When you rub lotion into your skin and it vanishes, where does it end up?
In: Chemistry
Your skin is a barrier to the stuff underneath like glands and tissues. The lotion (or the moisture in it) gets absorbed into the glands underneath. Sort of like a sponge?
Lotions, creams, and ointments are all mixes of watery ingredients (water, alcohols, stuff like that) and oily ingredients. Creams are more oily than lotions, ointments are more oily than creams.
Generally, the oils are either absorbed and/or stay on your skin as a barrier, and the aqueous components are either absorbed or evaporate. Things that “moisturize” basically add some water to the dried surface skin, then make an oily barrier on the surface to prevent evaporative drying again- water goes in, oils stay on top.
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