12 of the best moisturisers for dry and dehydrated skin that will leave skin feeling soft and smooth
Skin feeling tight and dry? It’s time to find your perfect face cream, and if your skin is always on the parched side of life, then you’re going to want to seek out the best moisturiser for dry and dehydrated skin, which is exactly what we’ve done for you
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If you are in need of a great moisturiser for chronically dry skin or itchy, scratchy skin, or if yours is dehydrated (yes, oily and combination types, this could be you) you have never been better served than with the array of moisturisers available right now. The majority of moisturisers for dry skin or dehydrated skin are formulated to both nourish long-term and heal and strengthen the moisture-locking protective skin barrier with barrier-building ingredients such as ceramides and niacinamide. And best of all, there is one to suit every skin issue and budget.
What is a moisturiser?
Moisturisers are ’emulsions’ of oily and watery ingredients, mostly composed of:
- Humectants aka water magnets: these attract water into the skin’s top layers, such as hyaluronic acid, glycerin and urea.
- Emollients aka skin softeners: these are nourishing oils and lipids that settle between the gaps in the skin’s protective barrier to reinforce it and prevent trans-epidermal water loss. Think squalane, rosehip oil and ceramides.
- Occlusives aka moisture and lipid lockers: these waxes, butters and other agents such as silicones and petroleum jelly seal in the moisture and lipids with a protective layer. The idea is to stop essential moisture leaching away, or in dermatologist-speak, to prevent trans-epidermal water loss or TEWL.
Why do you need a moisturiser for dry skin?
If we don’t tend to our dry or dehydrated skin with a decent moisturiser, it will eventually lose elasticity and start looking sallow, lacklustre and saggy. Lines will appear sooner than they ought to and you might develop sensitivity issues. So it’s no exaggeration to say that any good moisturiser, no matter how simple, is a basic anti-ageing cream.
Which moisturiser is right for you depends on what your skin needs.
Dry or dehydrated skin – which one are you?
Determining whether your skin is dry or dehydrated (or both) will help you pick the right products for you.
How to know if you have dry skin.
Dry skin is genetic. This skin type lacks in lipids and oils and you’ll need to consistently top those up with formulas high in oils and occlusives. The more chronically dry-feeling and flake-prone the skin on your face and body or the more you suffer from conditions such as eczema and sensitivity, the more likely it is you have this skin type. But don’t forget that you always need some humectants as well – all skins need oil and water to remain balanced and comfortable, as cosmetic physician Dr Sophie Shotter explains in her dos and don’ts of dealing with dry skin.
How to know if you have dehydrated skin.
This is not a skin type but a skin condition that anyone with any skin type (including oily) can suffer from. Dehydrated skins are sapped of water due to not drinking enough of the stuff, or a drying environment such as winter cold, central heating, and air conditioning. The wrong skincare can be hydrating too. Treating skin aggressively with products high in sulphates, alcohol or too many chemical exfoliants and acids is dehydrating (check out these best cleansers for dry skin to help you avoid issues).
To put moisture back in, a serum or cream rich in humectants (sodium PCS, sorbitol, propylene, glycol and polyhydroxy acids, to name some more examples) is essential. But you will need some lipids, such as ceramides, as well to seal that water into the skin and repair your moisture barrier.
Can oily skin be dehydrated?
Yes, it’s perfectly possible for oily skin to be severely dehydrated. You’ll know this when yours looks oily on the surface but feels dry and uncomfortable underneath. So don’t make the mistake of skipping moisturiser altogether if you have oily skin. Just remember that the oilier your skin, the more you should err on the side of humectants and choose a product low on occlusives as they might clog your pores. Oily skins will require fewer and lighter emollients (go for squalane and ceramides) than normal or dry skins.
Of course, most moisturisers will indicate what skin they’re best for, but if you know what balance of ingredients suits you best and what they look like on the ingredient list, you have far less chance of wasting money on a product that’s not quite right for you.
To help you along, we’ve listed the best moisturisers for dry and dehydrated skin.
Best moisturiser for dry and eczema-prone skin:
The Inkey List Bio-Active Ceramide Repairing and Plumping Moisturiser, £19
This seems thick and rich but is light and silky; it’s one of those textures you’d expect to pay a bomb for. Powered by ceramides that, the brand says, travel deeper than the skin’s surface, it doesn’t just function as a fast soother and plumper for flaring skin (there is no scent so it’s good for the angriest of skins) but helps it get stronger and less reactive in the long term, and will work well on oily skin in need of repair, too.
Buy nowBest moisturiser for blemish-prone, dehydrated skin:
CeraVe Blemish Control Gel Moisturiser, £12
Even the oiliest and spottiest skins need hydration, but when you’re really suffering from breakouts you want to keep your moisturiser light and spiked with zit-busting actives. This scent-free one has everything you need: the maximum 2 per cent pore-purging salicylic acid and a good dose of balancing, calming niacinamide alongside barrier repair ingredients and light hydrators. There’s glycolic acid too which you don’t want to use non-stop, so cycle it with a plain hyaluronic acid serum or moisturiser when your skin is not playing up.
