Body creams and lotions have been part of our lives since our birth. As soon as we do a little memory exercise, we will remember the famous blue cans or the Nivea body milk cans in the toilets of all the houses, to those new moms and dads lovingly applying moisturizing lotion to their babies after their baths. Because, just as we take care of her facial skin, we are aware of the importance of not neglecting her body skin.
However, to treat the first, we carefully choose the products, and for the body, what do we use? The abundance and variety of creams and lotions confuse us into believing that any type of moisturizer is good for our skin. And so we opt for cream or body milk indistinctly.
The first error is because the properties and, therefore, the effects of one and the other are different. Below we explain the differences between moisturizing cream and body milk and when the use of one or the other is especially recommended.
The different ratios between oil and water
This is the biggest difference between a moisturizer and body milk. Hence their different consistencies and viscosity, and their different applications, although in principle, they may seem the same.
Body milk has a higher proportion of water to be less occlusive and spread better on the skin. Its consistency is less dense, more liquid, and more fluid. In the body cream, however, the protagonists are the oils, hence its oilier and thicker sensation, which leaves a stickier touch, given its greater viscosity and consistency.
In essence, they are two products with a lot in common despite their different ingredients. Although it should be noted that most body milk usually incorporates antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and soothing components, which only some moisturizers contain since the latter’s purpose is only to hydrate.
Unctuous is different from effective.
It is important to banish the myth that body milk is especially indicated for normal and oily skin. This is because they are less dense and have more water and less oil– and moisturizing creams for very dry, sensitive, or damaged, with the false idea that being denser penetrates better into the deepest layer of the skin.
The specific function of all body moisturizers is to maintain the optimum level of moisture in the skin, to prevent it from drying out and its consequences –tightness, flaking, and itching. Keeping it nourished and soft by restoring its skin balance by providing lipids lost throughout the day, either due to exposure to external agents or the simple friction of clothing.
What is often forgotten is that the skin of the body is subjected to the weight of gravity, which, together with the changes due to the loss of collagen, favors flaccidity and sagging. And in this sense, the body milk’s lightness, enriched with selected ingredients designed to be absorbed quickly, allows firming, anti-cellulite, anti-stretch mark, and anti-aging agents to be added to its composition in greater concentration than in moisturizing creams.
Save moisturizer for sensitive areas.
Our final advice? The body moisturizer, the more fluid and less viscous, the better. And even more so if the body milk incorporates added active ingredients in addition to the purely moisturizing ones. This does not mean that you discard your usual moisturizer, but reserve this one for more delicate areas of the body, such as elbows and heels, where if the skin is extremely dry or damaged, the application of body milk will not be enough.
You can get all your skin care products at our store Edoboi, where you’ll see moisturizers perfect for your skin.
