What is the method used to fix TEWL?Updated a year ago
If your skin is feeling dry, dehydrated, and compromised here’s our quick TEWL-remedying solution. Nothing else compares. TEWL is all about losing water, so the only way to fix it is by adding water back into the skin.
Step #1: Get saturated
The skincare industry may go on and on about fancy moisturizer ingredients, but lotion alone is not enough. Your skin actually needs to be saturated with water in order for TEWL to be fixed.
The best way to saturate the skin with water is to hop in the bath or shower. It takes a few minutes of submersion for your skin to absorb a good amount of water (and before it gets all wrinkly and pruney). Hot water can be quite damaging, so keep the water warm or lukewarm.
Unfortunately, the second you get out of the bath or shower, that water starts evaporating almost immediately, leaving your skin even more dehydrated than it was before, which leads us to the next step.
Step #2: Occlude
To prevent all that sweet sweet water from escaping your skin, your next (and final) step is to seal it in with an occlusive.
Occlusives are a category of skincare ingredients that repel water very strongly. If water is already in your skin, they create a powerful seal that doesn’t let it through, and may even help to push it in deeper.
Some common occlusives include petrolatum, shea butter, dimethicone, mineral oil, wax, as well as many isolated fatty acids like stearic acid. Plant oils do have some occlusive effects, but they’re not nearly as effective as the aforementioned ingredients.
Most moisturizers contain some occlusives, but when it comes to combatting TEWL, you want to make sure to buy a cream that features occlusives higher on the ingredient list.
How can you benefit from occlusives in practice? Just moisturize immediately after every shower. That’s it. You can even use in-shower oils.
In a pinch (and these admittedly don’t work as well), you can also repeatedly splash or mist your face with water before moisturizing, or layer a humectant-rich toner or essence before moisturizing.
So to summarize: Get in the water, and once you’re done, moisturize immediately with a product rich in occlusives.
It’s as simple as that but your skin will thank you.