Why can’t we use only water to moisturize our skin when moisturizing is basically putting water back to our skin?
In: Biology
Because your skin doesn’t use purely water to stay “moist”. Your skin uses oils to keep itself supple and stretchable. Soap when coupled with aggressive band continued scrubbing will remove a lot of these oils and dry out the skin. You’ll notice that effect the most where the body has no sweat glands like the knees and elbows. Even if you were submerged in water that skin wouldn’t magically become moisturized.
Lotions use oils (like coconut oil) and other chemicals to replace the natural oils your body uses. Allowing your skin to stay soft even when it’s lacking the natural oil it needs.
As an aside: that’s why during the current covid 19 crisis, when you wash your hands frequently you may want to consider supplementing your hand washing with moisturizer after wards at least once a day or your hands could become dry and cracked.
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