Why does washing your hands frequently dry out the skin?
In: 16
The oily stuff covering your skin (called sebum) constitutes a watertight layer over it and serves to prevent water evaporation from deeper layers of skin. Soap removes this oily watertight layer, so water starts evaporating from skin, causing dryness. This continues until the sebaceous glands in the skin manage to secrete enough sebum to restore that oily layer.
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