How can we ‘see’ and ‘feel’ well-hydrated skin if the water is beneath the surface?

Question

This might be a dumb question, but I’m confused about the notion of dry vs well-hydrated skin. It seems like healthy skin will lock in the water within our bodies and prevent it from escaping. This appears to be the goal of moisturizers, sebum, etc.

What confuses me, though, is how we can *see* dry vs healthy skin. After all, isn’t the water tucked away underneath the skin? Is the skin itself actually ‘dry’ then?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

Your skin is actually soaked in oil, not water. Every dead cell making up your skin has oil in it. Dry skin is when there isn’t enough of this oil, causing the dead skin to dry out and flake away.