If water and oils repel, how come oils moisturize the skin?
In: Biology
So I’ve been told: Our bodies and cells contain water. When exposed to air, this water evaporates somewhat. Especially when the air is very dry, this can dry out the skin. However, if some barrier were to exist between our cells and the air, this evaporation could be significantly reduced. Normally we think of barriers as needing to be solid, but in this case there is no reason why it has to be solid, as long as neither gas nor water passes through.
As you noted, water doesn’t mix with oil, so the water does not pass through, and gas similarly does not, so the water is contained in the skin.
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