After a long day in the Perth sun, have you ever looked in the mirror and your face feels scarily too similar to your favourite pair of leather boots?
If you have, you’re not alone. Its that tight, paper-like feeling that makes use reach for our thickest, heaviest cream to slather on.
But unfortunately, just a rich moisturiser doesn’t always fix the problem. In fact, it may just end up causing a breakout rather than solving the problem.
When clients walk through the doors at The Beauty Gallery, this is often the exact frustration they’re facing.
At the heart of the confusion are two terms often used interchangeably: dry skin and dehydrated skin. They feel similar, they look similar, but in the world of professional skin health, they are worlds apart.
One is a skin type you’re born with and the other is a skin condition that even the oiliest complexions can suffer from.
Living in Perth, our environment can play a role in our skin health. We have the dry heat of the summer, the constant blast of air conditioning in our offices and that coastal wind. All of these different environmental factors affect the health of your skin.
Knowing and being able to spot the difference between when you need water and oil can make all the difference.
The Genetic Factor: What is Dry Skin?
Dry skin is a skin type. Much like having blue eyes or being tall. Its down to your DNA.
If you have a dry skin type, your sebaceous glands simply aren’t producing enough sebum (oil).
Oil is the natural glue that keeps your skin cells flat and creates a protective barrier against the outside world.
When that layer of oil is missing, your skin lacks the lipids that it needs to keep moisture in an protect itself from irritants.
Your skin might feel rough to the touch and you likely have flaking or redness, especially around the nose or eyebrows. Since dry skin naturally lacks that oil, it can tend to look matte.
Its also worth mentioning that if you have dry skin, it’s a constant. It doesn’t just come an dgo with the changing seasons, year round you will have dry skin. Although during winter months it can get more sensitive.
If you’ve felt this way since you were a teenager, you likely have dry skin.
The Environmental Culprit: What is Dehydrated Skin?
Dehydration is a completely different beast. This is a temporary condition where the upper layers of the skin lack water content. You could have the oiliest skin and still be severely dehydrated.
Unfortunately, modern life kind of sets you up to be dehydrated. Waking up in an airconditioned room, taking a hot shower that strips out your natural moisture, drive to work in an airconditioned car and have 2, maybe even 3 coffees before lunchtime. It’s a recipe to be dehydrated.
Dehydrated skin often shows up as crinkle lines. Those tiny, fine lines that appear when you move your face or gently push the skin upwards. It can also have a greyish appearance.
Paradoxically, dehydrated skin can actually feel oily and tight at the same time. This is because your skin is working overtime to try replenish your skin, this causes an over production of oil, leaving you feeling dry and oily. It can feel the lack of water and tries to balance it out with excess oil.
If you’re suffering from some breakouts but your skin is feeling thirsty, its most likely dehydration.
How to Tell Which One You Have
There’s a simple trick we often use in the treatment room to help clients identify what’s going on. It’s called the “Pinch Test.”
It’s pretty self explanatory, basically you gently pinch a small amount of skin on your cheek and hold it for a second. If it doesn’t snap back instantly and you see tiny cross hatch lines, that’s a classic sign of dehydration. Your skin needs water.
If the skin feels thin and brittle and has no visible pores but doesn’t necessarily show those tiny dehydration lines, you’re likely dealing with dry skin.
How to Fix the Dry Dilemma
If you’ve determined you have a dry skin type, your goal is nourishment. That means you need to replace the oils that your body isn’t naturally producing. For this scenario, rich emoillient creams and good quality face oils are best.
You want to use products that help mimic the skins natural barrier. Look for products that include the words “ceramides”, “squalane” and “shae butter”. These ingredients are amazing for dry skin. They act as a nice warm blanket for your face.
When we see clients at The Beauty Gallery with true dry skin, we often steer them toward professional-grade lipids that penetrate the skin rather than just sitting on top.
One thing to mention is to avoid over exfoliating. When you see flaky skin of course your natural instinct is to scrub it off. But this causes more damage than good. This scrubbing with damage your already sensitive skin barrier.
Instead focus on feeding your skin amazing products to help rejuvenate it from the inside out.
Healing the Dehydrated State
Deyhdration requires a more tactical approach than dry skin. Because this is a lack of water, you need “humectants”. These are ingredients that grab moisture from the air and pull it into the skin.
Hyaluronic acid is the gold standard here, but it’s often misused due to misinformation, or lack there of.
If you apply a hyaluronic acid serum in a dry Perth summer and don’t seal it in with a moisturiser, the serum can actually draw moisture out of your skin.
You need to apply these products to slightly damp skin and always layer a cream over the top to lock that hydration in place.
Lactic acid is another winner when it comes to dehydrated skin. Unlike harsher acids, lactic acid is a water-loving molecule. It gently exfoliates while actually increasing the skin’s ability to hold onto water.
This is why treatments like the DMK Enzyme Therapy or Mandelic peels are so effective. These type so treatments don’t just strip the skin, they teach it how to function better.
Why Your Home Care Might Be Failing You
We always hear from our clients, “Ive spent hundred on skincare products and my skin still feels tight!”
The hard truth is that over-the-counter products often can’t bridge the gap when your skin is truly compromised.
Pharmacy-grade or department store skincare usually has larger molecular structures that sit on the surface. They feel nice for twenty minutes, but they aren’t changing the chemistry of your skin.
This is where professional intervention makes the difference. When you come into a space like The Beauty Gallery, we aren’t just looking at the surface.
We’re looking at why your barrier is failing. Often a single professional infusion or a tailored DMK revision program can do more in an hour than six months of guessing at the shops.
Practical Steps for Your Daily Routine
So, where do you go from here? Whether you’re dry or dehydrated, a few universal rules apply to everyone living in Western Australia:
- Turn down the heat: We love a hot shower as much as anyone, but your face doesn’t. Use lukewarm water to wash your face to avoid melting away those natural oils.
- Mist throughout the day: Keep a professional hydrating mist at your desk. It helps combat the drying effects of office air conditioning.
- Check your cleanser: If your face feels squeaky clean after washing, your cleanser is too harsh. It’s likely stripping your barrier, leading to both dryness and dehydration.
- Internal Hydration: Your skin is the last organ to receive the water you drink. If you’re dehydrated internally, your face has no chance. Throw some electrolytes in your water bottle if you know you’re outside in the sun.
Your skin health isn’t about finding a miracle product, its about listening to what your skin is trying to tell you. Is it hungry for oil? Or is it thirsty for water?
If you’re still not quite sure which category you fall into, the best thing you can do is let a professional take a look.
A proper skin analysis can save you a fortune in trial and error skincare. Feel free to reach out to us or drop into the clinic, we’d love to help you map out a plan that is unique to your skin type.
