Is Your Skin Drier This Year? A Derm Explains The Unexpected Reason Why

This past year, I had a very specific skin complaint I spoke at length about with anyone who would listen: My skin is so dry! I’ve always ebbed between oily-prone and combination skin, but for the past several months it seemed that just about everything I did to hydrate my skin was for not: I found thicker creams than I used to wear. I layered hydrating serums. I topped it all off with occlusive oils and sleeping masks before bed. And, yet, my skin was dehydrated. 

And I wasn’t the only one—anecdotally, most people I knew were suffering from parched, dull skin. Well after my chat with Bowe, I think I know the answer to why.

“I was reviewing some research about the brain-skin connection, and in one study there were these poor mice” They deliberately put them in overcrowded conditions, and mice, well, they liked their space. Putting all these mice in this very tight space—it’s almost like us in a pandemic with a house full of like five screaming children. That’s the level of stress they’re measuring—so a lot of stress,” she says.

She goes on to explain that because of the intense stress the mice were under, “they developed leaky skin,” she says, noting that leaky skin is how we describe a barrier that is not able to keep moisture in. “They actually measured something called transepidermal water loss. So they looked at how much water was actually being evaporated, leaving the mice’s skin, and they found that they were completely dehydrated. Just from being stressed out!” 

There are even several (early) reports that quarantine has triggered dry and inflammatory skin conditions to even just your basic itchy, dry skin. 

And here’s the thing: even despite our best efforts to tame it topically, stress still does a number on the body. “So they’re drinking water all day long, you know, they’re using their mouse moisturizer religiously,” she jokes. “But you know, their skin is getting bloated, dry, and they actually develop wrinkles. I think that that just speaks volumes to the idea that stress really affects how we look.”