Ceramides for skin care are getting a lot of attention lately, and there’s a good reason for that.
When your skin suddenly starts feeling dry, tight, flaky, or strangely sensitive, it’s easy to assume you need more water, a heavier moisturizer, or a different cleanser.
But sometimes the real problem isn’t what you’re putting on your skin, but what your skin is missing.
If your barrier feels “off,” it could be that it’s missing the ceramides it needs to repair itself properly. Below, we explain what these ingredients are, signs your skin needs more, and what you can do to replenish them.
What Are Ceramides for Skin Care?
Ceramides are special fats (lipids) that make up a big part of your skin’s outermost layer. You can think of your skin like a brick wall. The cells are the bricks. Ceramides are part of the mortar between the bricks that holds everything together.
This mortar is essential because it creates a strong barrier that keeps moisture in and irritants out. When the barrier is healthy, your skin feels smooth, soft, and balanced. When it’s missing ceramides, that wall can become weak, leaky, and vulnerable to damage and invaders.
Your body makes ceramides naturally, but environmental stress, harsh products, and aging can reduce the amount you have. That’s when your skin starts sending up flares that something’s not right.
Why Ceramides in Skin Care Matter for Your Skin Barrier
Ceramides have several important jobs they do for your skin every day.
Lock in Moisture
Without enough ceramides, water escapes more easily from your skin. This is why skin may be dry or tight.
Defend from Environmental Assaults
Ceramides help shore up the outer barrier, which helps create a shield against pollution, wind, cold weather, and allergens.
Support Sensitive Skin
Ceramides, in keeping the outer barrier strong, support sensitive skin by protecting it from irritants. When you have enough ceramides, skin is less likely to be reactive.
Help Skin Look Smooth
Moist, healthy skin looks naturally more even, with fewer visible fine lines. Ceramides help create this look by filling in the gaps between cells.
Do Ceramides Decrease As You Age?
Ceramides do tend to decrease as you age, and this is a big part of why your skin tends to change over time.
As you get older, your skin naturally produces fewer lipids (fats) overall. These lipids include ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids—the key ingredients your barrier needs to stay strong. When these decline, moisture escapes more easily, and the skin becomes drier, thinner, and more easily irritated.
One well-known study found that total intercellular lipids in the outer skin layer declined by about 30 percent in older adults compared to younger adults. Since ceramides make up a large portion of these lipids, this decline directly affects how well the barrier works.
The same study also showed that a specific ceramide subtype (ceramide 1, also called ceramide EOS) dropped from an average of about 15 percent in younger skin to about 11 percent in older skin—a meaningful decrease that can contribute to dryness and the weakening of the outer barrier.
A more recent 2022 study found that post-menopausal women had significantly lower ceramide levels and shorter ceramide chain lengths, both of which weaken the skin barrier. Interestingly, women on hormone therapy showed improved ceramide profiles, suggesting a strong link between age, hormones, and lipid decline.
Age isn’t the only culprit, however. Other factors can also deplete your skin’s ceramide supply, including harsh weather, hot showers and baths that strip the skin, aggressive skincare products, environmental pollution, and certain skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and rosacea.
What’s important is to know that as we age, skin will gradually lose some of the ceramides it once had that kept it hydrated and protected. This helps explain why skin often becomes drier, more reactive, and more easily irritated in your 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond, even if your skincare routine stays the same.
7 Signs You May Need More Ceramides for Skin Care
Your skin can’t tell you what it needs with words, but it does send clear signals. If you’re noticing one or more of the following, there’s a good chance your ceramide levels are dipping.
1. Dry, Tight Skin That Never Feels Satisfied
If no amount of moisturizer seems to help, your barrier may be letting water escape faster than you can replace it. This is one of the first signs of low ceramides.
Try this: Switch to a gentle cleanser and follow with a barrier-repairing moisturizer like our Calming Moisture. It’s lightweight but deeply hydrating and can help restore ceramide levels that help hold onto moisture. The ceramides in Calming Moisture (and all of our CV Skinlabs products) have a water-retention function that keeps your skin soft and supple while providing emollients to moisturize the skin.
Ceramides are like the “glue” in your skin that holds the other cells and structures together. This gives your skin the strength and support it needs to look its most youthful self. It also helps seal in moisture while sealing out harmful elements.
