I just want to start off by saying I am no skincare expert. All I know is that my skin has been problematic since my middle school glory days, and I’ve had plenty of time to experiment while trying to find some sort of solution.
One thing that has always been an issue for me is dry, flaky skin. Obviously, I’ve been lathering on the moisturizer for years attempting to get just a little bit of grace. This works in the moment, but it’s never been long term. So, I started doing some research to figure out why my moisturizing was… not moisturizing!
A common theme I came across was that I wasn’t applying it correctly. After trying exfoliating and patting and every other method under the sun, I was still suffering from terrible, angry, dry skin.
After looking a little deeper, I found that most moisturizers are not even designed to actually hydrate your skin. They simply trap the moisture that you already have and bind oils to the surface. So, when the moisturizer wears off, you’re back to dry skin (at least, that’s been my experience). When there’s no moisture to trap, however, it seals in all the dry and flaky skin, so the skin can’t exfoliate naturally.
After learning all this, I decided I would try and give up moisturizer altogether, just to see what happened. And HEY GIRL, good things happened. Instead of trapping all the dead and dry skin before I went to bed, I just left it. It was definitely something to get used to, but the results were worth it. Even after one day I saw a difference. Throughout the night, the flakiness had shed naturally and I woke up with tame, smooth skin.
Best believe I don’t know the science behind this, but I know what worked for me! I scoured the internet to see if anyone else had tried this, and I discovered that I was no trailblazer (but I’m alright with that). I found several other accounts of a moisturizer-free beauty regimen that led to better skin.
I do want to say, however, that I still use a little in the mornings so that my makeup is brighter and applies easier. As long as I let it recover that night, it works just fine.
Long story short, putting the moisturizer down before bed has turned my dry skin around, as backwards as that sounds. If you’re struggling with flaky skin, give it a try!
Stay beautiful ladies.