Squalane Is the Best Face Moisturizer for Summer's Sticky Humidity
By Rachel Nussbaum. Photos: Courtesy of Instagram.
Winter is summer's best PR, so by the time hot weather rolls around we're ready—give us all the warm nights, convincingly realistic bronze limbs, and outdoor dining. This is our fantasy of summer. The reality is much more sticky, because we always, very optimistically, forget humidity. Our love of creams, lotions, and gels? Out the window at AC installation, right along with our dignity. In its place is squalane, our favorite face moisturizer we're using this summer.
We first encountered the ingredient in Biossance's Squalane Oil—one pump left our skin velvety without a trace of tacky residue. Eyes opened, we noticed the ingredient popping up in everything from Sephora's best-selling eye cream to Tarte's self-tanner. Not content to love without reason, we went to derms for the logic behind why squalane works so crazy well for the summer months.
According to dermatologist Dr. Manjula Jegasothy, MD, there's science to back up our seasonal favorite. As a lipid, squalane's molecular makeup is similar to our skin's cell membrane, and because our skin is judgey and most accepting of things like itself, that helps it absorb super quickly. Combined with squalane's humectant properities—meaning it draws moisture in from the air—and the oil's a great summer solution, Jegasothy says. It's gone in an instant, and summer's humidity is finally put to good use: she says squalane sucks it right into your skin.
As for why you feel most moisturizers sitting on your skin and not squalane, dermatologist Dr. Hadley King, MD says the oil's all humectant, no "barrier"—which can be both a good and bad thing. While the feeling might be a turnoff, King says that thickness works to keep the moisture you're adding from leaving. "With a product like squalene, you may not always get enough prevention of evaporation for it to be quite as good of a moisturizer as something like Cetaphil or Cerave."
Still, it's summer and if you're oily, you might not need the big guns. Even if you're sensitive, King says it's still a good choice—squalane's very mild, which she says explains why it's so popular for your eye area, where otherwise gentle ingredients can burn like a mother on our delicate skin. Squalane's the stable, saturated form of squalene oil, which King says also keeps it free from degrading à la argan or almond oil (which nixes their benefits after too long on your vanity).
The point being, we're going to slather this on all summer long, then pack it away for next. Squalane us up, it's time to show humidity who's boss.
This story originally appeared on Glamour.
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