Best Ceramide-Infused Creams and Serums for Healthier Skin

Best Ceramide Products

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When formulated into skincare products, ceramides boost moisture in the skin and repair a compromised skin barrier. This makes ceramides the most sought-after ingredient for anyone dealing with dry skin, seasonal dryness, and irritated skin. If you’re experiencing any of these skin issues, know that ceramides work. Keep reading to learn about how ceramides benefit your skin and the best ceramide products to get started.

What are Ceramides?

Ceramides are lipids present in your skin and their main function is to keep your skin moisturized and your skin barrier intact.

In skincare, ceramides are used to increase moisture and repair damaged skin barrier. You can find ceramides in skincare products under different names like ceramide NP, ceramide EOP, or sphingolipids.

Ceramides don’t hydrate the skin. They increase the skin’s hydration simply by preventing dehydration. Hydration requires water. And ceramides are not water: they’re emollients.

Benefits of Ceramides in Skincare

Repair Skin Barrier

When your skin is dry or irritated, your skin’s ceramides decrease, resulting in a compromised skin barrier. This causes further problems like dryness, flaky skin, sensitivity, and redness.

Ceramide-infused skincare products replace this loss and help repair the skin barrier. That’s also how ceramides help calm the skin and soothe irritation.

Prevent Transepidermal Water Loss

Tranespeidermal water loss is the amount of water evaporating from the skin at any given time. It can increase when your skin is irritated or exposed to elements like harsh weather. Ceramides prevent transepidermal water loss to a great extent.

Protect Skin

Ceramides protect your skin by keeping your skin barrier intact. A healthy, functioning skin barrier keeps moisture in and keeps acne-causing bacteria out.

Increase Moisture

When used in skincare, ceramides stimulate your skin into producing its own ceramides. They help your skin hold moisture in, resulting in better moisture retention. Moisturized skin looks smoother and feels softer.

Who Should Use Ceramide Products?

Anyone can benefit from using ceramide products as they’re mostly about enhancing moisture. People with very dry skin or rosacea can use ceramides to strengthen the skin barrier, keep the skin moisturized, and reduce inflammation.

All skin types tend to dry a bit during colder months. You can look for ceramides in your winter moisturizer for some extra help.

If you’re following an anti-aging routine, you can use retinol creams that contain ceramides or use ceramide-infused creams as they make the best moisturizers to use with retinol to minimize retinol dryness. You can also use a ceramide cream on top of your retinol serum to prevent dryness.

How to Choose Ceramide Products

Ceramides come in different forms like creams, oils, and serums. If you have very dry skin, definitely use ceramides in the form of a daily moisturizer. Because they tend to have additional barrier-enhancing ingredients.

Oily skin types can also suffer from dryness. But a heavily emollient cream can be comedogenic and can even cause breakouts on oily and acne-prone skin.

If you have oily or combination skin, you can look for more lightweight products like serums or oil-free ceramide moisturizers to support the skin barrier without the heavy occlusives.

Ceramides are not comedogenic. But ceramide creams formulated with additional heavy oils usually are. Additionally, look for additional products to enhance the effects of ceramides.

For example, squalane, niacinamide, and vitamin E work very well with ceramides as they are also moisturizing and reparative for the skin, making your products more targeted and effective.

Best Ceramide Products

From creams to serums and treatments, below are the best ceramide skincare products.

1. Alpha-H Vitamin E Serum with 1% Ceramide Complex

Alpha H Vitamin E Serum with 1 Ceramide Complex - Best Ceramide Serum - best ceramide products

Well, you don’t usually expect glowy or dewy skin when you’re talking about ceramides. Usually, your main concern is to repair a damaged skin barrier, calm skin, or hydrate as soon as possible. But this one will surprise you in a good way! This is the best ceramide serum I have ever tried because it also packs vitamin E, which is super moisturizing too. It also has macadamia seed oil and evening primrose oil. The serum is slightly slippery and leaves your skin visibly glowing!

Key Ingredients: Ceramides, vitamin E, macadamia seed oil
Skin Type: All skin types
Size: 0.85 oz/25 ml
Good To Know: Vegan, cruelty-free

2. The Inkey List Ceramide Hydrating Night Treatment

The Inkey List Ceramide Hydrating Night Treatment - Best Ceramide Products - best ceramide moisturizer

If you have dehydrated skin, it means that your skin primarily lacks water. In skin care, that translates to types of moisturizers made with humectants like hyaluronic acid, glycerin, or panthenol. And you need emollients like ceramides or squalane to prevent that water from evaporating. This formula has both! That’s why this nightly treatment is the best ceramide product to hydrate the skin and increase moisture. It replenishes with hyaluronic acid and keeps the skin moisturized with ceramides. The super-affordable treatment gives you softer and smoother skin by morning.

