Everyone goes through times where their skin feels dry, raw, flaky, and looks red or dull. Skincare products with active anti-aging ingredients or chemical exfoliants can brighten skin. But they can all leave skin dry and delicate, especially in cold dry weather. Using a barrier cream to protect skin with a layer of rich emollient ingredients may give winter skin a much needed boost so you look and feel your best.
About the Skin Barrier
Your skin is a barrier between the rest of your body and the world around you. Your skin keeps out harmful microbes, protects your internal organs, and helps regulate your body temperature.
Your skin needs to stay strong and healthy to do all of this. It has a built-in defense called your skin barrier, which is the outmost layer of the skin, also called the stratum corneum. This layer of tough skin cells held together by fats protects the inner layers of the skin.1
The skin barrier itself can become damaged from cold weather, sun exposure, contact with irritants, allergic reactions, or injuries to the skin. A damaged skin barrier night show signs of irritation, such as:
- Itchiness
- Redness
- Tight, dry skin
- Rough patches
- Skin discoloration
- Sensitivity
- Flare-ups of eczema or rosacea
What Is Skin Barrier Cream?
A skin barrier cream doesn’t replace your natural skin barrier, but it can help your skin barrier heal and protect it from future damage. Using a barrier cream protects the skin by2:
- Reducing irritation
- Reducing transepidermal water loss
- Soothing burns and injuries
- Protecting and soothing chapped skin like lips or nostrils
- Sealing cracked skin
Barrier creams work as a barrier between your skin and everything it’s exposed to.3 For example, diaper creams that protect a baby’s skin from the wetness inside their diaper and soothe diaper rashes can be considered barrier creams.
Barrier creams can also help seal in the active ingredients from your usual skincare routine, ensuring that you get all the benefits of your favorite products.
How to Choose the Right Face Cream
When making a decision about a face or body cream, consider the natural elements of your skin barrier. Your skin barrier naturally contains lipids or cholesterol, free fatty acids, and ceramides.4 A good barrier cream will contain some of those ingredients. Ceramide creams are excellent for sealing in moisture and creating a protective layer over the skin.5
Other common ingredients in barrier creams include zinc and hyaluronic acid, which are known for their protective and moisturizing properties, respectively.
Avoid products with heavy fragrances, which can be irritating to your skin, or alcohol, which may be drying. Apply the barrier cream as the last step in your skincare routine. You can use barrier creams overnight or apply them after your daytime routine.
If you have questions about choosing the best skin barrier cream, you can speak to a dermatologist or esthetician in your area for advice. You can learn more about skincare and products to protect your skin by reading more posts at MySkincareRoutine.
Sources:
- Derm Store: “How to Repair a Damaged Skin Barrier.”
- Byrdie: “How to Use Barrier Creams for Your Healthiest Skin Ever.”
- National Clinical Guideline Centre (UK). The Prevention and Management of Pressure Ulcers in Primary and Secondary Care. London: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE); 2014 Apr. (NICE Clinical Guidelines, No. 179.) 14, Barrier creams. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK333167/
- Danby, S.G., Andrew, P.V., Brown, K. et al. An Investigation of the Skin Barrier Restoring Effects of a Cream and Lotion Containing Ceramides in a Multi-vesicular Emulsion in People with Dry, Eczema-Prone, Skin: The RESTORE Study Phase 1. Dermatol Ther (Heidelb) 10, 1031–1041 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13555-020-00426-3
- Cleveland Clinic: “What Do Ceramides Do for Your Skin?”