E83: Dry vs Dehydrated – how knowing the difference will help you with your skin!

Hello everyone, welcome back to the podcast and this is going to be a short edition to help you understand your skin a little better and today we’re talking about the difference between dry and dehydrated skin and there’s a major difference between the two. This is a common thing that I hear on a day to day basis. My skin so dry my skin so dehydrated my skin so dry and or dehydrated. And sometimes there’s a little confusion between the two and trust me they’re very, very different.

So the major different difference is going to be that dryness is actually more of a skin type so dry skins, whereas dehydration is more of a skin condition. Fact your skin does need a balance of oil and water. That’s why when it’s comfortably balanced, that’s when you have a smooth glowing, beautiful skin. However, you know, we don’t live in a perfect world you know, the perfect skin does not exist. So it’s important to always not fight but go for a nice balanced, hydrated skin.

Now, you cannot have a skin that is oily and dry at the same time because a dry skin type means that you’re not producing enough oil. So these two would contradict each other when you have dry skin. You don’t produce enough oils and the oil like your your your moisture barrier is made up of lipids so oils and its job is to keep the moisture within the skin so when you have dry skin types, you’re not producing enough oils and that’s why you tend to be more dehydrated. It can happen to be dry and dehydrated because the dry skin is promoting the loss of moisture. So for someone that has a dry skin, you’re going to have very little pores because your skin is not producing enough oils, you’re falling cules follicles they don’t have a chance to dilate and stretch out the pores because there’s minimal oil production. So if you look at your skin, and you have very little pores, no breakouts, your skin, your skin consistently feels tight. It may appear rough flaky, your barrier is compromised because obviously you have less oil your moisture is coming out so there’s a little bit more sensitivity to the skin. That means you have a dry skin type dry skin types is something that you’re born with. So it’s just that’s kind of how you can differentiate the both dry skins you’re born with and it’s just something that’s genetic.

Now when it comes to dehydration, that’s loss of moisture. So again, you can be a dry skin type and be dehydrated at the same time but you can’t be an oily skin type and be dry at the same time. Because it doesn’t make any sense because we’re talking about oil production here. But you can be dry and be dehydrated at the same time. So it’s important that you tackle both if you have a dry skin type. You want to make sure that you’re replenishing that oil that you actually need to rebuild that moisture barrier so that you can keep more moisture within the skin. So it’s important to think about both.

Now dehydration, on the other hand, usually is going to be associated with environmental factors. So it’s not something that you’re born with it’s something that happens because of other things. Now for someone that has dehydrated skin condition, the skin is going to feel tight, and that’s because there’s a lack of water in the surface fills Okay, so unlike dry skin, which is a consistent condition, it’s a consistent skin type, dehydrated skin, it’s not going to always be there it can come and go now depending on what you do at home and your day to day lifestyle habits that will influence the water levels in your skin.

And let’s talk about one myth here, drinking water is not going to necessarily be the fastest way to hydrate your skin because it has to go it has to go through your entire system before it can hit your your skin which is you know the protective barrier of your body so it’s going to go there last so the quickest way and more most efficient way that you can hydrate your skin is going to be with topical products. It’s going to be the fastest way that you can tackle that issue.

So recap: dry Skin is a can is a skin type even for me sometimes it’s confusing. So dry skin is a skin type. It means that you’re not producing enough oils, so you can’t retain the water in your skin very well and that will affect your moisture barrier which is made up of oils. So dehydration is a skin condition and it’s not going to be there all the time. It’s going to come and go throughout your life depending on what you do to your skin to keep the moisture within your skin.

So once the skin type the other one is a skin condition. Very very clear!

So hopefully that helps you to understand a little bit more about what dry skin is and what dehydration is. There’s a few things you can do to help these two skin issues. We can go through this in another podcast episode today. I really wanted you to know the difference between what a dry skin type is and what a dehydrated skin condition is. The source is very different. So that’s why you will have different types of solutions for both of them because the source isn’t the same. It’s the same thing as if you’re treating someone that has rosacea. Versus someone that has acne. The source of the problem is a difference. So you have to tackle it in a different way for each it’s not like a one size fits all thing. When you’re dry your lot you don’t have enough oils and when you’re dehydrated you don’t have enough water so you need to give it water the other one you need to give more oils. So it’s easy to confuse them because sometimes they look the same but the key difference is going to be when you have dry skin. You have very little pores you have very little secretions. You don’t have a lot of blackheads. You don’t have a lot of acne. It’s it’s that’s one of the key things that you’re going to notice on someone that’s dry if you look at their skin or if you look at your skin and you’re like I don’t know if I’m dry or dehydrated. Look at your sebum activity and look at your pore size that will tell you right away if you’re dry, or if you’re dehydrated. So hopefully that helped you guys understand a little bit more about how you can differentiate dehydration with and or dryness.

All right, so this was a quick little skin podcast so you guys can understand your skin a little bit more if you have questions feel free to reach us on social media @metaesthetique or you can send us an email hello@themetaesthetique.com. All right, until next time, enjoy your beautiful day and we will chat on the next episode!