Everything You Know About Moisturizer Is a Lie
The first few weeks of the New Year are a great time to hunker down. You’ve got fitness goals to achieve (thankfully, with Spotify’s amazing workout playlists, you’ve been killing it), a TON of amazing new TV to sink into and maybe even some bad beauty habits to break. With Target’s announcement that they’ll start carrying an assortment of affordable K-beauty skin care and makeup products this month, it’s the perfect time to refresh your stockpile. This time, though, you might want to skip the moisturizer — apparently the stuff is actually bad for you. WTF?!
According to Zein Obagi, MD, a Beverly Hills-based dermatologist, slathering your face with your oh-so-soothing creams could actually be aging your skin. “When you use moisturizer every day, you run the risk of making your skin older, not younger,” he warned Refinery29. “If you apply a lot of moisture, skin will become sensitive, dry, dull, and interfere with natural hydration.”
While it’s no secret to us that topical potions and lotions aren’t the only way to hydrate your skin (drink your water, girl!), it definitely comes as a shock that our sacred routines might actually be damaging. According to Dr. Obagi, the only cure is to outright stop using moisturizer to give your skin a chance to kick the moisturizer addiction.
He tells Refinery29 to “always wash your face, use a gentle exfoliating agent to enhance elimination and some kind of active vitamin A to stimulate regeneration, and if you still feel dry, then you can apply a special moisturizer.” On one hand, we can’t help but side-eye that tube of retinol cream in the medicine cabinet, dreaming of all the money we could be saving. But on the other, we can’t imagine not going without the stuff, especially in these cold, dry winter months. Our whole lives are changed forever.
Would you try going without moisturizer? Let us know over @BritandCo!
(h/t Refinery29, photos via Getty)
