THE TRUTH ABOUT HYALURONIC ACID AND WHY IT MAY BE DRYING YOUR SKIN OUT - What is Hyaluronic Acid and what does it do? What happens if you use too much Hyaluronic Acid?
Hydrated skin is healthy skin.
It’s a simple fact and a central tenet of Korean skincare, or K-beauty. If I were to sum up the entire philosophy of a K-beauty routine, and why Korean women (and many men!) have such clear, radiant and youthful skin, I could do it in two words: hydration and sunscreen.
I’ve talked a lot about sunscreen on the blog – and on my podcast, the Skincarma Pod.Yes, a facial sunscreen is the most important skincare product in any pro-skin health routine.
If you’re not using sunscreen every morning – even on cloudy, seemingly sunless days – please don’t waste your money on anti-aging products like Retinol creams and dark spot serums. Without sunscreen, the damage just keeps going and going and…Well, you get the point. But as important as sunscreen is to your skin health, it isn’t the only thing you need to attain and maintain healthy, youthful skin.
Hydration is another piece of the puzzle. The trick is in how you go about hydrating your skin. Like everything else, you have to figure out what works for you – and what doesn’t.
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Get this! Hydration doesn’t start with skincare. It starts with the most basic of all things: drinking water. Hydrating from within is the most efficient way to optimize your skin’s hydration levels.
As a rule, you’re well hydrated if you’re drinking an ounce of water for every pound of body weight, every day. I weigh 150 lbs. So I make it a priority to drink 150 ounces of water each and every day.
But what about skincare? How do you optimize your skin health like the Koreans do with topical products? And, importantly, which ingredients work best?
One component of a healthy skincare routine that keeps your skin optimally hydrated is a toner. Not an exfoliating acid toner; rather, a hydrating toner that is used to drench your skin after cleansing. Hydrating toners and serums infuse the skin barrier with humectants that optimize your skin’s hydration levels by locking in water.
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Humectants like centella asiactica, aloe leaf juice, and every marketer’s favorite, Hyaluronic Acid (HA). They’re all tried and true. Newer humectants like Polyglutamic Acid and Ectoin have been trending over the past year.
Personally, I’m obsessed with The INKEY List’s innovative new hydrating serum, the Ectoin Hydro-Barrier Serum. Longtime favorites also include The Ordinary’s Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 and the Murad Cellular Hydration Repair Serum.
Groundbreaking product innovations this year will feature two newer humectants: plant-derived Glycogen and Hydroxypropyltrimonium Hyaluronate – a next-generation Hyaluronic Acid derivative designed to penetrate deeper into the skin for longer-lasting hydration.
For now, Hyaluronic Acid remains the go-to. It seems like every skincare marketer’s favorite ingredient. It’s in just about everything. Why? Well, it’s an effective ingredient that instantly hydrates skin, giving the user the impression that the product works immediately. Marketers love when you think their products deliver instant benefits – whether it’s true or not.
HA is also relatively easy to formulate with – and it’s cheap. Score another win for the marketers!
1. What is Hyaluronic Acid and what does it do?
Hyaluronic Acid (HA) is a naturally occurring substance found in the human body, and particularly in your skin, joints, and connective tissues. HA plays a crucial role in maintaining and optimizing your skin’s hydration levels.
HA works by attracting and binding to water molecules, essentially locking water in the skin. This simple, natural process increases skin’s moisture content and prevents trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL) through the skin barrier.
But HA also plays an important role in skin aging. According to the National Library of Medicine at the NIH,“Skin aging is also associated with loss of skin moisture. The key molecule involved in skin moisture is hyaluronan or hyaluronic acid (HA), a glycosaminoglycan (GAG) with a unique capacity to bind and retain water molecules.”
This is why it is essential to assure optimal hydration levels in your skin. Hyaluronic is one way to do this.
Explore my picks of the best hydrating serums and face creams for dry skin on the blog here.
Sources: Cleveland Clinic - Hyaluronic Acid; Healthline - Why Science Says Hyaluronic Acid Is the Holy Grail to Wrinkle-Free, Youthful Hydration; NIH, National Library of Medicine, PubMed Central - Hyaluronic acid: A key molecule in skin aging
2. What happens if you use too much Hyaluronic Acid?
What happens if you use too much Hyaluronic Acid is you end up wasting the product! But you can also dry your skin out. HA hydrates skin by pulling water to itself. When applied to your skin, it is absorbed into the very top layer where it can draw moisture from the air – but only if the air has water to draw from.
