Glow With Hazel :-)

When I was younger, I honestly didn’t know what toners, serums, or creams were supposed to do.

I also didn’t understand why the order of skincare products mattered—at least not until my skin started becoming extremely dry.

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, things changed a lot after I moved to the U.S.
(If you’re curious, you can check out that post here – Understanding Dry Skin: My Skincare Journey in the U.S.)

That was when I started paying closer attention to each step in my routine.

Through a lot of trial and error, I slowly realized that skincare isn’t just about buying good products—it’s also about understanding what each product is supposed to do.

One of the biggest things I learned was the difference between hydration and moisturizing.

I’m not an expert, and I’ve never professionally studied skincare. But as someone who has struggled with dry skin for years, I wanted to share what I personally learned along the way.

Hydration

Hydration is like pouring water onto a dry sponge.

It focuses on adding water back into the skin.

When my face first started getting dry, I thought moisturizing was all I needed.

I kept applying thicker creams, thinking more moisturizer would solve everything.

But no matter how much cream I applied, my face looked greasy on the surface, and things still felt tight underneath.

I started realizing that heavier creams were not the answer to my dryness—sometimes my skin simply needed hydration first.

Once I started focusing on hydration before moisturizing, things felt much more balanced and “moisturized”.

Toners, mists, and watery serums helped my skin feel refreshed instead of just coated with products.

Ingredients like hyaluronic acid help attract and hold water in the skin, so if you are also struggling with dry/dehydrated skin, I recommend searching for products that contain Hyaluranic acid.

Moisturizing

Moisturizing is like adding a protective layer over that sponge to help keep the water from evaporating.

It helps seal hydration into the skin and supports the skin barrier.

After learning the importance of hydration, I also realized that hydration alone was not enough for me.

Especially because I’m constantly around AC, moisture disappears very quickly if I don’t properly lock everything in.

This was when products with ceramides, thicker creams, and sleeping masks started making a huge difference.

Instead of just making my face feel greasy, the right moisturizer helped things feel protected and hydrated for a much longer time.

Ceramides especially worked really well for me because they helped support my skin barrier and prevent moisture loss.

Over time, I realized that hydration and moisturizing are equally important—and finding the right balance between the two completely changed the way I approach skincare.

Dry Skin vs. Dehydrated Skin

One thing I didn’t realize at first was that dry skin and dehydrated skin are actually different things.

Dry skin usually means the skin naturally lacks oil, while dehydrated skin means the skin lacks water.

For the longest time, I simply described everything as “dry skin,” but I eventually realized I was probably dealing with a combination of both.

I don’t naturally produce a lot of oil, and things tend to feel tight and dry very easily—especially during winter.

But at the same time, if I skip hydration and moisturizing before bed, I sometimes wake up with more oil on my face the next morning.

That was when I learned that dehydrated skin can sometimes overproduce oil to compensate for the lack of hydration underneath.

Recommended Products for Each Step

These are the products that have been working really well for me.

For Hydration

One product that completely changed hydration for me was the Laneige toner.
It helped things feel hydrated underneath instead of just moisturized on the surface.

For Moisturizing

For moisturizing, one of my favorite products has been the Aestura Atobarrier 365 Cream.
It does an amazing job at protecting my skin barrier and locking in moisture overnight.

If you’d like to see more products that worked well for my dry skin (my full skin care routine for day and night), feel free to check out my full skincare routine post here:

👉 [Part.1] Skincare Routine for Dry Skin]
👉 [Part.2] Skincare Routine for Dry Skin]

Final Thoughts

One of the biggest things I learned through all of this is that dry skin is not just about using thicker creams.

Understanding the difference between hydration and moisturizing completely changed the way I approach skincare.

My skin still changes depending on the weather, stress, and even the season, but learning the difference between the two helped me stop feeling completely lost when it came to skincare.

I still don’t think I fully understand everything about my skin yet, but I definitely understand it much more than I used to.

Thank you for reading my post today! Hope you found something helpful 🙂

Sincreley,

Hazel 🙂