Key Ingredients: Ceramides, hyaluronic acid
Skin Type: All skin types
Size: 1 oz/30 ml
Good To Know: Fragrance-free, vegan, cruelty-free

3. La Roche Posay Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturizer

La Roche Posay Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturizer - best ceramide moisturizer - ceramide products

This ceramide cream is oil-free, making it the best ceramide moisturizer for oily and acne-prone skin. The cream increases moisture with ceramides and niacinamide, which is also helpful in stimulating lipid production. You can use the cream to get rid of dehydration and flakiness on oily skin without worrying about clogged pores or acne.

Key Ingredients: Ceramides, niacinamide
Skin Type: All, especially sensitive
Size: 2.5 oz/100 ml
Good To Know: Oil-free, fragrance-free

4. Kate Somerville DeliKate Recovery Serum

Kate Somerville Delikate Recovery Serum - Ceramide Skincare Products - best ceramide serum

This one packs barrier-restoring ingredients without the heavy feel of a thick moisturizer. Ceramides, fatty acids, and cholesterol lubricate the skin and give you a more energized and healthy complexion. The serum also packs cucumber seed oil and sea buckthorn oil, which are all restorative for the skin.

Key Ingredients: Ceramides, peptides
Skin Type: Normal, dry
Size: 1 oz/30 ml
Good To Know: Cruelty-free

5. First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream Intense Hydration

First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream Intense Hydration - Ceramide Skincare Products - best ceramide moisturizer

This one is great for very dry, sensitive, and irritated skin. The fragrance-free formula has squalane and ceramides for lightweight moisture. It has soothing oatmeal, allantoin, and feverfew to eliminate redness and itchiness. The cream traps moisture in with its skin-softening base made with shea butter.

Key Ingredients: Ceramides, allantoin, colloidal oatmeal
Skin Type: Normal, dry, sensitive
Size: 6 oz/170 gr
Good To Know: Fragrance-free, vegan, cruelty-free

6. EltaMD Barrier Renewal Complex

EltaMD Barrier Renewal Complex - Ceramide Skincare Products

This ceramide cream is a lifesaver to get your skin to bounce back from dryness, over-exfoliation, or retinol dryness. The treatment packs multiple ceramides as well as niacinamide, squalane, and vitamin E to rebuild the compromised skin barrier. As a result, the skin becomes stronger against damaging elements like free radicals.

Key Ingredients: Ceramides, vitamin E, squalane
Skin Type: All, especially dry
Size: 1.7 oz/48 gr
Good To Know: Fragrance-free, non-comedogenic

7. CeraVe Eye Repair Cream

CeraVe Eye Repair Cream - Best Ceramide Skincare Products

The eye area could use ceramides. Because moisture will plump up the skin around the eyes and reduce the visibility of fine lines and wrinkles. This ceramide eye cream does exactly that. It also binds water to the skin with hyaluronic acid and improves moisture retention with niacinamide. The fragrance-free ceramide eye cream is suitable for sensitive eyes as well.

Key Ingredients: Ceramides, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide
Skin Type: All
Size: 0.5 oz/15 ml
Good To Know: Fragrance-free

8. Dr. Jart+ Ceramidin Skin Barrier Serum Toner

Dr. Jart+ Ceramidin Skin Barrier Serum Toner - best ceramide toner - Ceramide Skincare Products

This is a hydrating toner that doubles as a face serum and is perfect for when you need all the moisture you can get. The ceramide-packed toner also has hyaluronic acid to hydrate and vitamin B5 to soothe the skin, calm inflammation, and reduce redness. It’s an instant relief to calm dry, red, and itchy skin. The Korean formula is absolutely one of the best ceramide skincare products to effectively repair the skin’s barrier function.

Key Ingredients: Ceramides, vitamin B5, hyaluronic acid
Skin Type: All
Size: 5.7 oz/150 ml

So this is how ceramides work in skincare, how they benefit your skin, and the best skincare products made with ceramides. If you have dry, irritated, sensitive skin, definitely try ceramides in your routine.

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