2. Flaky or Rough Patches—Even Under Makeup
When ceramides are low, dead skin cells don’t shed properly. Makeup may cling to dry areas, and skin may feel uneven or patchy.
Try this: Apply moisture while your skin is still slightly damp. For stubborn spots, use our Restorative Skin Balm to smooth and banish flaky areas. It’s a nourishing ointment that includes ceramides and other moisturizing and healing ingredients to instantly soften dry, rough and chapped skin. It helps trap in moisture with a breathable occlusive barrier to protect skin.
3. Redness, Irritation, or Skin that Overreacts Easily
A weakened barrier allows irritants to slip in, causing redness and sensitivity. If your skin used to be fine but now reacts to everything you put on it, ceramides could help.
Try this: Simplify your routine. Stop all exfoliants temporarily and focus on soothing, fragrance-free formulas. Calming Moisture was created to restore compromised skin and is excellent for reactive and / or stressed skin and to help support the skin barrier function.
4. Stinging or Burning When You Apply Products
A healthy barrier protects you from discomfort. A damaged one doesn’t. If basic products suddenly sting, your ceramides may be depleted.
Try this: Mist your skin with our Rescue + Relief Spray to instantly soothe any discomfort. Follow with a gentle, ceramide-rich moisturizer like our Calming Moisture.
5. Fine Lines Look More Noticeable
Dehydrated skin makes fine lines appear more obvious. Ceramides help skin hold on to moisture, so when they’re low, lines can look deeper or more defined.
Try this: Focus on barrier repair for a few weeks before adding on any other serums or treatments. Restoring moisture often softens the appearance of lines immediately.
6. Itchy, Irritated Spots that Come and Go
Ceramide deficiency is linked to conditions like eczema and dermatitis. You may see areas that itch, flake, or inflame, particularly in dry weather or during the cold winter months.
Try this: Try to take shorter showers and baths in lukewarm, not hot, water, and moisturize right afterward. For extra itchy skin, spritz Rescue + Relief Spray for instant relief. It will help calm and quell the itch, healing and rebalancing skin. Then apply moisturizer. Use our Body Repair Lotion on the entire body, then apply Restorative Skin Balm on irritated patches to calm and protect the skin.
7. Your Skin Just Feels “Off” or Out of Balance
Sometimes the biggest sign is subtle: your skin feels unpredictable. Drier one day, inflamed the next, and overall, more reactive than it used to be. This often suggests a weakened barrier rather than a single ingredient or product issue.
Try this: Rebuild your routine around hydration and protection. Start with a simple cleanse, tone, and moisturize plan. As your skin improves, add any other products you’d like to use back in one at a time and see how your skin reacts.
How to Restore Ceramides in Your Skin Care Routine
The good news is that you can restore your skin’s ceramide levels. Here are some practical tips you can take:
- Use a gentle, non-stripping cleanser: Harsh cleansers remove natural oils that your skin needs to make ceramides. Choose fragrance-free, pH-balanced options.
- Moisturize daily with barrier-focused formulas: Look for ingredients that support barrier repair, including ceramides, fatty acids, and soothing botanicals. Our Calming Moisture, Restorative Skin Balm, and Body Repair Lotion all have ingredients that help restore ceramides.
- Treat extra-dry areas with a soothing balm: For elbows, knuckles, lips, or irritated patches, use our Restorative Skin Balm to lock in moisture and protect your skin while it heals.
- Soothe flare-ups immediately: When your skin feels inflamed or uncomfortable, start with our Rescue + Relief Spray as it provides quick, calming hydration without added fragrance or harsh ingredients. Then, follow with our moisturizers.
- Protect your skin: UV exposure breaks down barrier lipids over time. Using a daily sunscreen is one of the best long-term defenses for healthy skin.
- Support skin from the inside out: Drink plenty of water and choose foods that help produce the lipids your body needs. Avocados, nuts, and salmon are all good options.
Strengthen Your Skin Barrier with Ceramides
With a gentle routine, a little patience, and barrier-supporting products, you can help your skin become stronger, calmer, and more comfortable again.
Is your skin missing the ceramides it needs?
Featured image by cottonbro studio via Pexels.
