All About Skin Flooding

There are always new tips, trends and dare I say it, fads in the beauty industry and the new beauty buzzword that seems to be taking TikTok by storm is “Skin Flooding” And it works. It’s really very effective.

Especially if your skin is dry, dehydrated or menopausal. And how do I know? Because us Beauty Therapists have been doing it for years! Decades even!! In the industry we call it “Layering” and if you’ve ever had one of our facials, you will have experienced it too. 

So what is Skin Flooding? It’s essentially layering up multiple skincare products onto damp skin in order to “lock in” moisture.

Simply put it’s applying your serums and creams onto damp skin to trap and “flood” it with hydration, increase product absorption and to protect the skin’s barrier function. 

A term you may not have heard of us TEWL or Trans-Epidermal Water Loss. What is TEWL? It’s just a fancy way of saying the evaporation of hydration from the skin, and we want to stop it from happening which is exactly what skin flooding does.

How do you Skin Flood? It’s super easy and something you can do, and should do, every day as part of your skincare routine.

There are four, simple steps: 

1. Cleansing – very important. The last thing you want to do is layer products on top of uncleansed skin. You’ll just be trapping sweat, oil, dirt and pollution, so a thorough cleanse is absolutely vital.

2. First layer of Serum – whilst the skin is still damp.

3. Spritz – we love ESPA’s Hydrating SpaFresh mist for this

(Repeat steps 2 and 3 until done and end with)

4. Moisturise – to lock in all of those lovely products.

The order you apply your serums can affect how well they are absorbed. A good rule of thumb is to start with thinner consistency products and end with the thickest. I also prefer to Skin Flood in the evening to make the most of the active anti-aging ingredients.

And if you have combination skin, you can always skin flood your cheeks or other drier areas whilst sticking to a simpler routine for the forehead or other oily patches.

My Top 3 Tips For Successful Skin Flooding

Always start with a completely cleansed face. We want to trap in hydration and moisture, we don’t want to trap in dirt, pollution or sweat! So a nice cleansed skin to start with.

It can be a little daunting to start… What products do I use? What order do I use them in? Here are a couple of tips.

Hylauronic Acid is your best friend when it comes to skin flooding (or just overall skincare!). Best applied on a damp skin, a couple of drops is sufficient, and apply all over the face, neck and even the eye area.

If you aren’t sure which product to apply next, a great rule of thumb is to start with the thinnest product first and end with the thickest.

Finally, lock in all of that moisture and hydration with a good quality moisturiser. Don’t skip this step thinking that by layering you’ve done enough.

Remember with skin flooding we want to avoid TEWL (this is just a fancy way of saying evaporation of hydration from the surface of the skin), and using a moisturiser as that final step does this.