The more likely scenario is that HA pulls water from the reservoir deeper in your skin, in the dermis. By drawing water to the surface, you can achieve a plumper, softer and more cushiony feel.
However, when the air around you is dry, as in the low-humidity months of winter, it will pull water out of your skin. So, if you’re overusing HA or not using it properly by layering an occlusive moisturizer over it, you’re leaving your skin susceptible to trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL).
Explore my picks of the best hydrating serums and face creams for dry skin on the blog here.
Sources: Harper’s Bazaar - Are You Misusing Hyaluronic Acid?; Dr. Idriss - Hyaluronic Acid 101: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
3. Can Hyaluronic Acid be used everyday?
Yes, Hyaluronic Acid can be used everyday. But it’s important not to overdo it. It’s okay to use a dedicated HA serum in both your AM and PM skincare routines – or simply use a moisturizer that’s formulated with HA.
If you’re using a separate HA serum like The Ordinary’s Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 or The INKEY List’s Hyaluronic Acid Serum, it is essential to use an occlusive face cream that prevents trans-epidermal water loss through the skin barrier.
Excessive use of HA can actually lead to dehydration, redness and irritation, especially during the low-humidity months of winter.
Explore my picks of the best hydrating serums and face creams for dry skin on the blog here.
Sources: Dr. Idriss - Hyaluronic Acid 101: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly; Dermstore - A Definitive Guide to Hyaluronic Acid, According to Beauty Experts
4. How can you tell if your skin is dehydrated?
It can be challenging to tell if your skin is dehydrated or dry. Generally, dry skin is a skin type – you’re dry all the time. Dehydrated skin, on the other hand, is a skin condition. Dry skin is best characterized by a lack of natural oils. Dehydrated skin is best characterized by a lack of water.
When your skin loses water and becomes dehydrated, it can appear dull, rough, even itchy and tight. Fine lines are more visible around your eyes and around your mouth.
The most common signs that your skin may be dehydrated are: dullness, increased sensitivity, rougher texture, more pronounced fine lines, tightness, itchiness, oiliness and flakiness.
Explore my picks of the best hydrating serums and face creams for dry skin on the blog here.
Sources: Healthline: Is My Skin Dehydrated?; WebMD: Signs of Poor Skin Hydration
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Here’s the thing about Hyaluronic Acid. It doesn’t work if you don’t use it correctly. How Hyaluronic Acid works to hydrate your skin is by attracting and binding to water molecules like a magnet.
Those same skincare marketers love to claim that it “holds 1,000 times its weight in water” and that it “draws water from the air.” The first claim is nonsensical and the second claim is misleading and self-serving.
In fact, a 2023 study found that high-molecular weight Hyaluronic Acid absorbed 30 times its weight in water, while low-molecular weight HA absorbed only 20 times its weight in water.
While HA can certainly pull water from the air, it can’t do that if the air is dry as in the low-humidity months of winter. And as Hyaluronic Acid is absorbed into the uppermost layers of your skin (it doesn’t go very deep), the place where it’s drawing water from isn’t necessarily the air; it’s the skin itself.
Water is stored in the dermis, deep below the epidermis and the skin barrier. Hyaluronic Acid draws water to the surface from below more easily than it pulls water into your skin from the air – especially if the air is dry.
So essentially what you’re doing when you apply a humectant like HA is pulling water up to the skin barrier where you get the impression that your skin is more hydrated, plump and soft. Unfortunately, it also makes it easier for the water to be sucked out into the dry air around you!
The trick is to “lock and block.” Lock hydration in with humectants like Hyaluronic Acid, Ectoin and Polyglutamic Acid and block their escape through the skin barrier with lipids like ceramides and fatty acids as well as emollient plant oils.
I always recommend pairing a hydrating serum with a well-formulated lipid-replenishing moisturizer like Untoxicated’s Moisture Boost Hydrating Cream and the Skinfix Triple Lipid-Peptide Cream and The INKEY List’s Bio-Active Ceramide Moisturizer. You can catch reviews of all of these on the blog here.
