I just learned that humans don’t have receptors to sense wetness. What is it that we feel when water touches our skin then?

Question

From my understanding, we’re able to feel the temperature, texture and pressure of water. And if we’re able to feel all that, what more else is there? What defines wetness and what should it feel like?

In: 1135

Answer 1

Have you ever bottle fed an infant? The way you test whether the milk is the right temperature for them is to squirt or shake some through the bottle’s teat onto the inside of your wrist. If the milk is the correct temperature, then you won’t feel it. You’ll plainly see the milk splash your skin, but you won’t feel a thing.

This is because the milk is at blood temperature, as is the inside of your wrist. Without a temperature gradient, the milk doesn’t feel cold or hot; the spray is too light to trigger your pressure receptors, and there’s no hair on the inside of your wrist for the droplets to brush against. Therefore, because you don’t have a “wetness receptor” on your skin, you just…don’t feel it.

You will after a second, though, when it starts to cool down and evaporate.