Forget Slugging. Try Quenching.
You may have heard of a skincare trend called slugging. Slugging is a K-Beauty skin trend and is promoted as a beneficial practice for dry skin types as it’s meant to prevent trans epidermal water loss.
So, what exactly is involved with slugging? And does it have any benefit to the skin?
Here’s our take on it:
What is slugging?
Slugging involves coating the skin with occlusive moisturisers, such as petroleum jelly, as the last step in your skincare routine, to prevent trans epidermal water loss and keep moisture in your skin.
Occlusive moisturisers provide a physical barrier to the skin so nothing can get in or out.
The theory behind slugging
Coating the skin with an occlusive moisturiser as the last step is meant to replicate your skin's lipid layer.
The skin's lipid layer is made up of oil molecules and fatty acids that help protect the skin from dehydration.
If you imagine what happens when you pour oil on top of water, it sits on top and provides a barrier.
A healthy, intact lipid layer works in a similar way, sitting on top of the skin as a waterproof layer, reducing the amount of water that is lost from cells below it.
Is there a better way?
Slugging sounds great in theory – who wouldn’t want to lock more hydration into their skin?
There are 3 things that we question with slugging.
- Your skin needs to be able to breathe overnight. While you sleep, your skin repairs its protective lipid layer by releasing natural oils and secretions, which it cannot do through an occlusive moisturiser layer.
- Without the skin's natural lipid layer, your skin can't properly metabolise the other beneficial nutrients in your products and hydration is trapped on the skin's surface instead of being transported to the deeper layers within the skin
- Replicating the lipid layer is like a ‘band-aid’ solution and may ultimately compromise your skin's health. It would be more beneficial to replenish lipids where possible by using ingredients that are bio-compatible with the skin.
Introducing Quenching
Instead of slugging, we propose you try to QUENCH your skin.
It is the same principle - saturating your skin with intensely hydrating and juicy ingredients – but working with the skin’s natural functions, using products that allow your skin to breathe and working to replace and rebuild the lipid content in your skin.
Here's our suggested Quenching routine for dry skin:
1. Exfoliate using Facial In A Jar
To allow the hydrating ingredients to really penetrate to the deeper layers of the skin, start with a clean base and remove any extra debris or impurities from the skin’s surface by exfoliating. We would recommend a Facial In A Jar like Plumping Pumpkin or Brightening Berry.
The exfoliating gel masks not only offer a gentle but deep exfoliation. They also ‘give back’ what they remove, feeding nutrients into the layers of the skin to help improve things like skin tone, dullness, loss of elasticity and dehydration.
2. Cleanse
For dry skin we recommend our oil cleanser Drench or our Smudge Budge cleansing balm. Both of these cleaners remove the dirt and impurities from the skin using a healthy oil exchange, leaving your skin soft, fresh and bouncy. Both cleansers are rich in skin compatible, lipid-rich plant oils to help replenish the skin and preserve hydration in the skin.
3. Hydrate or Refresh
At Skin Juice, we don’t really believe in traditional toners (you can read more about it here), but we do advocate for Skin Drinks that refresh the skin and add some extra hydration into the skin after cleansing. Our Bio Juice contains an ingredient called Fucogel that is like a moisture magnet, clinically proven to not only provide immediate, but also long-lasting hydration to the skin.
If you’re a fan of serums, this is also where you should add them into your routine. Look for super hydrating ingredients like hyaluronic acid, aloe vera, marimoist and fucogel. Our Serum Factory Super Drink contains all these skin quenching ingredients, plus other hydrators such as Eau de Source Marine.
4. Nourish with Superfood Face Oil
This concentrated golden face oil is next in line to help nourish the skin and improve the texture and tone of the skin while you sleep. Superfood contains skin compatible, lipid-rich ingredients such as sunflower and jojoba oils, as well as Commipheroline that helps increase the fat storage in the skin cells and plump the skin from the inside out.
5. Finish with a layer of Green Juice to lock in the hydration and for some further TLC.
This final layer is our alternative to an occlusive petroleum jelly or cold cream. Green Juice is our multi-tasking, superstar Skin Rescue Balm. This oil-based balm melts into the skin, providing a breathable layer to infuse the hydrating ingredients into your skin. It also contains plant lipids that help rebuild your skin’s outer layer rather than just trying to replicate it, providing longer term benefits to your skin’s function.
One of the best things about this routine?
Although there are a lot of plant oils involved in this routine, there’s less of that ‘slick’ on your face than using a traditional petroleum jelly product. The plant oils in our products are meant to be metabolised or absorbed by the skin.
A sign that quenching is working, and your skin is soaking up the extra hydrating products is having minimal, or no residue left on your skin... which is surely better for your beauty sleep and your sheets.