Why should I apply oils to damp skin?

Perhaps you have read it in one or the other product description: Our shea cream as well as oils should be applied to damp skin. Is that really important? It actually makes a big difference. The Shea Cream does not contain any water - an advantage that all our products share. You can find out here why we do without it and how it affects the application.

Why anhydrous cream

Ingredient #1 in moisturizers is water. But where there is water, it needs preservatives to keep it from contaminating and emulsifiers for the 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 instead.

The pampers you with nourishing shea butter, cold-pressed organic oils, vitamin E and a natural neroli scent. This is pure relaxation for your skin. However, it still needs something to process the concentrated care power. You simply add this last ingredient fresh from the tap every day: pure tap water.

In order for oil to penetrate the skin, it needs water

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 coat. It consists of the skin's own fats and water, which escapes 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 mimic this protective film. Therefore, most of them consist largely of water, which is mixed with oil and emulsifiers to form an emulsion. These artificially added emulsifiers bring however 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.

With body oil, face oil and our shea cream, that won't happen to you. It doesn't contain any 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. The article Why water does not belong in but under care.

2 good reasons to moisten the skin before application

Shea Cream cares for moist skin just like body or face oil. At first glance, that might sound like more work. But it doesn't have to be. My tip: Apply the cream immediately after showering or cleaning your face. Simply skip drying and spread the shea cream on the still damp skin. This has two uses:

1. Shea Cream is quickly absorbed on damp skin and leaves a pleasant skin feeling. However, if we only put oil on the skin, it cannot do anything with it alone. However, 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 moisturizing is a must.
   
2. Together with water, the Shea Cream is extremely yield. A small drop is sufficient for the face. This is because the ingredients are highly concentrated. Even a small amount of cream has a great care effect. You don't feel oily and you can go a long way with one jar.

The care benefits of Shea Cream

With the Shea Cream you protect your skin from emulsifiers and preservatives that normal moisturizing creams bring with them. The skin benefits from the few but high-quality ingredients in Shea Cream. The high concentration makes it extremely productive. This saves you money and space in the bathroom cabinet. And we on the packaging - so the environment benefits too.

When cleaning your face with oil, oils belong on dry skin

There are also exceptions to the oil-water rule. Whether you apply oil to wet or dry skin depends on its function: oil needs water for care, but not for cleansing.

If you remove make-up with a cleansing oil, such as our FIVE Make-Up Remover, or treat your pores to a deep cleanse, damp skin is out of place. In this case, the oils should not penetrate the skin immediately, but pull out dirt. By the way, you can achieve a particularly great effect with the Oil Cleansing Method.

How does it work? You can find out in the article Cleaning the face with oil - The Oil Cleansing Method.