Natalia asks…I got this body moisturizer as present. When you apply it it is fine but within a minute it goes absolutely dry and it feels like you have nothing on your skin! As much as I like that feeling I wonder if its really moisturizing? Or if it might even be doing harm to my sensitive, dry, skin?
The Right Brain responds:
Here are the ingredients for Natalia’s nameless product:
Aqua, Cetearyl Alcohol, Ceteareth-20, Glyceryl Stearate, Isopropyl Palmitate, Carbomer, Sodium Hydroxide, Prunus amygdalos dulcis oil, PCA Na, Acetamide MEA, Dimethicone, Mineral Oil, Passiflora incarnata Fruit Extract, Calendula officinalis Flower Extract, Disodium EDTA, BHT, Triclosan, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Imidazolidinyl Urea, Parfum, Benzotriazoyl dodecyl, P-Cresol, CI 15985, CI 19140.
Dry feel moisturizer
My guess is the dry feel is coming from a relatively low percentage of ingredients that tend to give a “greasy” feel (dimethicone and mineral oil as the 12th and 13th ingredients, respectively) and a relatively high amount of a”dry” feel ingredient (isopropyl palmitate as the 5th ingredient.) That combination is likely to have a very light feel.
Don’t worry about the cetyl alcohol, though, it’s not the kind of alcohol that dries your skin; it’s a fatty moisturizer. (Ethanol and isopropyl alcohol are the ones you need to watch out for).
The Beauty Brains bottom line
I don’t see any reason to worry about this product drying your skin but it may not be as moisturizing as other products that have dimethicone or petrolatum higher on the ingredient list. If you don’t like the way it feels, you should certainly try something else.
Image credit: Medhe.com
What do YOU think? Do you like your lotions the way you like your martinis (dry?) Or do you like to leave your skin with a little more oily feeling? Leave a comment and share your lotion learnings with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I personally prefer a greasier feeling lotion. (Which is odd, because my skin has a tendency to be oily.)
I never really noticed dimethicone adding an oily sensation to any of my lotions and creams. Compared to mineral oil especially. Is it because I usually use medium centistoke? It makes sense that the thicker variety would feel heavier.
I’m a bit contradictory. I really like the texture of heavy, thick, lotions but I really hate heavy, oily feeling on my skin! I love to almost immediately feel as if I just put nothing on my skin.
I would also suggest looking into some natural skin care remedies as, apposed to chemical formulas. I find that using all natural products is the best path to healthy skin. Someone once told me that if you wouldn`t put it in your mouth don`t put it on your skin. Great advice! I found a really good ebook called Skinsational that was very helpful!