Giving your skin a drink!

The next time you take a long bath or stay in a swimming pool for a long time, notice how soggy and rippled the skin on your palms and soles looks after a while. That’s because they’ve been immersed in water for a long period and your waterproof protective layer of sebum (the oily stuff that plays a large role in acne, as I discuss in Chapter 3) got washed away, so water can now get readily absorbed into the outer layer of your epidermis.

The rippling or wrinkled appearance develops because your skin has increased its surface area to accommodate all the water it absorbed during that time. It’s waterlogged! The “wrinkling” is so obvious on your palms and soles because they have the thickest stratum corneum. If you watch your hand for 5 minutes or so, you’ll see that the corrugated look disappears.

That’s because the water soon evaporates from your overhydrated stratum corneum. Now, if you apply a moisturizer before the water evaporates, you can “lock in” the water that was absorbed while you were bathing or showering. Moisturizers don’t add water to the skin; instead, they reduce water loss by slowing its evaporation. Your take home message: If you have dry skin, apply a moisturizer while your skin is still damp.