Supporting your skin with efficient hydration can be one of the most important things to having glowing and plump skin. These are the top hydrating ingredients to look out for healthy skin.
Providing sufficient nourishment to your skin can be crucial to improving and maintaining your skin to be plump and radiant. One of the simple ways to keep glowing and healthy skin is to ensure that your skin is efficiently hydrated. Finding skincare products that provide hydration is often the easy option to support your skin to be hydrated. Generally, the best way to discover what skincare products provide hydration is to check the ingredient list. Particularly some of these known top hydration ingredients to look out for healthy skin.
There can be various reasons to provide your skin with efficient nourishment and hydration. Hydration helps to allow a more plump and healthy look while better protecting the skin from potential environmental and external irritants. Additionally, it supports the skin to improve elasticity which could reduce the appearance of skin ageing signs such as wrinkles and fine lines. If you feel like your skin produces excess oil and sebum, this could also be a sign that your skin might be dehydrated. If some of these reasons piqued your interest, these are the top hydrating ingredients to look out for healthy skin.
1. Glycerin
During your skincare journey, you probably saw glycerin in numerous, perhaps almost all, skincare products and might have yet to think about it. However, glycerin is one of the top hydrating ingredients to look out for healthy skin.
More specifically, glycerin is known as a humectant, meaning that it generally helps attract moisture to itself or, in a skincare case, to your skin when you put it on. Although, glycerin might only stand out a little as you may know about other ingredients that also act as a humectant.
It is one of the first ingredients used in skincare products to provide better hydration for the skin and potentially on the smaller side in molecule size. A smaller molecule size can mean that it could penetrate into your skin more easily and even help attract moisture in lower levels of the skin.
Products to try:
2. Hyaluronic Acid
Hyaluronic acid is another one of the top hydrating ingredients to look out for healthy skin. Similarly to glycerin, hyaluronic acid act as a humectant to help your skin to keep hydrated, which helps your skin be plump and look healthier. Also, it is known to attract and retain 1,000 times its weight in water, helping your skin replenish and maintain moisture. Additionally, hyaluronic acid supports your skin by strengthening your skin barrier and helping it function optimally to lock in the moisture from the environment. Furthermore, maintaining hydration and nourishing your skin could come with further benefits.
Hyaluronic acid can also be helpful with anti-ageing benefits due to how often signs of ageing develop from lack of hydration or as you age. As you start ageing similarly to other substances, your natural hyaluronic acid levels may begin to decrease and lower your ability to retain moisture. Supporting your skin with hyaluronic acid to account for the potential loss or to meet your needs could help maintain the skin hydration level and improve skin texture.
Products to try:
3. Ceramides
Maintaining skin balance can be vital in staying better protected from dehydrated skin and likely becoming more vulnerable to external or environmental irritants. Ceramides are essential for keeping your skin balanced healthily, particularly for the outer part of the epidermis. Consider the outer layer acting like a protective barrier to help protect you from skin damage.
Therefore, keeping the balance of ceramides can be crucial in helping your skin have a boost of hydration. If your skin barrier becomes compromised, moisture can leak away and raise the chance of your skin becoming dehydrated. At the same time, it potentially lets irritants such as pollutants or allergens enter the skin to cause damage and irritation. A healthy balance of ceramides helps retain and lock in moisture to improve skin hydration.
Products to try:
- Pyunkang Yul Calming Mask Pack
- Elizabeth Arden Advanced Ceramide Capsules Daily Youth Restoring Serum
4. Panthenol
Panthenol is also an ingredient commonly used in skincare products for quite some time. It is sometimes referred to as a B5 provitamin, which can mean that your body transforms it into vitamin B5. Panthenol helps your skin boost hydration by acting as an emollient and, simultaneously, a humectant like glycerin and hyaluronic acid.
The humectant function can help you attract and retain moisture from around you, which supports your skin to be better hydrated and longer for a healthier and plump appearance. Whereas, as an emollient, panthenol helps moisturise and soothe your skin while also improving the skin barrier and allowing better protection against skin stressors or irritants.
Products to try:
5. Honey
You might have noticed some skincare products use honey in their formulation. It has various benefits as a natural moisturising agent consisting of rich nutrients that help your skin improve and stay healthier, such as vitamins, sugars, amino acids and minerals. Honey helps your skin by providing nourishment, hydration and softening while also soothing with its anti-bacterial property.
The amino acids in honey help as a moisturising agent and boost hydration, while the sugars can act as a humectant to attract and retain moisture in the skin. Using skincare products with honey can help your skin stay hydrated for longer and allow for a healthier, radiant and plump appearance.
Products to try:
6. Squalane
Squalane may sound similar to squalene but slightly different. Squalene can be a more natural compound in the skin, which helps produce sebum. The oil can give a greasy feeling but help with protecting and moisturise the skin. However, squalane has been known to be more light on the skin than sebum and absorb easier into the skin.
So for these reasons, some people tend to prefer squalane, particularly if they have oily or acne-prone skin. Both can act as emollients to help boost hydration by locking in moisture to your skin while better protecting the skin from free radicals as an antioxidant. Squalane can help your skin to maintain hydration and allow for a vibrant and healthier complexion.
Products to try:
7. Lactic Acid
You may be more familiar with lactic acid used for exfoliating action skincare products, but it also contributes to and helps your skin to be better hydrated. Generally, lactic acid, known as alpha hydroxy acid (AHA), helps remove dead skin cells. In turn, it helps to brighten the skin and reduce the visibility of ageing signs. Compared to other AHAs, the uniqueness can be that lactic acid could work simultaneously as a humectant.
As a humectant, lactic acid can help your skin attract moisture and stay hydrated while helping with its exfoliating property to give your skin a gentle exfoliation. Using lactic acid could mean allowing your skin to be better free of dead skin cells while also supporting the skin to be rehydrated. Exfoliating and helping your skin stay hydrated can help it look more bright, plump and healthy.
Products to try:
It can be essential to help your skin stay hydrated and nourished, as doing so could allow the skin to be more vibrant and plump. One of the easy ways to support your skin to be hydrated would be to apply skincare products with some of these top hydrating ingredients to look out for healthy skin. As you may have noticed, many of the hydrating ingredients are known to be humectants that allow moisture to be attracted and be better retained for the skin.
Your skin can constantly lose moisture and hydration, so providing efficient nourishment would help keep your skin from being dehydrated easily. Additionally, you may find some of these top hydrating ingredients to look out for healthy skin that also act as an emollient. They help lock in moisture and decrease or even prevent skin hydration loss, which could help your skin maintain hydrated for longer. Hydrated skin allows your skin to look more optimal and healthy, being better protected against skin irritants and stressors.