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While you might need first come throughout the time period “slugging” on Reddit or TikTok, pores and skin slugging isn’t simply the development du jour. This apply has been featured in Okay-beauty routines for fairly a while.
For the slugging curious who aren’t but absolutely within the learn about this moisturizing trick, slugging doesn’t really contain slugs. But it does contain making like a slug, in a means — you slime your face with an occlusive, like petroleum jelly, earlier than mattress so as to get up with glowing pores and skin. Occlusives are issues that act as limitations in your pores and skin to carry in moisture.
Does it work? We reached out to Jessie Cheung, MD, board licensed dermatologist and founding father of Cheung Aesthetics & Wellness, to seek out out.
“Skin slugging is simply the application of an occlusive to act as a barrier to seal moisture into the skin. Dermatologists have been recommending for years as the last step in your skin care routine to treat dry skin, as we know that skin slugging helps prevent water loss,” says Cheung.
Want to provide slugging a go? Read on to seek out out what to make use of and easy methods to do it, together with different slugging tips and tips.
The principal aim of slugging? Helping hold your pores and skin hydrated.
In quick, chances are you’ll simply wake from an evening of slippery, slug-like slumber, with glowing, plump, and dewy pores and skin.
Surface advantages apart, listed here are the skin-deep advantages that assist make slugging a magnificence hack price making an attempt.
It prevents moisture loss
Occlusives sit on the floor of your pores and skin. This thick floor layer helps stop transepidermal water loss (TEWL), or the method of water evaporating out of your pores and skin. TEWL is an anticipated bodily perform, one which will increase with age. As you become old, your pores and skin could naturally turn out to be drier, and your pores and skin barrier perform could perform much less successfully.
An evening of slugging may help stop a few of that TEWL so your pores and skin stays hydrated — and exhibits the distinction.
It protects your pores and skin from damaging components
Like to crank the warmth while you sleep? That scorching, dry air can suck extra moisture out of your pores and skin and result in dryness. Chemicals in skincare merchandise and different environmental components may dry out pores and skin.
Adding the protecting layer of an occlusive of your selection may help shield your pores and skin from these components so that they don’t mooch that much-needed moisture.
It restores lipids
Skin lipids, your pores and skin’s pure fat, play an vital half in pores and skin construction and performance. They assist your pores and skin retain moisture, hold out micro organism and different dangerous invaders, and preserve pores and skin elasticity.
The identical issues that draw moisture out of the pores and skin may have an effect on the lipids on and in your pores and skin.
Research from 2015 suggests, nevertheless, that making use of moisturizers containing occlusives like petrolatum can restore lipids and restore the pores and skin barrier.
Slugging is probably not a superb possibility for everybody. Whether this magnificence trick will be just right for you can rely in your pores and skin kind.
Cheung recommends avoiding pores and skin slugging should you’re susceptible to clogged pores or pimples.
“Be mindful if you’re applying potentially irritating actives underneath your occlusive, as you will enhance their penetration. Be careful with retinoids, alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs), and beta hydroxy acids (BHAs),” Cheung says.
FYI: AHAs and BHAs are hydroxy acids that exfoliate the pores and skin at various levels, relying on their focus. Retinoids are compounds derived from vitamin A that may assist deal with pimples and different pores and skin issues.
The key to slugging is to make use of an occlusive in order that it creates that barrier over the pores and skin to lock moisture in. Petrolatum-based merchandise and merchandise containing ceramides work finest.
A couple of picks price contemplating:
Vaseline
Vaseline — petrolatum — is cheap and usually accessible. According to 2017 research, it’s additionally the simplest occlusive: It can scale back TEWL by greater than 98 %.
Aquaphor Healing Ointment
Aquaphor, one other all-purpose ointment sluggers swear by, is 41 % petrolatum. It additionally accommodates mineral oil and lanolin, each of which scale back TEWL by 20 to 30 percent.
CeraVe Moisturizing Cream
CeraVe Moisturizing Cream accommodates petrolatum, together with three ceramides and hyaluronic acid.
Ceramides are lipids discovered within the pores and skin. Research from 2018 suggests ceramide cream can improve pores and skin hydration and reduce TEWL. Though ceramides aren’t occlusives, they work equally relating to locking in moisture.
Hyaluronic acid, one other standard skincare ingredient, may assist hold your pores and skin hydrated.
You can attempt slugging in two alternative ways.
You can go all in and slug in a single day, or you may attempt short-contact slugging, which entails slugging for only a few hours. The latter gives a great way to attempt slugging should you simply can’t abdomen the sensation of sleeping sticky.
Here’s easy methods to slug, each methods.
How to slug in a single day
Grease marks in your pillowcase will occur while you sleep the slug life, so that you would possibly need to begin by swapping out your good linens for some backups should you’re frightened concerning the mess.
How to short-contact slug
Short-contact slugging can work nicely when you’ve a number of hours to spare, like between getting residence from college or work and going to mattress.
Ready to attempt slugging?
A couple of closing tips:
- Aim to use the occlusive to damp pores and skin, whether or not it’s damp from cleaning or different pores and skin merchandise.
- If you utilize OTC or prescription drugs for pimples or different pores and skin issues, don’t apply these earlier than slugging. You may improve their results and irritate your pores and skin. But don’t skip them, both — examine together with your dermatologist earlier than you attempt slugging.
- If you’ve a pores and skin situation like psoriasis or eczema, it’s finest to examine with a dermatologist earlier than slugging.
- If slugging results in elevated breakouts, rashes, pores and skin discoloration, or any irritation, you’ll need to cease doing it. If any pores and skin signs don’t enhance inside a day or two, connecting with a healthcare skilled is an efficient subsequent step.
Slugging can depart your pores and skin with a glowing, gentle look straight away. But if you wish to soothe dry pores and skin, chances are you’ll must slug it for a number of days earlier than you discover outcomes.
In quick, everybody has totally different pores and skin, and particular person skincare must match. So, there’s no set timeline for the way shortly slugging will work.
Slugging could have gone viral due to skincare and wonder influencers on TikTok and different social media platforms. But making use of Vaseline and different occlusives to seal in pores and skin’s moisture is nothing new.
If you’d like to deal with pores and skin dryness or simply up your glow, slugging gives a secure magnificence trick to attempt at residence.
Hoping to deal with persistent pores and skin issues or get some basic steering on making a customized skincare routine? A board licensed dermatologist can supply extra data on remedy choices and show you how to get began with a skincare routine.
Adrienne Santos-Longhurst is a Canada-based freelance author and writer who has written extensively on all issues well being and life-style for greater than a decade. When she’s not holed-up in her writing shed researching an article or off interviewing well being professionals, she will be discovered frolicking round her seashore city with husband and canine in tow or splashing concerning the lake making an attempt to grasp the stand-up paddle board.