Why should I apply oils to damp skin?

You may have read it in one or the other product description: Our Shea Cream and our facial oils are intended to be applied to damp skin. But why? The products do not contain any water - and that is a big advantage over classic creams. Here you can find out why we do without water and how exactly you should apply oils to damp skin.

 

The advantages of water-free care products

Ingredient #1 in moisturizers is water. But where there is water, it needs preservatives to keep it from contaminating and emulsifiers for texture. So water never comes alone. Because you don't want to burden your skin with all these additives , you ignore such emulsions and order our Shea Cream or one of our face oils instead.

Our waterless products pamper your skin with nourishing shea butter, organic cold-pressed oils, vitamin E and natural fragrances. This is pure relaxation for your skin. However, these products still need something to process the concentrated care power: moisture! For the oil to be able to penetrate the skin and take effect, it needs additional moisture applied in the form of pure tap water, a hydrosol or a moisturizing serum. Let's take a closer look.

Therefore, you should apply oil to damp skin

To understand why your skin needs oil and water at the same time, here is a brief insight into our skin's own processes: The skin's surface is covered with a protective film, the hydro-lipid mantle . It consists of the skin's own fats and water, which penetrates to the outside in the form of sweat. Together with auxiliary substances that your skin makes available on its own, both form an emulsion that prevents the skin from losing moisture.

Moisturizers usually try to imitate this protective film . Therefore, most of them consist largely of water, which is mixed with oil and emulsifiers to form an emulsion. However, these artificially added emulsifiers cause problems. They ensure that the protective layer quickly disappears again, for example when you sweat or wash your hands. You can find out exactly how this happens in the article Tension from the cream tube: how emulsifiers dry out your skin.

That won't happen to you with our facial oils and Shea Cream . They contain no water. But watch out, if you suddenly thought that there was an abbreviation! Under no circumstances should you fill the bottle with water directly, for example so that you always have a suitable mixture at hand. Because then the product would have to be preserved. Incidentally, this is reason no. 2 why we do not add water. You can find out more about this in the article Why water belongs under care, not in care .

We state: Waterless care products such as face oils, body oils or balms should always be applied to wet skin so that they can be absorbed by the skin. As a result, they are absorbed much faster and this is the only way to unfold their care effect.

Application: Apply oils to wet skin

Just like the facial oils, the Shea Cream cares for moist skin and is really soft to the touch. At first glance, that might sound like more work. But it doesn't have to be. Apply the shea cream or your facial oil right after you shower or cleanse your face. Simply skip drying and apply to skin while still damp. This has two benefits:

1. The products are quickly absorbed on damp skin and leave the skin feeling pleasant . Because as soon as water is added, a spontaneous emulsion forms, in which the skin's own emulsifiers combine the two components. In the form of this emulsion, oils and water are better transported together into the skin. So moistening is a must.
2. The waterless care products are extremely productive . For the face is already a small drop resp. a small fingertip is sufficient. This is because the ingredients are highly concentrated due to the lack of water. Even a small amount of balm/facial oil has a great care effect. You don't feel oily and you can get by with one pot for a long time.

Beauty tip: Water is a good base for oil-based products. However, if you want to give your skin additional moisture-binding care, we recommend combining it with our FIVE facial serum , which we developed specifically as a supplement for waterless products. The moisturizing serum intensively moisturizes your skin with rose water and binds this moisture to your skin for a long time with hyaluronic acid and glycerin.

The only exception to the oil-water rule: facial cleansing with oil

There is one exception to the oil and water rule. Whether you apply oil to wet or dry skin depends on its function: oil needs water for care, but not for cleaning . If you remove make-up with a cleansing oil, such as our FIVE make-up remover, or treat your pores to a deep cleansing, damp skin is out of place. In this case, the oils are not supposed to penetrate the skin immediately, but rather to pull out dirt. By the way, you can achieve a particularly great effect with the Oil Cleansing Method. How is it? You can find out in the article Cleansing your face with oil - The Oil Cleansing Method .

Conclusion: Applying oil to wet skin brings many benefits

• With waterless products like our facial oils and the Shea Cream you protect your skin from additives that normal moisturizers bring with them. The skin benefits from the few but high-quality ingredients.
• The high concentration makes the waterless products extremely productive. This saves you money and space in the bathroom cabinet. And we on the packaging - so the environment benefits too.
• Always apply waterless oils and balms to damp skin so that they can be absorbed more quickly and develop their full nourishing effect.