Body Skin and Dryness With Age: What the Moisturiser Trials Actually Measured

Body Skin and Dryness With Age: What the Moisturiser Trials Actually Measured

The short version

  • Dry skin is the most common cause of itch in older adults, and no therapy is universally accepted (Patel, 2010).
  • Six moisturisers compared head to head all improved dryness, and none beat the rest. Using one regularly matters more than which one (Shim, 2016).
  • A set wash plus leave-on products twice daily lowered dryness scores in care home residents over eight weeks (Hahnel, 2017). Legs measured driest.
  • Natural does not mean gentle. Olive oil reduced barrier integrity while sunflower seed oil improved hydration (Danby, 2013). Coconut oil matched mineral oil rather than beating it (Agero, 2004).
  • We sell the Pure Fiji body range. No trial below tested a Pure Fiji product. The evidence supports a habit, not a brand.

The trial nobody wants to quote

Eighty people with moderate to severe dryness applied six moisturisers to marked areas twice daily for four weeks, including a cream with recombinant human epidermal growth factor and the same cream without it.

All six significantly improved the clinical signs of dryness, and none did better than another. The authors concluded that regular use matters far more than the formulation (Shim, 2016). Four weeks is short, and nobody followed up after people stopped.

The study closest to older skin

In Berlin, 133 long term care residents with dry skin, mean age 83.8 years, were given one of two structured regimens or usual care. Each paired a set body wash with leave-on products twice daily for eight weeks.

Both structured groups finished with lower Overall Dry Skin scores than usual care, and legs measured drier than arms and trunk (Hahnel, 2017). It cannot say which part did the work, since wash and creams moved together.

Where the numbers get less flattering

A 2024 trial in 36 nursing home residents in Jakarta compared low and high molecular weight hyaluronic acid and a plain lotion on the leg. After four weeks the low molecular weight site read higher on the hydration meter, with no difference in water loss or in the assessor graded symptom score (Muhammad, 2024).

That score is the SRRC index, which grades scaling, roughness, redness and cracks (Castello, 2011). So the meter separated and the visible dryness did not.

Thirty six people over four weeks is small, and nobody was asked how their skin felt. That gap is where marketing lives.

Washing nudges the barrier either way

Thirty volunteers with sensitive skin washed one forearm with a soap free emulsion at pH 5.5 and the other with water alone, for three weeks. Both produced mild barrier damage, mild dehydration by day 21 and a rise in surface pH, with no significant difference between them (Bornkessel, 2005).

What matters is not washing more than you need to, and what you do after.

A routine, with the evidence marked

  • Use a leave-on moisturiser. This part has trial evidence behind it. Everything that improved dryness scores above was a leave-on.
  • Twice a day. The frequency the trials used, not one they tested.
  • Start with your shins. Practical, since legs measured driest, but untested.
  • Shorter, cooler showers. Convention, not evidence. Neither was tested in any study we found.
  • A soap free wash rather than bar soap. Convention. No study here compared them.
  • Pat dry, leave the skin damp. Convention again, no trial behind it.

Plant oils, honestly

Nineteen adults took part in two randomised forearm controlled studies. Olive oil applied twice daily reduced stratum corneum integrity and produced mild redness. Sunflower seed oil preserved integrity, caused no redness and improved hydration (Danby, 2013). The oils were compared side by side in the second cohort only, and these were adults in newborn skin care research, not people over sixty.

Coconut oil has been measured directly. In 34 people, coconut oil and mineral oil on the legs twice a day for two weeks both improved hydration and surface lipid, with no difference between them (Agero, 2004). Comparable, not superior.

What we stock, and what we are not claiming

We carry the Pure Fiji body range at Parnell. We are a shop with a treatment room, not a clinic. We stocked it because coconut oil is one of the few plant oils tested against a standard moisturiser, and because texture decides whether anyone keeps using something.

That is why we were comfortable, not a ranking. The coconut oil trial used the neat oil, while ours is a blend with dilo, sikeci and macadamia, and the lotion, butter and gel are emulsions and a wash.

Dilo and sikeci have no randomised body dryness trials we could find, and the hyaluronic acid in the Body Butter has no published molecular weight, so the Jakarta result does not carry over. A body cream changes how skin looks and feels, which is cosmetic rather than medical.

What to actually do

  • Pick a texture you will genuinely use, and apply it twice a day.
  • Use a scrub sparingly, never on cracked or split skin.
  • See a GP or dermatologist if itch is persistent, disturbs your sleep, comes with a rash or is new. The review above lists other causes of itch that become more common with age, and that is a medical question.

Come in and feel the textures before you commit. No study can do that part for you.

Frequently asked questions

Does an expensive moisturiser work better than a cheap one for dry body skin?
Not in the one trial that tested it head to head. Six moisturisers were compared in 80 people over four weeks, including a cream containing recombinant human epidermal growth factor and the same cream without it, and all improved the clinical signs of dryness with none better than another. Four weeks is short, but the practical reading is to pick a texture you will actually use twice a day rather than paying for a hero ingredient.
How often should I moisturise my body if my skin is dry?
Twice a day is the frequency the trials used, not one they tested against anything else. In 133 Berlin care home residents, mean age 83.8 years, structured regimens pairing a set body wash with twice daily leave-on products produced lower dryness scores than usual care over eight weeks. That trial cannot say whether the wash or the creams did the work, because they were changed together.
Is coconut oil good for dry skin?
It is a reasonable cosmetic option rather than a special one. In 34 people with mild to moderate dryness, virgin coconut oil and mineral oil applied to the legs twice a day for two weeks both improved hydration and surface lipid, with no significant difference between them. Comparable, not superior, in a small two week study.
Are all natural plant oils the same on dry skin?
No, and there is direct evidence against it. In two randomised forearm controlled studies in 19 adults, twice daily olive oil reduced stratum corneum integrity and produced mild redness, while sunflower seed oil preserved integrity, caused no redness and improved hydration. The two were compared side by side in the second cohort only, and the volunteers were adults in newborn skin care research rather than people over sixty.
Does washing itself dry the skin out, even with a gentle wash?
Mildly, yes. Over three weeks in 30 volunteers, a soap free pH 5.5 emulsion on one forearm and water alone on the other both produced mild barrier damage, mild dehydration by day 21 and a rise in surface pH, with no significant difference between them. That compared a mild wash against water, not against bar soap, so the part with trial evidence behind it is using a leave-on moisturiser rather than the choice of cleanser.
Back to blog

Keep reading