Most people have seen the word ceramide on the label of a toner or a facial serum. In skincare for the face it is a well-known moisturising ingredient, often chosen when the season turns dry. Far fewer people have ever wondered whether the product they use on their hands contains it.
The hands are washed, rubbed and exposed to dry air far more often than the face. They lose moisture more readily, yet products for the hands have traditionally concentrated on a single job: covering the skin with a film of oil. Soie put ceramides into a serum for the hands in order to question that assumption.
This article explains what ceramides do as moisturising ingredients, and why Soie combines five of them, staying throughout within the language of cosmetics.
The stratum corneum and how the hands hold moisture
The outermost layer of the skin, the stratum corneum, shields against external irritants and keeps water from escaping. Healthy skin on the hands holds a comfortable amount of water in this layer, with a film of sebum over the surface, and that is what gives it a supple, smooth feel.
The back of the hand has little sebum and thin skin, so this film is easily lost. When hand washing, wet work, alcohol sanitiser or winter air carry the sebum away, water escapes more readily from the stratum corneum, and the result is roughness and tightness. Moisturising the hands means restoring the balance between water and lipids in this layer. We have written more about this in the balance of water and lipids in the skin of the hands.
Water alone evaporates. Oil alone covers the surface but does not moisten the layer beneath. An ingredient that supports both is needed, and that is where ceramides earn their reputation.
Ceramides as moisturising ingredients
Ceramides are known as a type of lipid found in the stratum corneum. In cosmetics, ceramides are moisturising ingredients that support the work of the sebum film in holding water within the stratum corneum, helping to prevent dryness and roughness and leading the skin towards a supple texture.
Soie placed ceramides at the heart of its hand serum because of how hands are used. The face is washed a few times a day; the hands, many times. Rather than covering the moisture lost at each wash with a temporary film of oil, Soie chose to keep replenishing it with ingredients that support the moisture of the stratum corneum. That is what it means to regard the hands as a subject of beauty care like the face.
For sensitive skin, it is generally advised to avoid products that cause irritation, such as those with strong fragrance or a high concentration of alcohol, and to choose products containing ingredients that support the skin barrier, ceramides among them. Over-reliance on products that merely hold off dryness with an oily film is also worth avoiding.
Why five ceramides rather than one
There are many kinds of ceramide, and on a full ingredient list they appear under names such as ceramide EOP, ceramide NG, ceramide NP, ceramide AG and ceramide AP. Soie's Enlight Hand Serum contains these five ceramides (moisturising ingredients).
The reason for combining several ceramides with differing characters, rather than using a large amount of one, is that the stratum corneum of the hands is itself composed of a combination of lipids, not a single substance. The stratum corneum is thicker on the palm than on the back of the hand, and its condition shifts with the season and the number of washes. A formula with breadth, Soie believes, keeps closer company with skin that varies this much.
Ceramides do not work alone. In Enlight Hand Serum they are combined with plant-derived oils such as squalane, jojoba seed oil and macadamia seed oil, with peptides (moisturising ingredients) and with EGF and KGF (skin-conditioning ingredients), to give moisture to the stratum corneum while smoothing and conditioning the skin of the hands.
Choosing a product with ceramides
When reading an ingredient list, look for more than one ceramide, and for ingredients that support both the water and the lipid side of the balance. Above all, choose a texture you will keep using. However carefully a formula is designed, if stickiness makes you apply it less often, the skin simply has fewer chances to receive it.
With any new product, try a small amount on the inside of the arm first. If you notice redness, itching or irritation, stop using it and consult a dermatologist if necessary. The full ingredient list for each product is published on its product page.
It also helps to be clear about what a moisturising ingredient can and cannot do. Ceramides give moisture and help the skin stay smooth and comfortable; they are not a remedy for anything, and Soie does not present them as one. If a patch of skin stays rough or sore no matter how carefully it is moisturised, that is a reason to see a dermatologist rather than to change products again.
Where Soie's hand serum fits in
Soie's Enlight Hand Serum is a beauty serum made only for the hands, combining five ceramides and peptides (moisturising ingredients) with EGF and KGF (skin-conditioning ingredients); over 95% of its ingredients are of natural origin. It melts into the skin the moment it touches the fingertips and leaves no stickiness, so moisture can be layered into the stratum corneum after every wash.
There is no need to memorise the names of ingredients. It is enough that within the habit of moisturising after washing, ingredients chosen with an understanding of how the hands are built are quietly at work. That accumulation, Soie believes, is what brings out the smoothness and radiance the hands naturally have. The wider picture is in our hand beauty guide.
