If it feels such as you’ve tried each moisturizer and thick cream beneath the solar however your pores and skin nonetheless feels dry or tight, one newly trending skincare trick is perhaps the important thing. TikTok skincare developments admittedly don’t all the time knock it out of the park, however I feel the current hype round “pores and skin flooding” is properly deserved! Whereas it’s not a brand new thought, pores and skin flooding has repackaged a elementary skincare idea and helped it attain a wider viewers (one thing I’m all for).
Given this, it’s no shock that folks of various ages and pores and skin varieties are praising this straightforward skincare trick as a good way to supply light hydration. One of the best half? You most likely have already got every little thing you should do this development in your medication cupboard. Let’s discuss the advantages of pores and skin flooding and learn how to go about it for optimum outcomes.
What Is Pores and skin Flooding, and Why Ought to I Attempt It?
Pores and skin flooding is the method of layering a number of hydrating merchandise in a particular order to maximise hydration. Once we layer merchandise from thinnest (water-based) to thickest (oil primarily based), we’re offering a deeper, longer-lasting stage of hydration to the pores and skin.
The explanation I feel this “development” is so common is easy: each pores and skin sort wants water to be wholesome. Pores and skin cells are like fish, and want water to reside—even when you have oily pores and skin! Individuals typically get confused in regards to the distinction between dehydration (an absence of water) and dryness (an absence of oil). Whereas how a lot oil your pores and skin produces is set primarily by age and genetics, dehydration is a short lived situation anybody can expertise. Pores and skin flooding is the antidote.
Many individuals assume ingesting water will hydrate their pores and skin, however the one method to deal with dehydration within the pores and skin is with topical merchandise.
What Are The Advantages?
The best advantage of pores and skin flooding is that it will get hydration into the deeper layers of your pores and skin and retains it there.
By layering your merchandise from thinnest to thickest, the merchandise with the smallest molecules are happening first (the smaller the molecules, the deeper they penetrate!). This maximizes their efficacy, delivering hydration on a deeper stage. Pores and skin flooding immerses all layers of the pores and skin with moisture, serving to retain water and maintain the pores and skin hydrated. Don’t overlook to seal all of it in with moisturizer so your hydration is locked in all day or evening! By ending your skincare routine with a thick moisturizer, you assist maximize hydration by trapping water within the outermost layer of the pores and skin.
How Does Pores and skin Flooding Work?
Pores and skin flooding is easy—it’s all about making use of your merchandise within the appropriate order.
Step 1: Begin With Clear Pores and skin, and Don’t Wait Too Lengthy
Step one in pores and skin flooding is to start out with clear, damp pores and skin. That is one thing I name the Golden Minute Rule. It’s a vital a part of my skincare routine, whether or not pores and skin flooding or not. All this implies is that your first product needs to be utilized inside a minute of cleaning.
This helps stop your pores and skin from shedding water via a course of known as transepidermal water loss. Throughout this course of, water evaporates out of your pores and skin into the air, which might really trigger extra dehydration. Quick utility of skincare merchandise after cleaning will permit deeper penetration and assure dewy, hydrated pores and skin.
Step 2: Apply Alcohol-Free Toner
Subsequent up, apply an alcohol-free toner. Toner is the right product for pores and skin flooding as a result of it’s like giving the pores and skin an immediate drink of hydration proper after cleaning. For these with notably parched pores and skin, attempt making use of a number of layers of toner to actually infuse the pores and skin with moisture. Merely look ahead to every layer to dry down slightly bit and repeat the method three to 5 occasions.
In case you’re nonetheless not satisfied, take a look at 5 causes to make use of a toner in your skincare routine.
Step 3: Apply a Serum With Hydrating Components
Subsequent up, a serum. Serums are typically water-based to allow them to penetrate deeper into the pores and skin, so quite a lot of them include hydrating elements by nature. Search for elements like hyaluronic acid, glycerin, niacinamide, and tremella fuciformis.
Step 4: End With a Moisturizer For Your Pores and skin Sort
This final step is vital, as a result of with out all of it that water-based hydration you simply pumped into your pores and skin will evaporate. Moisturizer acts like a seal to maintain all of the goodness in. Lock all of it in with a barrier-protecting moisturizer or cream filled with ceramides and emollients, like Hydraboost Rescue Creme.
Who Can Attempt Pores and skin Flooding?
I encourage all of the 9 skin types to attempt pores and skin flooding! Whereas these with dry, delicate pores and skin will profit essentially the most, particularly in the course of the harsh winter months, everybody can revenue from deeper hydration. As I mentioned, all pores and skin varieties want water to be wholesome. Actually, one cause I prefer it for acne-prone pores and skin varieties is that it depends on layering a number of skinny, light-weight merchandise. That is manner friendlier for individuals who are susceptible to clogged pores than slathering on a thicker moisturizer in hopes of battling dehydration or dryness. (Talking of which, listed here are 5 methods to hydrate oily, acne-prone pores and skin.)
Pores and skin flooding is protected and has nearly no downsides—what are you ready for?
Curious how different TikTok developments stack as much as pores and skin flooding? Examine slugging (and why it’s not appropriate for everybody).

Superstar Esthetician & Skincare Knowledgeable
As an esthetician educated in beauty chemistry, Renée Rouleau has spent 30 years researching pores and skin, educating her viewers, and constructing an award-winning line of merchandise. Her hands-on expertise as an esthetician and trusted skincare skilled has created a real-world resolution — merchandise which might be formulated for nine different types of skin so your face will get precisely what it must feel and appear its greatest. Trusted by celebrities, editors, bloggers, and skincare obsessives across the globe, her huge real-world data and fixed analysis are why Marie Claire calls her “essentially the most passionate pores and skin practitioner we all know.”