Having acne sucks.
For years, it was my biggest insecurity, and while it no longer drives me into constant embarrassment, I still occasionally go through periods of hating my skin. I’d tried so many products, so many cleaners and toners and serums and masks and medications and exfoliators and moisturizers and nothing worked.
Trying to fight my acne was like trying to calm a kid throwing a tantrum. All I wanted to do was give it love, but I could never figure out what it wanted.
That frustration drove me to tears often enough that I’d just go to school in a beanie that covered my forehead acne while constantly checking that my hair was covering the sides of my face. That, of course, had my zits running rampant. And, ugh, my stressing over all of it didn’t help either. I found myself living in so much fear that I had zero confidence to talk to new people.
That’s when I started researching; there had to be something out there for my skin. So, I started off with understanding my skin type, learning a few things I should have known much earlier, like how dehydrated skin and dry skin are two completely different things. Their many, many differences dictate—very explicitly—what each type needs, much to my surprise (oblivious fool). Check out this Healthline article to read more about it!
Dehydrated skin is when your skin lacks water; dry skin is when your skin lacks lipids and oils. I hadn’t realized the dullness and occasional itchiness of my skin wasn’t due to dry skin (I apparently had enough oils to classify my skin as an oily type). I had dehydrated skin.
Knowing that changed my approach to skincare completely. I began ignoring brand names and skincare trends, focusing instead on ingredients and which ones target my unfortunate lack of water.
Here was my simple 2-part solution:
- Water
Okay, yeah, I was definitely in denial about the effect that my embarrassingly low intake of water was having on my skin. I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but for a LONG time, I was drinking less than 20 oz. of water a day. Idiot. I really thought I was doing everything I could for my skin. What a joke. I’m just glad I accepted it before senior year with senior pictures and prom and everything…
I realized my idiocy before my research, and while—after much effort—I summoned up the willpower to drink more than 20 oz. a day, averaging at 60 oz. a day, it STILL wasn’t enough. I was following the eight 8-oz. glasses rule (pictured below) recommended by health professionals, so why was my skin not clearing up completely? It was better, but still not clear!!
It hit me out of nowhere. Almost all of us took Health sophomore year, and the one thing I clearly remembered was that “health is individual.” I completely forgot about it. All that time, I was treating my skin as if it was like most people’s, when clearly it wasn’t.
Surprise! That epiphany hit me just a couple weeks ago!
And a couple of weeks ago was when I started drinking at least 100 oz. of water a day. Strictly. It’s been really good. My skin is doing much better than it was before, and it just feels hydrated.
But I said 2-part plan, so let’s not forget about my favorite half…
- Glycerin
Holy crOCKPOTS. I don’t know how I went so long unaware of glycerin and its effects on skin. If you’re taking AP Chemistry right now, remember the Water of Hydration lab where we learned about deliquescent, efflorescent, and hygroscopic substances? Well, glycerin is a hygroscopic substance—a humectant.
According to ScienceDaily, a hygroscopic substance is one that “readily attracts water from its surroundings, through either absorption or adsorption.” What does that mean? It means glycerin pulls in water from deep within your skin to its surface while also simultaneously pulling water into the skin from the air.
Double hydration. Heck, yeah. And it’s perfect for dehydrated skin because it’s not an oil, so it works really well with oily skin.
To give you a sense of what it is, physically, glycerin is a transparent, syrupy liquid that tastes sweet. It does feel a bit greasy, but it’s not oil, like I mentioned before!
I bought a bottle of vegetable glycerin (ingredients are just water and glycerin) and started using it as a moisturizer after cleanser and toner, and the first time I put it on… God, that stuff is magic. I used 2 drops for my entire face and the effects of it on my skin were LITERALLY immediate. My skin looked so bright and smooth right after I rubbed it in, and I was just speechless. I couldn’t believe how fast it worked. I’ve never wanted to share a product with everyone as badly as I did in that moment. Even now, I want everyone to try it.
Acne treatment is just one of the amazing benefits of glycerin, too. Here’s the link to another Healthline article that goes into deeper detail about the other benefits of glycerin!
I highly recommend trying glycerin out even if you don’t suffer from acne. It moisturizes so quickly and deeply that I’ve ditched my Neutrogena® hyaluronic moisturizer completely.
This is the glycerin I’m bought and fell in love with:
You can buy it on Amazon for less than $10!
I know so many people who, like me, have tried product after product, and I think it’s best to focus on ingredients, especially since the big-brand products always have those unnecessarily long ingredients lists. If you have dehydrated skin, try this plan! Or take a look at the chart in the first link to find ingredients for your skin type!
I LOVED THIS POST! Honestly thank you!!!! I feel literally the same exact way and I connected with this post from the first couple lines. And when I say I’ve tried everything, I mean I’ve really tried every. single. thing. From professional help at a dermatologist to those quirky youtube vidoes with things that barely ever work. Thank you so much for having the confidence to make this post because I can say it definitely will help me. I will be trying these things!
It’s also really interesting to learn about the difference between dry and dehydrated skin because that was all information I didn’t know but will only benefit my skin in the end. Thanks for all the links you included too!
Do you have a multiple step skincare routine or do you pretty much use the glycerine only?
Thanks for this super helpful post.
SOO glad you found it helpful, it definitely wasn’t the easiest topic for me to blog about, so I really really appreciate your response 🙂
To answer your question, I do have a multiple step skincare routine! My morning routine is: Cetaphil facial cleanser, Thayer’s witch hazel toner (rose), and 1-2 drops of glycerin. Pretty simple! My night routine is a little different: Cetaphil facial cleanser, Thayer’s witch hazel toner (rose), and a vitamin-e capsule with jojoba oil. Let me explain that last step haha.
One of my adult friends from church majored in chemistry and creates a lot of her own skincare serums and has a LOT of tips and tricks that actually work. Because I have acne scars, she recommended Nature Made vitamin-e capsules because they’re so good for healing. I basically just break open the capsule and squeeze the liquid onto my palm, and since it’s a really thick liquid, I add 3 drops of jojoba oil to thin it out and for extra acne-fighting action! It tends to be too much for my face, so I spread it out across my face and neck and over any scarred areas on my body. Like glycerin, it does feel a bit oily, but that’s normal. I just wait a bit so it all gets absorbed.
Next to glycerin, I also HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend doing this. My scars disappear so quickly and it leaves my face feeling smoother and brighter.
If you do plan on getting the capsules, its EXTREMELY important that you read the Supplement Facts and make sure that the vitamin-e is d-Alpha Tocopherol, not dl-Alpha Tocopherol!!!
Wow! This is really intriguing, but I was wondering, I am definitely someone with dry skin, but could it also be dehydrated? Do you know if there’s a way there can be both?
I also was really surprised to hear about glycerin, something that I could only really imagine in labs in chemistry and biology. If glycerin pulls the water from deeper within your skin, does it dehydrate your body? Or does it spread out the water more evenly? Loved the post!
Erin! While it is typically one or the other, yes, skin can lack oils AND lack water. A lot of people still have that skin type and have definitely successfully adjusted their skincare products to cater to both!
To answer your second question, it doesn’t dehydrate your body and instead, like you said, spreads it out more evenly, so you don’t have to worry about that :). Thank you so much for your questions!!!