Do some skin creams make your skin drier? Once you have started to use a cream do you need to keep using it to stop your skin drying out?

An interesting news release discusses the thesis of a graduate student, Izabela Buraczewska, who did research in Sweden. Her work suggests that some creams may not be good for your skin. Skin creams may actually cause the skins own protective barrier to start to breakdown.

The research indicates that some oils in creams may dry your skin out. Two oils that did dry out the skin were mineral oil and a vegetable oil. A more complex oil mix (not identified) did not dry the skin out.

The reason that skin got drier was that genes in skin cells that control the amount of oil made by the skin were downregulated. Consequently, after applications of the cream, the skin starts to make less oil. This means that the skin has less of a natural barrier and becomes drier.

This suggests that the cosmetic industry needs to study the components of skin products and find which products at least do not reduce the skins natural barrier, and perhaps find compounds that will stimulate the production of a natural barrier. These would be helpful both for aging, and also those who have a dry skin condition.

I have not used cleansers or toners on my skin in years. I have thought for a long time that skin through the ages has developed its own method of making a barrier and has efficient oils. I do not understand putting products on your face and stripping out the natural oils, and replacing then with something unnatural that probably is not so good for your skin as the oils that were just stripped out. This new finding sugggests that even though I do not strip out the natural oils, that my skin cream could making my skin make less oils. Should I stop using skin creams, except for sun screen?

photo credit: Orin Optiglot

[tags]skin cream, oil, protective barrier, skin drier[/tags]