How to Moisturize Your Skin This Winter Like a Dermatologist

If you’re going to use any skin-care product — other than cleanser — make it moisturizer.

Of course, serums, masks, and mists are helpful for achieving a glowing, egg-like complexion. However, “Moisturizer is essential for maintaining our skin barrier,” says board-certified dermatologist Aegean Chan, M.D.

Not sure what a skin barrier is? To put it simply, it’s the outermost layer of your skin. We like to think of it as the skin’s very own immune system. It protects your complexion from germs, colder temperatures, harsh products, and potential allergens.

When your skin barrier is disrupted, your face may feel dry, irritated, inflamed, and flaky. It’s also more vulnerable to fine lines and wrinkles. When you consistently moisturize, you can help prevent all of these from happening — and repair them, Dr. Chan says. The right ingredients and application techniques will effectively seal and trap in moisture to keep your skin happy and healthy, even in the depths of winter.

5 Moisturizer Tips You Should NEVER Skip

1. Look for moisturizer formulas packed with humectants and emollients

The best moisturizers have a handful of the following on their ingredient lists to help support skin barrier repair by drawing in hydration and improving moisture retention:

• Glycerin
• Ceramides
• Panthenol
• Snow Mushroom
• Hyaluronic Acid
• Peptides
• Fatty Acids

The list goes on, but all of these are pivotal parts of what make our Sound Renewal Serum Cream so deeply nourishing while being safe for all skin types.

2. Apply moisturizer onto DAMP skin

Before Dr. Chan thoroughly massages moisturizer into every nook and cranny of her face, she always makes sure her skin is slightly damp, she shares.

Having water on your skin before applying moisturizer helps ingredients like hyaluronic acid trap water into your skin, so your moisturizer can be more effective, Dr. Chan explains. When moisturizer is slathered onto dry skin, those ingredients will actually suck hydration out of your skin because they hold onto any moisture they can find.

3. Feed Your Moisturizer with a Face Mist

With the tip above in mind, you could simply pat some water onto your skin before moisturizing or not thoroughly towel dry your face after cleansing. But we have a special Superegg tip for giving your moisturizer a major boost: Spritz on our Kind Atmosphere Biome Mist directly after drying off your face. The humectants in your moisturizer will cling onto the mist’s rejuvenating ingredients, like cica, Cicaria, and White Water Lily, to help your skin absorb all of the glowing goodness of both products even better.

Throughout the day, you can also continue misting your skin to keep amplifying the hydration of your moisturizer.

4. Don’t skip moisturizer in the morning

Sometimes, people with oily or acne-prone skin believe moisturizer isn’t a necessary part of their a.m. skin-care routines. That’s just a myth! Moisturizer, particularly Sound Renewal, helps balance out sebum production and restore the skin barrier, so your complexion will be glowing — never greasy.

5. Spot Treat With a Thicker Moisturizer

Although Sound Renewal helps seal in moisture with squalane and fatty acids, our skin sometimes needs some extra help locking in hydration, especially on particularly cold nights. You can seal in Sound Renewal with a thicker, more occlusive formula spiked with oils and butters.

We know the thought of having those potentially pore-clogging ingredients on your face may freak out those with acne-prone skin, though. In that case, consider only adding the thicker moisturizer to the driest parts of your face, like the cheeks and around the nose.