Real Moisturizer :: What Should You Check? Here’s a Summary of the Necessary and Unnecessary Ingredients.

Hello, this is Merry Plastic Surgery Clinic, always a pleasure to meet you.

“Spring is even drier than winter—does your skin feel comfortable?”

These days, with indoor humidity, outdoor wind, and even pollen… does your skin feel tight and sting dozens of times a day?

Because of dryness, does your makeup sit unevenly and dead skin build up, while using just any moisturizer seems to cause breakouts instead?

In fact, for skin to truly improve, the key is choosing a real moisturizer that helps restore the skin barrier.

As a specialist, I prepared this post to help solve your skin concerns with useful information.

Source: Naver Shopping moisturizer search results

Spring, a season to pay attention to your skin!

Spring is a season with low humidity, strong UV rays, and fine dust all at once, making the skin easy to irritate.

Skin feeling rough and tight is not just simple dryness; it is because the skin barrier has been damaged.

However, there are so many products on the market that feel fragrant and moisturizing that it can be hard to know which one is a “real moisturizer.”

When I see many patients visiting the clinic, they often say that their breakouts got worse even after using moisturizer.

When analyzing the cause, many cases involved products with allergy-triggering ingredients, products with an unsuitable pH, or moisturizers with low ceramide content.

The more sensitive your skin is, the more you need to check ingredients and take a dermatology-based approach.

Which moisturizer is good?

Then what kind of moisturizer should you choose?

1. Choose products that contain the “three major oil components” that make up the skin barrier

For skin to stay healthy, it needs an “oil protective film” composed of ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids in a 1:1:1 ratio.

Among these, ceramides are especially expensive, so many products contain only a small amount, which is why you should check whether they appear near the top of the ingredient list.

J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 2018 Sep;11(9):13–17.

2. Choose mildly acidic (pH 4.5–5.5) products

The skin stays healthiest in a mildly acidic environment.

Neutral to alkaline products may feel refreshing right after cleansing, but over time they weaken the skin barrier.

Korean Dermatological Association, “The Relationship Between the Skin Barrier and pH”

3. Risky ingredients to avoid

Parabens, artificial fragrance, triethanolamine (TEA), methylisothiazolinone (MIT): these can be irritating for sensitive skin.

In particular, for children or people with atopic skin, it is safer to choose products centered on EWG green-rated ingredients.

To make it easier to remember, let me organize it for you.

If you keep this checklist in mind, you’ll be able to maintain more hydrated skin than anyone else this spring!

A moisturizer ingredient checklist chosen by a doctor!

✔️ Whether ceramides / cholesterol / fatty acids are listed near the top of the ingredient list

✔️ Whether it is mildly acidic (pH 4.5–5.5)

✔️ Fragrance-free / colorant-free / paraben-free

✔️ The phrases “strengthens the skin barrier” or “pH balance”

Explanatory material on a pH comparison graph and EWG green ingredients

In particular, for women in their 20s to 60s, moisturizing is also very important for preventing skin aging.

That’s because reduced elasticity, wrinkles, and a dull complexion all start with dryness.

More than problems that have already appeared, what product you use from now on is the beginning of changing your skin.

Have you found it difficult to choose a moisturizer just by looking at ingredients?

If you needed a specialist’s advice, please leave a question in the comments on this post, or

if your skin concerns are more serious, I also recommend visiting a nearby clinic for a consultation :)

If you add me as a mutual neighbor, I’ll continue to share professionally curated information that is good for your skin!

This has been Merry Plastic Surgery Clinic, always a pleasure to meet you.

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