At first, the skin conditions resulting from dehydrated skin and dry skin may resemble each other. They both result in wrinkles, lines, premature aging, thin skin and more. As the body loses more water than it receives, other symptoms are about to occur to make the skin condition more noticeable than if it were only a problem of dry skin. Understanding the differences between lack of water and lack of oils is very important as these two skin problems require different kinds of attention in order to properly treat them.

The first main difference between dehydrated skin and dry skin is the amount of time it takes for the occurrence of either condition. Dehydrated skin happens rapidly while dry skin takes more time. Often people do not notice the time factors involved making both conditions more serious, more difficult to determine the causes and creating confusion on treatments.

If time is overlooked, there are many more distinctions in causes to help make an accurate decision. Aside from the signs of premature aging over a very brief period of time, there will be flaking or scaling of the skin, itching and loss of elasticity.
Dehydrated skin is causes by too many long hot showers, too much time in the sun, cold or windy weather, dry air, not enough water, smoking, too much alcohol, too many medications, to much coffee or caffeine, high salt consumed from foods, too much time in air conditioned rooms and poor skin hygiene. All these skin conditions will be coupled with dizzy spells, fatigue, nausea and headaches.

Causes of dry skin are aging, old age, menopause for women, skin conditions like psoriasis, the genetic factor or family history, too many astringents and too many skin medications for acne, pimples and other skin conditions.

The people who think that the dehydrated skin is really dry skin will find themselves over medicating their skin with all kinds of soap or not cleansing the skin enough at all which will only make the damage to the skin worse. They will also be taking medications to treat the harmful symptoms of dehydration like headaches and nausea rather than simply drinking more water.

What is dehydration? Dehydration is the process of water loss in the body being greater than water intake in the body. Once this condition occurs, cell function of the skin plus all cell functions in the body stops or dies. Without an immediate replenishment of water, the body can become very sick, collapse or death can occur too.

There is one immediate cure for dehydration and dehydrated skin. The answer is drinking plenty of water. The skin can lose up to a pint of water everyday. The body can lose up to two quarts of water everyday depending on the physical activity. Two liters of water is the recommended dosage to replenish the cells to perform all bodily functions in a healthy manner. Dehydrated skin and dry skin can also use moisturizers. A good moisturizer helps dry skin retain more oils and prevents the evaporation of water from dehydrated skin. Most people have some form of dehydration or dehydrated skin annually. Carry bottled water, cleanse the face and a little moisturizer daily can help too.