Those with truly dry skin (not caused by irritating or drying skin-care products) know that, over and above antioxidants, skin-identical ingredients, and cell-communicating ingredients, which can conquer most moisturizing needs, additional help is required to help skin feel normal or younger. Emollients are necessary to provide dry skin with the one thing it’s missing, the ability to keep moisture in skin. Emollients are ingredients like plant oils, mineral oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, petrolatum, and fatty acids (animal oils, including emu, mink, and lanolin, the latter probably the one ingredient that is most like our own skin’s oil). More technical-sounding emollient ingredients like triglycerides, benzoates, myristates, palmitates, and stearates are generally waxy in texture and appearance but provide most moisturizers with their elegant texture and feel. All of these are exceptionally beneficial for dry to very dry skin and easily recognizable on an ingredient list.
Overall, emollients create the fundamental base and texture of a moisturizer and impart a creamy, smooth feel on the skin. Silicones (appearing on the label in terms ending in “si – loxane”) are another interesting group of lubricants for skin. They have the most exquisite, silky texture and an incredible ability to prevent dehydration without suffocating the skin. All of these ingredients spread over the skin to create a thin, imperceptible layer, recreating the benefits of our own oil production, preventing evaporation, and giving dry skin the lubrication it is missing.