How to Hydrate Your Skin
Dull skin, fine lines that weren't there last month, a tight feeling after cleansing – these are all signs your skin is dehydrated.
Fortunately, though, while this might seem like a complicated problem to solve, it usually isn't. And, with the right approach to skin hydration and a routine built around your skin type, you can see a real difference in how soft, smooth, and comfortable your skin feels.
In this guide, we’re breaking down everything you need to know about how to hydrate your skin. We’ll cover the best ingredients to look for, which hydrating skincare routine is best for your skin type, and which Garnier products to use to build the right hydrating regime for you.
Why skin hydration matters
Skin hydration determines how well your skin holds onto moisture, influencing everything from your skin's texture and tone to how sensitive it feels.
At the centre of it all is your skin moisture barrier: the outer layer of your skin, which acts as a protective shield against the environment. The skin moisture barrier keeps free radicals (pollution and UV-triggered molecules that can damage your skin) out, while keeping water in. This is important because, without a consistent hydrating skincare routine, water evaporates faster than your skin can replace it – leaving you with dry and dehydrated skin.
Dry vs dehydrated skin
The two are easy to confuse, but dry and dehydrated skin are not the same thing.
Dry skin is a skin type, meaning it's something you're naturally born with. Dry skin produces less oil than other skin types, which can make it more difficult for the skin to hold onto hydration.
Dehydrated skin, on the other hand, is a temporary condition caused by a lack of water in the skin. Unlike dry skin, it can affect anyone, regardless of whether your skin is naturally oily, sensitive, or dry.
What causes dehydrated skin?
Your daily habits are often the biggest threat to your skin's moisture levels – and most of them are easy to fix once you know what to look for.
Common causes of dehydrated skin include:
- Over-cleansing and over-exfoliating: This can disrupt the skin moisture barrier, making it harder for your skin to retain water.
- Not drinking enough water: This reduces the moisture available to your skin
- Hot showers: These feel relaxing, but can rob your skin of its natural oils.
- Cold wind and low humidity: One of the most common reasons skin often feels drier in winter, these weather conditions can pull moisture from the skin's surface.
- High caffeine and alcohol intake: These cause your body to lose moisture.
The best ingredients for skin hydration
The most effective hydrating skincare routines combine two types of ingredients: humectants, which draw water into the skin, and emollients, which soften it and seal moisture in. You want to include both in your routine:
- Humectants – which include hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and aloe vera – work by attracting water molecules (either from the air or from deeper layers of skin) and pulling them to the skin’s surface.
- Emollients such as shea butter, jojoba oil, and ceramides fill the gaps in a weakened skin moisture barrier, smoothing your skin's texture and preventing the water your humectants just delivered from evaporating back out.
How to hydrate your skin type
Different skin types produce different levels of oil, retain moisture at different rates, and have varying levels of barrier strength – which means what works for one can actively work against another. Below, we break down how to hydrate your skin based on your skin type and what it needs.
Dry skin
If you have dry skin, your goal is to draw moisture into your skin, then help lock it in. Dry skin produces less oil than other skin types, which can make the skin moisture barrier more prone to water loss throughout the day.
To support dry skin, add a hydrating serum to your skincare routine. Our Skin Active Hyaluronic Aloe Hydrating Serum is concentrated with glycerin, hyaluronic acid and aloe vera to support skin hydration, delivering hydration up to 10 layers deep*, with consumers reporting softer, more hydrated skin after the very first application**.
*Upper layers of epidermis/stratum corneum
**Consumer test, 48 women
Oily skin
Contrary to popular belief, oily skin does still need hydration.
Skipping hydrating products can cause your skin to overproduce oil to compensate, leading to clogged pores that cause blemishes and blackheads. The answer? Choosing water-based, matte formulas that deliver moisture without adding weight or shine.
Our Pure Active Salicylic Fresh & Matte Hydrating Sorbet Cream is a non-sticky and non-greasy moisturiser. Salicylic acid gently exfoliates to help unclog pores, while the benefits of niacinamide and centella asiatica work to hydrate and smooth your skin – providing an all-day matte finish in an ultra-light formula.
Combination skin
Most combination skin types experience an oily T-zone (forehead, nose, and chin) and dryness everywhere else, which means you need skincare that can do two things at once: hydrate dry patches and regulate oil production.
That’s why our Hyaluron Fresh & Plump Hydrating Sorbet Cream is enriched with 4% hyaluronic acid and niacinamide: two ingredients that are suitable for every skin type.
Hyaluronic acid pulls moisture into your skin regardless of whether an area runs dry or oily, while niacinamide helps balance oil production and strengthens your skin moisture barrier.
Sensitive skin
Sensitive skin has a weakened moisture barrier, which makes it less effective at sealing hydration in and keeping irritants out. When that barrier is compromised, skin loses moisture faster and becomes more vulnerable, creating a cycle that's hard to break.
To support sensitive skin, you’ll need gentle, hydrating ingredients that won't cause discomfort. Adding a weekly sheet mask is one of the easiest ways to give sensitive skin a concentrated boost of moisture without overwhelming it. Hydra Bomb Hyaluronic Acid Chamomile Soothing Sheet Mask delivers the equivalent of one full bottle of serum in a single application3.
Hyaluronic acid floods the skin with moisture while chamomile – known for its calming properties – reduces facial redness, making it particularly well-suited to sensitive skin.
3Based on the amount of a 28ml bottle of serum
How to keep skin hydrated: 3 bonus tips
Your hydrating skincare routine is only as good as the habits around it.
So, now that you've found the right products for your skin type, here are three simple tips on how to hydrate skin to keep your complexion feeling soft, plump, and comfortable.
1. Switch to a hydrating cleanser
If your skin feels tight or dry after cleansing, your cleanser could be the problem.
Cleansers are there to remove the build-up of the day, but they can also remove much-needed levels of skin hydration in the process.
Use a hydrating cleanser that removes impurities without leaving your skin feeling dry. Our Hydrating Hyaluronic Acid Deep Cleanser is specifically formulated to protect the skin moisture barrier. Infused with ceramides and clay, it helps deeply cleanse while gently lifting impurities: leaving your skin feeling fresh, comfortable and ready for the rest of your hydrating skincare routine.
2. Apply moisturiser to damp skin
One of the easiest ways to boost hydration is to apply your moisturiser while your skin is still slightly damp. This helps trap existing water on the skin’s surface, giving your moisturiser more hydration to seal in.
After cleansing or applying serum, gently pat your skin so it’s not dripping wet. Then, follow with moisturiser straight away.
3. Layer your products correctly
The order of your products can make a big difference to how well your skincare works. As a general rule, apply products from thinnest to thickest so lightweight, water-based formulas can absorb first – before richer creams help lock everything in.
A simple hydrating skincare routine usually follows this order: cleanser, toner, serum and moisturiser, followed by SPF if it’s the morning.
Hydration keeps moisture in – antioxidants keep damage out. Now that you know how to keep skin hydrated, discover what antioxidants can do in our guide to the benefits of antioxidants in skincare.
