Published: August 15, 2024
Hydrating and moisturizing are two terms that are often used interchangeably, even though they both refer to very different things. The confusion between them is likely down to the fact that many moisturizers also hydrate the skin, leaving people to believe that the two terms are one and the same.
However, in the world of skincare, there are some very distinct differences between hydrating and moisturizing, and an understanding of this will enable you to take much better care of your skin. Keep reading as Avinichi talks you through the difference between hydrating and moisturizing your skin, along with how to figure out which one your skin needs.
What Does it Mean to Hydrate Your Skin?
Simply put, hydration refers to the amount of water that your skin cells are holding. The more hydrated your skin cells are, the plumper and fuller they’ll look. This has the knock-on effect of smoothing away the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles due to how hydrated skin looks more volumized.
Think of your skin cells as balloons, with hydration being the air that inflates those balloons. Without enough air, they’ll shrivel and look deflated. Blow them up to the max and they’ll immediately feel bouncy and taut.
What Does it Mean to Moisturize Your Skin?
While hydration generally refers to your skin’s water content, moisturizing is all about lubricating the surface of the skin while forming a seal that locks all of that water in. By doing so, moisturizing helps to maintain your skin’s hydration levels.
If you were to only hydrate your skin without moisturizing it, that water content would quickly disappear. How? Through transepidermal water loss (TEWL). This is when water evaporates out of the skin and into the air. It happens constantly but moisturizing your skin helps to slow this down. This gives your skin cells access to hydration for a longer period of time.
Hydrating vs. Moisturizing: Which One Does Your Skin Need?
When it comes down to it, your skin will benefit from being both hydrated and moisturized. As we explained above, the two go hand-in-hand together. Your hydrating efforts will be so much more worthwhile if you’re moisturizing your skin at the same time.
How to Hydrate Your Skin
There are two main ways to hydrate your skin; internally and externally. Internal hydration refers to the amount of water that you drink. This hydrates your entire body, including your skin, which is your body’s largest organ. With that said, research shows that the water that you drink only does this to a certain extent. This is why topical hydration is so important too.
Hydrating skincare products come in many different forms. From cleansers and toners to serums and moisturizers, just about any product is capable of hydrating your skin, so long as it contains hydrating ingredients.
Which ingredients hydrate the skin? They’re known as humectants. This refers to ingredients that bind moisture to the skin, enabling them to instantly boost hydration levels. Let’s take a closer look at a few skincare products that are packed with hydrating humectants:
The Liquid Lift Overnight Melting Mask
While the skin needs to be hydrated 24/7, this becomes much harder at night. In the evenings, skin permeability increases. This means that TEWL occurs at a much faster rate, causing your skin to lose large amounts of water while you sleep.
The Avinichi Liquid Lift Overnight Melting Mask helps to replenish this lost water. It’s filled to the brim with some of the best hydrating ingredients around, including sodium hyaluronate, squalane, glycerin, and aloe vera. Since this is a leave-on mask, you can apply it as part of your evening skincare routine and won’t need to rinse it off. This will give it several hours to impart its hydrating humectants, along with all of the superfruit extracts it contains, to your skin.
The Noni Pore Purifying Toner
Post-cleansing is also when the skin would benefit from some extra hydration. Why? Because cleansing can disrupt skin barrier function. This inhibits its ability to keep water trapped in, quickly increasing TEWL. This is why experts recommend following up with the rest of your skincare routine immediately after cleansing, ideally while your skin is still damp. This will allow you to counter TEWL before it becomes an issue.
The best follow-on from a cleanser is a hydrating toner, just like the Avinichi Noni Pore Purifying Toner. Aloe vera leaf juice is one of the main ingredients in this formula and it also happens to be a powerful humectant. Aloe vera is also loaded with bioactive enzymes and antioxidants that soothe and boost the complexion in other ways too.
The String Lift Sculpting System
We’ve already mentioned sodium hyaluronate, which happens to be one of the best hydrating ingredients around. It’s a form of hyaluronic acid, an ingredient that has received a lot of fame lately! The main difference between the two is molecular size, meaning that each one hydrates the skin on different levels. As you can imagine, applying multiple forms of hyaluronic acid at the same time means that you’ll then be able to hydrate your skin on multiple levels.
