Why Skin Feels Dry After a Shower

You step out of a hot shower feeling clean, and then it starts: a tight, itchy pull across your shins, a chalky feeling on your forearms, and that urge to scratch. Nothing has changed about the air in the room. So why does skin feel dry after a shower, and not before?

The answer is that water is both the problem and part of the solution. Understanding what a shower does to your skin barrier helps you choose a gentler routine for that tight feeling.

Your skin barrier is a brick wall, and water loosens the mortar

The Canadian Dermatology Association describes the outermost layer of skin, the stratum corneum, as a brick wall: the skin cells are the bricks, and your natural oils and lipids are the mortar that holds them together. That mortar is what keeps water in and irritants, allergens and infectious particles out, and it is remarkably thin, less than 20 micrometres thick (Canadian Dermatology Association, Dry Skin).

Showering disturbs that mortar in three ways:

• Water and cleansers lift your surface oils. Detergents in soap and body wash cannot tell the difference between skin debris and the lipids your barrier needs, so they remove both.

• Warm water strips oils more effectively than cool water. That is why a hot shower leaves you drier than a lukewarm one, even though it feels better at the time.

• Towelling does the rest. Friction from rubbing hard with a towel disturbs the barrier further.

Once the mortar is thinned, water escapes from your skin faster than it can be replaced. That escape is what you feel as tightness, roughness and itch a few minutes after you dry off.

Autumn makes it worse, and that is not a coincidence

Cold weather is the single most common cause of dry skin, according to the Canadian Dermatology Association, because of two things happening at once: outdoor humidity drops, and heating systems push hot, dry air indoors. Bathing habits often stay the same as the seasons change, so the drying effect compounds each week.

What dermatologists actually recommend

Both the Canadian Dermatology Association and the American Academy of Dermatology converge on the same short list:

1. Keep showers short, five to ten minutes, and use warm, not hot, water.

2. Wash with a gentle, pH-appropriate cleanser, and only where you need it (armpits, groin, feet), rather than soaping your whole body into a lather.

3. Pat or blot dry. Do not rub.

4. Moisturize immediately, while your skin is still damp. The AAD advises applying moisturizer right after you get out, when it can trap water in the skin rather than sitting on top of dry skin (AAD, Dermatologists' top tips for relieving dry skin).

5. Choose a cream or ointment rather than a lotion. Creams and ointments add more moisture and hold it longer; lotions are mostly water and evaporate quickly.

6. Reapply through the day, after every hand wash, and whenever skin feels dry. A small tube of hand cream in your bag does more for dry hands than an extra long soak.

What not to do

Resist the instinct to scrub away the flaky feeling. Exfoliating brushes, hot water and frequent long showers all push the same barrier damage further. The AAD also recommends pausing products that contain alcohol (hand sanitizer excepted), fragrance or retinoids when skin is very dry or irritated, because they can make the dryness and itch worse.

When dryness is not just dryness

If skin stays dry and uncomfortable despite consistent care, or becomes cracked, bleeding, painful or severely itchy, it is worth seeing a health care provider. Persistent dry skin can be a sign of an underlying condition such as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis or kidney disease, and those need proper assessment rather than another moisturizer (AAD).

Where a moisturizer fits

Moisturizing is an important part of caring for dry, eczema-prone skin, but a cosmetic cream is not a substitute for medical treatment when you need it. D&D Health Limited, the maker of Future Cream, states plainly that the product "will not cure conditions" and that it "is a cosmetic product, not a drug" (Future Cream). What a well-chosen moisturizer can do is reduce how much water your skin loses after a shower, which is exactly the problem you started with.

If you are in Atlantic Canada, Future Cream Hydrous Emollient is sold at local pharmacies and medicine shops, or your pharmacist can order it. Use the Future Cream pharmacy finder to look for a nearby location.

This article is informational only and is not medical advice. For a skin condition that is not improving, speak with a pharmacist or health care provider.