Vaseline Total Moisture

A few weeks back, Vaseline held a closed-door Skin Health Workshop and I was so honored to be a part of it. Our skin is our largest organ but we just don't seem to really care about it. We're always complaining about how hot is it in Singapore but we don't do anything to protect our skin from the sun's harsh UV rays. And in our society today, we are always working in air-conditioned rooms and though that obviously dries our skin up, we don't seem to bother about it at all. That's the thing about humans; they don't do anything until something bad really happens at the last minute. 

Through the Vaseline Skin Health workshop, I've learnt the importance of keeping our skin moisturized and healthy. Yes, I have always been moisturizing my skin after every shower since secondary school but there are days where I just don't do it because I'm either too tired or just plain lazy. Hence, when I don't put in that extra effort, I suffer from pretty dry skin and sometimes, it hurts. It's not a small matter when it hurts and action should be taken as soon as it happens. Just think about it, you’d go all out to find out why your stomach is hurting, but wouldn’t do anything when your skin hurts even just a little? After all, it is the largest organ in our body.

Like I've always said, prevention is better than cure. Before you start to experience any slight pain, or excessive dry skin that can't be healed anymore, or even wrinkles, here are a few important tips I've learnt through the Vaseline Skin Health workshop that you guys might find it handy!

Dr K.V. Ratnam from Ratnam’s Allergy & Skin Centre was the guest dermatologist speaker of the workshop joined us. Throughout the entire talk, he was emphasizing on the importance of respecting our skin and how to treat it right. I've gathered a couple of questions asked and answered during the session with him and here they are! They're pretty much some frequently asked questions that we always wonder about but never got the answers to.

Is it better to exfoliate before moisturizing?

First of all, exfoliation is the act in which old dead skin cells are being removed from the skin's outermost surface. It helps to maintain healthy skin as it stimulates skin cells turnover. Exfoliation should only be done once or twice a week. Harsh exfoliation will only dry the skin out hence it is always recommended to moisturize your skin after exfoliation. 

Back to the question, it's not necessary to always exfoliate before moisturizing because (as mentioned earlier) you should only exfoliate once or twice a week. Ultimately, you should aim for skin that isn't flaky or dry.

Why does one feel a prickly pain in an air-conditioned room? 

When you're in an air-conditioned room, your skin's moisture gets sucked up, hence leaving you with relatively dryer skin. This stimulates cell regeneration in the upper layer of your skin, which affects your nerves, thus giving you that prickly sensation. This usually only happens to people with dry and unhealthy skin. So if you're a victim of this, simply moisturize your skin to lock in its moisture.

How does dry hands come about? Is there a way to prevent it from peeling?

Usually, excessive washing causes dry hands. During the washing process (when you're washing the dishes or even soaking yourself in the bath tub for too long) you are actually removing the natural oil on your skin. Without the oil, your skin inevitably loses its moisture, which results in dry hands. 

The best way to prevent this from occurring would be to:

-Wear gloves when you're washing the dishes.

-Keep your skin out of contact with harsh soaps or detergents.

-Limit your bath time to 3-4 minutes. Take a shower instead. (Saves water too!)

-Moisturize your skin within 3 minutes after washing the dishes or after a shower.

Is lack of moisture the cause of wrinkles?

Wrinkles can form by 3 factors. Yes, moisture plays a part in it. If you don't moisturize, your skin will turn dry which is easy for wrinkles and fine lines to appear. But ultimately, wrinkles come with age when your skin's collagen production is decreased. Wrinkles can also be formed through photo-damage aka the sun's harsh UV rays. So remember to apply moisturizer and sun block at all times!

Vaseline Research & Development Manager, John Goh, also joined us after to talk to us more about the different Vaseline lotion variants. Do you know that Vaseline has been around since 1872?! That's a hundred over years ago! Basically, they came about when Robert Chesebrough, the founder of Vaseline invented a moisturizing lotion out of petroleum jelly, which was known for its ability to heal really dry skin. Vaseline quickly became a huge phenomenon and earned it's placed as the expert in healing dry skin through the years.

Vaseline is available in a wide variety of variants and all of Vaseline's Total Moisture range contains Stratys-3 technology. This new technology is able to moisturize all layers of the skin epidermis leaving it feeling light and silky. Basically, most moisturizing lotions contains humectant which attracts and holds moisture within the skin. Some lotions contains too little of this ingredient which leaves the surface of the skin inadequately moisturized. Other lotions however, contain occlusive, which is designed to sit on the surface of the skin to seal in moisture. But this results in the skin feeling greasy.

Vaseline is the first lotion to incorporate the Stratys-3 technology, which is designed to work across all layers of the skin epidermis without leaving a greasy residue. Now we don't have a reason to not apply moisturizing lotion after our baths no matter how humid the weather is.

Unsure of which variant to choose? Well, Vaseline total moisture lotion with pure oat extract (yellow bottle) is suited for all skin types. It's referred to as the "clean feeling moisturizer" and I couldn't agree more. It has a really pleasant and fresh scent that leaves your skin feeling nourished and clean! It's inclusion of oats helps in the skin's call renewal process, thus ensuring that your skin tone is evened out. Do you know that oats are also known to diminish wrinkles, reverse sun damage and tighten sagging skin?

Vaseline total moisture lotion aloe fresh (green bottle) is catered to a slightly dryer skin type. Aloe vera is the ultimate skincare treatment that is fast absorbing, non-sticky and it leaves the skin feeling cool, fresh and healthy. 

Vaseline total moisture lotion cocoa glow (brown bottle) is catered to really dry skin. It is a rich and nourishing formula that penetrates deeply into the skin epidermis, smoothing away roughness, leaving it looking and feeling healthy.

I've never realised the importance of keep our skin healthy until recent years. I guess things like this grow with age but I really think that having beautiful skin starts early. My dear readers, now that you're still young, please put in more effort into protecting your skin. It doesn't take more than 2 minutes to put on sunscreen or moisturizer. Kick-start the good habit and you'll be on your way to healthier looking skin that glows from within.

Head over to Vaseline's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VaselineSG for more tips on how to maintain healthy skin.

Thank you for reading!

xoxo,

Eunice Annabel