Beauty Note | Humectant Ingredient
Humectant is a group of ingredients that can attract water like a magnet to the skin. Chemically speaking, humectant is the hygroscopic/water loving ingredient that can form hydrogen bond with water molecule, and holding it inside the skin in order to keep the skin hydrated. As humectant prevents the skin from being dehydrated, it is very essential for a healthy skin look. However, it can also be so tricky on certain condition.
Humectant works by attracting water to the skin layers. It draws out water molecules from the humidity in the air. That is the only normal and right way on how humectant should work. However, it can also draw out water molecules from the underlying layers of the skin, that is from the dermis layer when it does not meet its "term and condition". How is it?
High humidity atmosphere will enable the humectant to draw out water molecules from the air, giving hydration to the skin. This is pretty normal.
However, in low humidity atmosphere (dry), humectant can turn the skin into the dehydrated one as it draws out water molecules from the dermis layer of the skin rather than from the air. It draws out water molecules from the dermis layer onto the outermost surface of the skin that is stratum corneum, in which soon the water evaporates into the air.
How to recognize this condition? It is where the skin at first feels hydrated and plump post application of the product, but after a some times, the skin feels drier than before as the water molecules are pulled out from the skin into the low humidity atmosphere. Oh no!
Is there any good way to overcome this problem? The answer is yes! Combination of humectant and occlusive ingredientS will overcome this problem well. Easily speaking, when combined, occlusive ingredient helps in preventing the water molecules from being pulled out to evaporate.
There are many different ingredients that come with humectant property. Some examples of them are as below:
Humectant works by attracting water to the skin layers. It draws out water molecules from the humidity in the air. That is the only normal and right way on how humectant should work. However, it can also draw out water molecules from the underlying layers of the skin, that is from the dermis layer when it does not meet its "term and condition". How is it?
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| Illustration on how humectant works on skin. |
High humidity atmosphere will enable the humectant to draw out water molecules from the air, giving hydration to the skin. This is pretty normal.
However, in low humidity atmosphere (dry), humectant can turn the skin into the dehydrated one as it draws out water molecules from the dermis layer of the skin rather than from the air. It draws out water molecules from the dermis layer onto the outermost surface of the skin that is stratum corneum, in which soon the water evaporates into the air.
How to recognize this condition? It is where the skin at first feels hydrated and plump post application of the product, but after a some times, the skin feels drier than before as the water molecules are pulled out from the skin into the low humidity atmosphere. Oh no!
Is there any good way to overcome this problem? The answer is yes! Combination of humectant and occlusive ingredientS will overcome this problem well. Easily speaking, when combined, occlusive ingredient helps in preventing the water molecules from being pulled out to evaporate.
There are many different ingredients that come with humectant property. Some examples of them are as below:
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| Some examples of humectant ingredients. |
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| Some examples of humectant ingredients. |
So now you know about humectant. Humectant is a little simple minded when doing its job, it draws out water molecules from wherever there is more of water to wherever there is shortage of water. That is why its usage is tricky when it comes to dry atmosphere, so we need to use a trick to trick it!
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