Your skin’s moisture barrier is your body’s first line of defense against the world, which means that it bears the brunt of seasonal shifts, changes in climate, and your skin-care habits (like excessive exfoliation). That makes skin barrier repair an essential step in any regimen, even if you don’t have genetically sensitive skin.
That’s because the skin barrier needs to be healthy in order to carry out its all-important duties, which include “helping the skin hold onto moisture and protecting itself from outside stress, irritants, and infections,” says Y. Claire Chang, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York. And conversely, a damaged skin barrier “can lead to dryness, sensitivity, inflammation and irritation,” she says. “Supporting the skin barrier with effective skin-care ingredients is the simplest and most effective way to maintain skin health.”
Vogue’s Favorite Barrier-Strengthening Products:
Active ingredients like ceramides, cholesterol, and other lipids are staples among face moisturizers and balms, since they simply supplement and replenish the compounds that already exist in the moisture barrier. But others, such as panthenol and natural moisturizing factors, play a lesser known (but still vital) role in restoring the skin barrier—making them worth seeking out in products as well.
Also worth keeping in mind: As important as what you use to repair the skin barrier is what you don’t use. To that end, “avoid components that can dry out or damage the skin barrier, such as alcohol, abrasive mechanical exfoliators, or just over-exfoliating in general,” says Carmen Castilla, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in New York.
With all this in mind, consider these the ingredients worth adding to your routine to keep your skin happy and healthy all winter and beyond.
In This Story:
- Ceramides
- Cholesterol
- Panthenol
- Niacinamide
- Colloidal Oatmeal
- Natural Moisturizing Factors
- How We Tested
- Meet the Experts
Ceramides
Ceramides may arguably be the best known ingredient for skin-barrier repair, and understandably—since they’re a natural component of the moisture barrier. In fact, these lipids account for roughly 50% of the skin barrier, according to Dr. Chang. While she explains that “they act as the glue between skin cells to prevent water loss and maintain skin integrity,” their supply isn’t constant. Their levels can drop as we age, as well as from skin-care habits (like cleansing too often or by harsh surfactants and exfoliants) and environmental factors (such as dry winter weather).
Fortunately, it’s not especially difficult to replenish their levels with a dedicated ceramide moisturizer. “Topical ceramides help replace this natural lipid, restore barrier integrity, and improve hydration,” says Dr. Chang. She’s especially fond of the Aestura Atobarrier365 Cream, as “it uses a biomimetic ceramide complex that closely mirrors the skin’s natural lipid structure, making it incredibly effective yet gentle,” she says.
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is an unsung hero in skin care. While it garners attention in other areas of health—usually negative—that’s not the case in skin, where cholesterol serves as a critical component of the skin barrier. However, ceramides, cholesterol, and other lipids (namely, free fatty acids) “need to exist in the right ratio to truly repair barrier damage,” says Dr. Chang. That’s because they all work in coordination: “Cholesterol helps organize the ceramides appropriately and helps improve the flexibility of the skin barrier, while free fatty acids help seal cells together,” says Dr. Castilla.
In these optimized proportions, they can normalize barrier function and improve hydration in the skin. SkinCeuticals Triple Lipid Restore 2:4:2 is a gold standard among these formulations, since it delivers cholesterol, fatty acids, and ceramides in this ideal ratio; Dr. Castilla recommends it not only for those with dry skin, but also for anyone using harsh, barrier-compromising ingredients like retinoids.
Panthenol
Dr. Chang calls panthenol a “quiet hero” for skin-barrier repair. (You may recognize it as provitamin B5, a longtime staple in hair-care products to soften and strengthen strands.) But for your skin, it serves as both a humectant—meaning it attracts water into skin—as well as a soothing agent. And, as the latter, “it has skin-healing and anti-inflammatory properties that reduces redness, irritation, and sensitivity,” says Dr. Chang. She particularly likes it in La Roche-Posay’s Cicaplast Baume B5. “It’s a soothing healing cream that helps protect and repair dry skin, formulated with shea butter, glycerin, and panthenol,” she says.
Niacinamide
You may already know and appreciate niacinamide for its versatile skin-care benefits. After all, “niacinamide is a strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory ingredient known for its ability to repair oxidative damage and fight skin aging,” says Dr. Chang. But it also actively strengthens the skin barrier, too, “by supporting production of ceramides and balancing oil production,” she says. (One recent study actually found that it penetrates the skin barrier and alters its structure to make it more flexible in dry conditions.)
Niacinamide serums abound, but Dr. Chang is particularly fond of Paula’s Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster; its combination of 10% niacinamide, vitamin C and licorice root extract work to “repair, soothe, and calm the skin as well as strengthen the skin barrier,” she says.
Colloidal Oatmeal
For those with more severe skin-barrier damage—or, in the case of eczema, those with a chronically compromised barrier—it’s difficult to beat the benefits of colloidal oatmeal. While some ingredients offer strength and support, colloidal oatmeal delivers relief, helping to reduce the itchiness and irritation that occur as a result. Plus, colloidal oatmeal can help decrease the inflammation that compromises the skin barrier in the first place, says Dr. Castilla, effectively stopping the cycle. It’s so effective that the FDA recognizes it as an active ingredient in over-the-counter skin-protectant drugs.
For the body, Dr. Chang looks to Aveeno Eczema Therapy Itch Relief Balm, as it’s brimming “with colloidal oatmeal and ceramides to soothe itchy, eczema-prone skin while replenishing the skin’s natural moisture barrier,” she says. Meanwhile, for the face, Dieux’s Skin Mercy Intense Recovery Cream pairs 1% colloidal oatmeal with panthenol and glycerin; they’re based in a formula that “has a similar structure to skin and can help with reducing TEWL (transepidermal water loss) and increasing active efficacy,” Joyce de Lemos, cofounder and chief of product, previously shared with Vogue.
Natural Moisturizing Factors
Natural Moisturizing Factors aren’t a singular ingredient, but rather a class of ingredients that have a single function in common: “They work to draw water into the skin and maintain proper hydration,” says Dr. Castilla. In doing so, these help maintain skin hydration at the very upper layer of skin, which is the stratum corneum; when your skin’s inherent Natural Moisturizing Factors run low, it manifests as dryness and flakiness.
You may already recognize some of the most effective NMFs, such as lactic acid and urea—both at low levels. (They should be at 5% concentration or less, otherwise they’ll act as exfoliants.) Sodium PCA is yet another popular NMF. Dr. Castilla likes CeraVe Intensive Moisturizing Lotion; it pairs a low concentration of urea with lipids like ceramides and cholesterol, making for a comprehensive, barrier-balancing formula.
How We Tested
When we test and review a product, we take a holistic approach to deliver well-rounded product recommendations. First, we lean on Vogue’s vast network of experts—from board-certified dermatologists to celebrity estheticians—to gain professional acumen on the industry’s standout products, ones these specialists would actually use on their clients. We pair their expertise with our editorial best practices to curate the thoughtful edits you read on our site.
As it relates to skin barrier products, we selected the best based on the following characteristics: ingredients, texture, packaging, finish, and the skin-care concerns they address. To do this, we paired our own personal tests of each formula with expert guidance and reviewer insights to determine which we would recommend to you.
Meet The Experts
- Y. Claire Chang, M.D., board-certified dermatologist in New York
- Carmen Castilla, M.D., board-certified dermatologist in New York
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