This is where the Avinichi String Lift Sculpting System comes in. This super-hydrating set contains the following forms of hyaluronic acid:
- Hyaluronic acid itself
- Sodium hyaluronate
- Hydrolyzed sodium hyaluronate
- Hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid
- Sodium hyaluronate crosspolymer
It also boasts glycerin, peptides, and collagen, all of which are also loved for their hydrating humectant properties!
How to Moisturize Your Skin
Many moisturizing products contain humectants, meaning that they hydrate the skin too. However, when it comes to moisturizing, the two main ingredient groups to keep an eye out for are emollients and occlusives.
Emollients fill in the tiny cracks in between your skin cells. This immediately gives the skin a smoother finish. Meanwhile, occlusives create their own layer over your skin’s surface. This is what slows down TEWL, helping to maintain skin hydration levels.
Let’s take a closer look at a few moisturizing products:
The Noni Morning Glow
The Noni Morning Glow from Avinichi is a lightweight moisturizer designed for daytime use. It’s filled with a blend of moisturizing ingredients, including shea butter, safflower seed oil, and vitamin E.
This moisturizer is also a superstar at keeping the skin barrier feeling strong and free of inflammation. Thanks to the likes of chamomile extract, green tea extract, and noni fruit extract, it will provide your skin with a plethora of antioxidants to keep it looking healthy.
The Noni Night Repair Cream
The Noni Night Repair Cream is a slightly thicker moisturizer than the Noni Morning Glow. This one has been formulated to give your skin all that it needs overnight. As we discussed earlier, TEWL increases at night. This is why a richer cream is necessary – you’ll need a thicker barrier over your skin’s surface to curb TEWL.
Just like our day cream, this one also moisturizes with shea butter. However, it also contains sunflower seed oil and jojoba seed oil. It offers a few hydrating ingredients too, along with a long list of antioxidant-rich plant extracts.
The Mulberr-E Moisture Infusion Cream
Moisturizing oily skin types can be tricky. Many of the most popular moisturizing ingredients available are too rich for oily skin. They end up clogging pores, contributing to breakouts.
This doesn’t mean that you should skip moisturizing oily skin. Sure, you have all of that extra sebum on your skin’s surface, which helps to lubricate the skin while also preventing TEWL. However, it doesn’t do this enough, making a moisturizer essential.
This is where the Mulberr-E Moisture Infusion Cream from Avinichi comes in. It’s in our Phyto Thermal Collection and is a wonderfully lightweight moisturizer. Better yet, it also contains salicylic acid, which will save you from having to deal with clogged pores!
How to Hydrate and Moisturize at the Same Time
If you’re trying to keep your skincare routine as simple as possible, then it would be worth looking into products that are able to both hydrate and moisturize your skin at the same time. Here are some to consider:
The Hydrating Multifruit C-Serum
The Avinichi Hydrating Multifruit C-Serum is a true multi-tasker. This is partly due to the vitamin C in the formula. You’ll notice two forms of the antioxidant, enabling you to double up on its complexion-boosting effects.
However, what really sets this serum apart is how it both hydrates and moisturizes the skin. This is down to the plant oils in the formula. We’ve chosen oils that not only have humectant properties but also boast occlusive and emollient qualities, giving them the full trifecta. Between jojoba oil, avocado oil, olive oil, and coconut oil, your skin will feel deeply satisfied!
The Mulberry Velvet Silk Crème
Found in the Avinichi Mulberry Hydrating Regimen, the Mulberry Velvet Silk Crème is a moisturizer that also focuses on hydrating the skin. It contains several powerful humectants, including algae extract, sodium hyaluronate, peptides, and collagen amino acids.
It also moisturizes the skin while providing a long list of vitamins and antioxidants. Even with all of these action-packed ingredients, it still manages to retain a light and silky consistency. This makes it suitable for use on all skin types!
Hydrating and Moisturizing: Giving Your Skin the Best of Both Worlds With Avinichi
As you can see, there are some key differences between hydrating and moisturizing. Ideally, your skin needs both, which is why it’s important to understand the concept of each. Hydrate your skin without moisturizing it, and you’ll lose that hydration pretty quickly. On the other hand, moisturize your skin without hydrating it and although your skin may feel smooth and soft on the outside, it will quickly end up dehydrated from within, contributing to a shriveled and lackluster appearance.
The good news is that hydrating and moisturizing are both pretty simple when you have the right products by your side. Any of the formulas that we’ve featured above will help you with this, ensuring that your skin looks and feels balanced and healthy.
Click here to browse more hydrating and moisturizing bestsellers from Avinichi.