Remember – drink plenty of water and don’t forget sunscreen!
5. Product Review
As I said earlier, there are multiple humectants used in skincare, many of which are actually more effective than hero Hyaluronic Acid. And new ones like Glycogen and Hydroxypropyltrimonium Hyaluronate are on the way in 2025.
The hot new humectant of 2024 was Ectoin. The natural amino acid derivative appeared in several notable products introduced throughout the year including the Dr. Dennis Gross DermInfusions Fill + Repair Serum and the Skinfix Ceramide + Ectoin Gentle Gel Cleanser.
But the product that wowed me the most has been The INKEY List’s innovative new hydrator, the Ectoin Hydro-Barrier Serum. With a blend of 2% Ectoin, 2.5% multi-molecular Hyaluronic Acid and ceramides, it’s got a wonderfully light gel-serum texture that melt instantly into your skin without any sticky feel.
I’ve slotted it into my AM routine after Niacinamide and before my moisturizer. In the PM, I use it after a peptide serum and right before my Retinol cream.
It’s the Ectoin for me. What is Ectoin and how does it compare with Hyaluronic Acid? Well, similarly to HA, Ectoin binds to water molecules. But it goes a step further by creating a protective “hydration shell” around cells that more effectively locks moisture in the skin.
Ectoin also helps to strengthen and repair the skin barrier, reinforcing it against trans-epidermal water loss. It essentially helps to block water loss through the skin barrier, something that is normally the function of lipids like ceramides and fatty acids.
Multiple studies have demonstrated Ectoin’s unique ability to hydrate skin. A clinical trial published by the National Library of Medicine at the NIH analyzed the anti-aging properties of Ectoin and found the molecule’s moisturizing benefits lasted up to 24 hours.
I’m so obsessed with how well The INKEY List’s Ectoin Hydro-Barrier Serum has worked for my skin that I’ve been through three bottles of it in the two months since it launched. Like all INKEY products, it’s super accessible at just $15. You gotta give it a try and put it to work to protect and preserve your skin heath during the cold, dehydrating winter months.
PRODUCT REVIEW: THE INKEY LIST BIO-ACTIVE CERAMIDE REPAIRING AND PLUMPING MOISTURIZER
6. Pros & Cons
What I like about it: The INKEY List Ectoin Hydro-Barrier Serum is one of the coolest product innovations of the past year. I love its light, silky and non-greasy texture. And, its ability to both lock water in the skin and block trans-epidermal water loss is exceptional. It’s the ideal product for preventing dehydration in the low-humidity winter months.
What I don’t like about it: I like everything about it.
Who it’s for: All skin types, including sensitive skin.
SHOP THE BLOG: Want to try it for yourself? Purchase The INKEY List Ectoin Hydro-Barrier Serum for $15 here.
FIND OUT WHICH SERUM PERFORMED BETTER – AND BY HOW MUCH!
The Ingredient List of The INKEY List Ectoin Hydro-Barrier Serum:
aox|so|h, Hydrolyzed Sodium Hyaluronate h, Sodium Hyaluronate sii|h 0 0, Maltodextrin, Phenoxyethanol pres, Sodium Stearoyl Glutamate emu|surf, Panthenol so|h 0 0, Cetearyl Alcohol emo|vc|emu|surf 1 2, Sclerotium Gum vc, Xanthan Gum vc, Glyceryl Stearate emo|emu 0 1, Jojoba Esters so|emo|h, Coco-Caprylate/Caprate emo, Ethylhexylglycerin pres, Sodium Citrate chel|buff, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Wax emo, Citric Acid buff, Polyglyceryl-10 Stearate emu, Avena Sativa (Oat) Kernel Extract aox|so|emo|abrasive/scrub, Glycerin 
sii|h 0 0, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate amic|pres, Triethyl Citrate perf, Pentylene Glycol solv|h, Polyglyceryl-6 Behenate, Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer sii|aox|h, Ceramide NP sii, Hyaluronic Acid sii|h, Ceramide AP sii, Cholesterol sii|emo 0 0, Phytosphingosine sii|cci|aacne|amic, Behenic Acid surf|emu 0 0, Sodium Levulinate, Polyglycerin-3 h, Potassium Sorbate pres, Sodium Cetearyl Sulfate surf, Ceramide EOP sii
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