Buy nowBest night moisturiser for dry, flaky skin:
Skin Rocks The Rich Moisturiser, £65
Properly dry skins that lack oils (and skin can become more like this with age) need help from properly nourishing moisturisers like this (lightly scented) one. It’s meant to form a physical barrier against moisture loss so if you hate the feeling of anything sitting on your skin, this is not for your, even though it does absorb well over time. Easiest to use as a night cream (the only moisturisers that can’t do double duty as night creams are those with SPF): you’ll wake up with nice comfy skin.
Buy nowBest moisturiser for dry, menopausal skin:
Beauty Pie Youthbomb Biologic Collagen Peptide Cream, £75 for 50ml (or £44 with a subscription)
This is a rich (but not heavy-feeling), unscented cream-gel with a really quenching, glossy finish, thanks to masses of humectant glycerin. It boasts a proprietary peptide amino acid complex to both condition and hydrate skin but also to help rev up its collagen production, alongside a lot of niacinamide to balance and repair the moisture barrier. To boot, there are phytoestrogens: very helpful for collagen-depleted skin. It’s all sealed in with plenty of emollients and occlusives.
Best all-purpose face moisturiser:
Boots Modern Chemistry Restore Moisturiser, £15
Use this night or day, on dry, normal or oily skin: it’s light yet comforting with a dry-touch finish, fragrance-free and imbued with rice extract, squalane and niacinamide to keep skin hydrated and bright. It’s reminiscent of a Korean face cream in terms of texture and ingredients, but it’s designed by good old Boots boffins.
Buy nowBest moisturiser for dry and dehydrated skin:
Laneige Water bank Blue Hyaluronic Gel Moisturiser, £33.50
If your skin suffers from a lack of water but not so much oil, you need a gel moisturiser or serum with no or barely any oils in it (this one has none) but lots of humectants and barrier-boosters instead. This lightly scented gel feels like a cold drink of water and disappears straight into skin to quench it from the inside.
Buy nowBest moisturiser for dry, sensitised skin:
Dr Sam’s Flawless Moisturiser Intense, £34
Creating a rich barrier-building cream that still doesn’t block pores and effectively soothes and heals sensitive and redness-prone skin is no mean feat, but this one gets rave reviews, including from some Get the Gloss staff, for all those reasons. It has an innovative NAD+-boosting ingredient to help skin withstand collagen breakdown which gives the cream age-busting properties to boot.
Buy nowBest moisturiser for dry, dull skin:
Naturium Barrier Bounce Advanced Skin Hydrator, £26.50
If you like the texture of Glossier Futuredew Oil Serum Hybrid, this is very similar and slightly cheaper: it seems like a light milk and it’s very hydrating, but its nourishing oils leave a fine film on skin that makes you glow all day – something those with dry skin will love and creates the perfect ‘glass skin’ effect. Meanwhile, it’s packed with barrier-boosting components to improve any dry or dehydrated skin conditions.
Buy nowBest barrier healer:
Dr Althea 147 Barrier Cream, £21.99
There’s always more space for another Korean skincare brand when it comes to beautifully-textured hydrating and barrier building; they’re just the masters at it. This cream is silky rather than super-light or very rich, so will work on most skin types in need of a better barrier. Powered by healing ingredients, no less than seven types of hyaluronic acid and super-anti-inflammatory, chamomile-derived azulene, this can be a standby for all the family or simply your favourite daily moisturiser.
Buy nowBest moisturiser to share with the husband:
Created by German medics, this cream couldn’t be more straightforward and unassuming but is backed by clinical trials to prove its long-lasting moisturising power. Best for normal to dry skins (it’s just a tad too rich for oily skin), it smells comfortingly of body and face creams mums would use in the 1980s and has vitamin E and astaxanthin for reliable and again, proven, antioxidant protection. Any male other halves will likely steal this because they’ll like the smell and the unfussy packaging.
Buy nowBest for combination dry and deyhdrated skin:
Keats The Moisturising Cream, £29
An unscented gel-cream with ceramides, soothing plant lipids and lots of barrier healers that will quench and comfort the dry, flaky parts of a combination complexion while not overwhelming or congesting the oily t-zone. Straightforward and effective, this is another one that will please the males in your life as much as you.
Buy nowBest eco-luxe moisturiser:
Wildsmith Skin Hydrating Light Cream, £90
Gone are the days when natural products were all a bit oily and heavy; these days, some botanics-based creams come in airy textures every bit as fresh and airy as their more synthetic counterparts. This humectant-rich gel-cream is packed with vitamins (including niacinamide) and barrier-boosting, upcycled barley ferments, scented with essential oils and flower waters and packaged in vivomer, an entirely compostable, microbe-generated plastic alternative.
Buy now
