Have you heard the latest skin care term slugging? A lot of clients are asking me what exactly is slugging and to how do it. So here’s the down low on a super simple way to help your skin stay plump and hydrated.

Slugging is the simple act of finishing your nighttime regimen with an occlusive barrier.

An occlusive barrier helps your products to penetrate deeper and get locked into your tissue, as well as protect your skin from the environment. The best benefit of slugging is that it decreases the chance of your environment dehydrating your skin by attracting moisture out of your tissue by evaporation. We lose a lot of water from our bodies through our skin by evaporation every day! When we have the heaters on in our house or car, we are more likely to become dehydrated. This causes our skin to look more textured, scars to look deeper and fine lines to look more prominent.

Every day I hear clients frustrated with their dry skin explaining that they drink a gallon of water a day and their skin is still dry. But our skin needs more than water to stay hydrated. We need the perfect combination of salt, high

Help your body absorb water.

For your body to properly absorb water, it is best to take with an electrolyte or to add a pinch of pink Himalayan salt to your drinking water. Also I highly recommend drinking spring water versus tap water, as it has less chemicals and is more readily available for your body to absorb and use. Taking a high-quality omega (I love Ultimate Omega) can also help to hydrate the tissue from the inside out.

We can also lock water and moisture in our skin by applying prescriptive grade serums, a facial oil like Everyday Oil, and finishing with an occlusive barrier like Cerave moisture barrier as the last step to lock water into the skin.

To get that juicy glow, we need water and oil both inside the body and on the skin. Trapping that water and oil with an occlusive barrier by slugging is one of the best ways to trap that moisture! And that glow!