyclomethicone
Cocoa butter, mango and shea
Mineral oil, lanolin, paraffin

The queen of all occlusive moisturizers is Aquaphor® Healing Ointment with 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon and more than 1,700 reviews. It is an Amazon best seller and an “Amazon’s Choice.” On makeupalley.com Aquaphor® Healing Ointment is rated 4.7 out of 5 and, of 1,312 people, 93% would purchase it again. It retails for between $10 and $15 on Amazon and comes in a jar or a tube. Aquaphor® is good for dry to very dry skin but only as a night cream. Unless you have Sahara Desert skin that sucks up moisture as fast as you can apply it, you would not want to use this as a day cream.

Humectants are ingredients that attract water to the outer layers of the skin, thus making it look “plumped up”. Glycerin is a common humectant, frequently used due to its low cost and high efficacy. Hyaluronic acid is another. Humectants may make the skin feel tacky. This is one of the reasons that cosmetic companies distinguish between day creams (with a lower concentration of humectant ingredients) and night creams. Tacky skin is not necessarily a problem if you are going to sleep but it’s not great if you plan to apply makeup right after moisturizing. Humectant ingredients are ideal for normal or oily skin types. Even if you are blessed with normal or oily skin, in our age group our skin still needs help with hydration.

The most common humectants (to attract water) found in moisturizers are:

Glycerin
Hyaluronic acid
Propylene glycol
Butylene glycol
Sodium PCA
Sorbitol

A top-selling humectant cream is CeraVé® Moisturizing Cream. It contains glycerin and hyaluronic acid, both humectants that draw water to the skin. This product leaves the skin feeling slightly clammy so it is ideal for a night cream. CeraVe® Moisturizing Cream is ranked 4.7 out of 5 stars by more than 3,000 reviewers on Amazon.com. A 16 oz. tub sells for about $15.

Emollients by themselves do not affect the water content of the skin like occlusive agents and humectants. They simply improve the appearance of the skin by smoothing flaky skin cells. Chemists put them into moisturizers to offset the drawbacks of humectants and occlusives by making the moisturizer easy to spread and giving it a nice feel on the skin. Nothing will turn a consumer off faster than a cream that feels too tacky or greasy or one that disappears almost immediately into the skin with seemingly no lasting benefit.

Emollients added to the moisturizer in exactly the right ratio of emollient to occlusive or emollient to humectant will ensure a pleasant consistency and slip to the cream. Emollients can be derived from petroleum, like mineral oil, isoparaffin, and isohexadecane, or natural oils (jojoba oil, olive oil, coconut oil), esters (octyl Palmitate, isopropyl stearate, isopropyl palmitate) and alcohols (octyl dodecanol).

Choosing the right moisturizer

Choosing a moisturizer is a very personal preference. Some women are willing to put up with the inconvenience of a greasier cream for the hydration benefits. Other women want no oily residue so that they are free to apply makeup or use their hands immediately after applying. Remember that your skin looks its best when it is hydrated both on the surface and on the inside. This means drinking lots of water and choosing a moisturizer for your skin type that prevents evaporation of water from your skin or attracts water to your skin.

Your $50 mistake is fixable

Most women would have no qualms about returning a toaster that didn’t work. Most would balk, however, at the idea of returning moisturizers or cosmetics that don’t satisfy them. The truth is that most retailers will take back your beauty purchases, including moisturizers. (See Sephora’s return policy for example.)

Your skin may react adversely to a new moisturizer but it could take a week or two to realize this. Also, the moisturizer may feel fine when you test it on the back of your hand in the store. It’s only after using it several times that you may decide you don’t like the feel of it on your face.

When you purchase your moisturizer, particularly if it is a more expensive department store item, ask about the return policy. In addition, don’t forget to ask for packaged samples as well as scoops from the actual testers. Many retailers, Sephora in particular, provide little plastic containers so that you can scoop some product and take it home with you. The sales assistants will label and date the container so you know the name of the product and when you purchased it.

A few last words on creams

And one final note that will help keep money in your wallet. You don’t need separate creams for different parts of your body. Obviously you would not use your $110 facial moisturizer all over your body—that would not make economic sense. Nor would it be wise to use a scented body lotion on your face because the skin on your body tends to be tougher than the skin on your face, which could react badly to the perfume. Also, lotions are thinner than creams because they have to cover a larger area; facial moisturizers tend to be more concentrated, which is exactly what you want if you have dry facial skin. But beyond these common sense considerations, you don’t need to pay for a vast array of different creams for different body parts, or pay a ransom for those that are.

Recently Consumer Reports published this:

If you opt for using an eye cream, don’t expect it to be a cure-all. A recent study of 107 people who tried 16 different eye creams found that none of them eliminated wrinkles outright. In fact, several of the changes noted were extremely subtle, and cheaper eye creams performed just as well, if not better, than more expensive products.

The only caveat to this is if you use a day cream with a sun protection factor (SPF), it is advisable not to put it under your eyes. This could prove to be too much for the delicate eye tissue and could be a problem if it gets into your eyes! Many lines such as La Roche-Posay, Avène, Vichy, and Desert Essence, produce highly rated, reasonably priced, unscented beauty products that have a number of different uses.

When selecting a moisturizer, the promise of new technology and the latest “anti-aging” ingredients can still turn our heads. Keep in mind that, when it comes to moisturizers, the true anti-aging ingredient is water. It is simple and inexpensive ingredients, ones that have been around for a long time, that keep water in our skin or attract it to our skin from the environment.

This post was originally published in February, 2017.

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