Dr. Somji Skin has reviewed a lot of dry-skin products, and his record is one of the more generous ones out there. Of the more than 30 he looked at, he approved the large majority, gave a few mixed takes, and skipped only a few. Even so, he is not someone who hands out praise for a nice texture. The products he rated highest earn it on ingredients, not feel.
What does Dr. Somji Skin recommend for dry skin?
What he keeps coming back to is barrier support. He praised CeraVe Moisturizing Cream and CeraVe Healing Ointment for their ceramide-led formulas. Ceramides help skin hold onto moisture and repair itself. He was just as positive about La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5, pointing to clinical study results showing 55% less dryness and a 98% drop in tightness over four weeks. He called it especially useful for sensitive or compromised skin. He also approved of lactic acid for dry and sensitive skin, naming The Ordinary Lactic Acid 10% + Hyaluronic Acid as a good pick. Among the products that earned his top pick are The Ordinary Squalane and Eucerin Aquaphor healing balm.
Dr. Somji Skin's dry skin picks, in his words
"The CeraVe hydrating cleanser is quite nice. It's a creamy cleanser that just moisturizes even whilst cleansing."
"The CeraVe Healing Ointment is like an inclusive dressing that you can apply to the skin when you want that little bit of repair. It can be put on dry, cracked areas, so if you've got dry, cracked skin, especially if you're someone like me that washes your hands like 50, 60 times a day, it's really really useful for those rough kind of areas. It's formulated with petrolatum, which is basically very similar to petroleum jelly or Vaseline."
"A lot of my patients actually like the Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm. They say it helps really remove makeup. [...] The Clinique cleansing balm has got some interesting ingredients: you've got safflower seed oil, caprylic triglycerides which are great for the skin barrier, and some vitamin E as well. [...] So essentially it's just a fatty acid cleanser that helps with the skin barrier. It's amazing that it was able to take off a lot of heavy makeup."
"I like Aquaphor as a lip gloss. It's got a petroleum jelly base but then it's also got some great essential oils in there and it's great for slugging. It's very natural. I use it post laser resurfacing as well and it's actually pretty good for the lips."
"If you've just got generally good skin on the High Street, the probably cheapest and the most safest thing to use is the oat blend in balm from The INKEY List. Fantastic because oat, it's one of the properties of oat is to help with a Skin Barrier, but this gives a good clean and a lot of patients love this that come to my clinic so it's really nice to use if you do wear a little bit of makeup and you don't have much time."
"I'm going to apply the Rhode Barrier Restore Cream, [...] a great moisturizer that is absolutely key for me. This pairs really well and [...] seals in the moisture and locks everything in beautifully. It would be good because [...] if she was using things like retinol and dry skin, then she could lay this on afterwards."
How many products has Dr. Somji Skin reviewed for dry skin?
Dr. Somji Skin has reviewed 33 products for dry skin, for an approval rate of 76%. 25 approved, 5 mixed, and 3 skipped.
What has Dr. Somji Skin skipped for dry skin?
Each product he skipped had a reason behind it. He passed on Drunk Elephant Lala Retro Whipped Cream, saying it felt pleasant but the ingredients were unlikely to actually change the skin, and that the price was hard to justify. Drunk Elephant B-Hydra Intensive Hydration Serum got the same verdict: too thin, with the added B5 so low on the ingredient list that he did not think it would make a real difference, and better hyaluronic acid serums available elsewhere. La Roche-Posay Retinol B3 Serum was another skip. The sticking point was the format: he called it a hybrid fail, explaining that he does not rate products that try to be both a serum and a cream at once. He also noted the retinol concentration was low.
"It feels nice as a product but there's nothing in these ingredients that are going to do anything for your skin. The ingredients are probably not going to change your skin. It's all about the price you're paying. If you're going to be paying like kind of High Street prices, these are great formulations but these are the same prices as some of the things that I stock in my clinics and my patients would kill me because they'd say look, my skin hasn't done anything."
"La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5, which is really popular, some people put this on like nappy rash, all sorts of things, is a soothing repairing cream but if you layer this, if you layer anything too thick, it's going to be comedogenic. So there's a word of warning and cautiousness. I wouldn't put it in any products now because there's so many other things that you can add, you've got olive oil derived ceramides to help with the barrier, for instance."
"It's super thin so it's easily absorbed, there's no doubt about that, but it's thin. It really needed that thickener. There are better other hyaluronic acids on the market that we've talked about in previous videos. Yes, there's some additional B5, but it's so low down the list that it's not really going to make a difference. I personally don't think that this product's worth it. I think there's other things on the market that can do probably much the same job if not better."
What should you take from Dr. Somji Skin's picks?
Dr. Somji Skin's dry-skin record is one of the warmest around, but what he really rewards is a formula built around barrier ingredients and honest pricing. If ceramides, petrolatum, or squalane are on the label, he tends to be on board. Where he pushes back is on products with a fine texture but thin ingredient lists, or formats he thinks are trying to be two things at once. His top picks, including The Ordinary Squalane and Eucerin Aquaphor healing balm, are straightforward, barrier-focused options. That tells you most of what you need to know about where he stands.
Watch Dr. Somji Skin say it
Every verdict here comes from a video. These are the moments themselves, each one jumping straight to the bit about that product.
- Drunk Elephant Lala Retro Whipped Cream Rescue & Recovery MoisturizerSkipped itWatch at 17:34
- La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5Skipped itWatch at 6:16
- Drunk Elephant B-Hydra Intensive Hydration SerumSkipped itWatch at 10:15
- CeraVe Hydrating Facial CleanserRated itWatch at 1:47
- CeraVe Healing OintmentRated itWatch at 8:28
- Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing BalmRated itWatch at 1:47
- Aquaphor Healing Ointment Advanced TherapyRated itWatch at 13:28
- The INKEY List Oat Cleansing BalmRated itWatch at 3:35
- Rhode Barrier Restore CreamRated itWatch at 7:33
- The INKEY List Hyaluronic Acid SerumRated itWatch at 1:53
- Cetaphil Rich Hydrating CreamRated itWatch at 4:57
- The INKEY List Bio-Active Ceramide Repairing & Plumping Moisturizer + Barrier StrengtheningRated itWatch at 2:36
- Drunk Elephant Lippe BalmRated itWatch at 22:21
- Bio-Essence Squalane OilRated itWatch at 3:53
- Revolution 2% Hyaluronic Acid SerumRated itWatch at 6:55
- Cetaphil Daily Facial MoisturizerRated itWatch at 4:51
- The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HARated itWatch at 2:26
- CeraVe Hydrating Hyaluronic Acid SerumRated itWatch at 12:48
- Cetaphil Hydrating Foaming Cream CleanserRated itWatch at 5:48
- Weleda Skin FoodRated itWatch at 2:25
- CeraVe Micellar Cleansing WaterRated itWatch at 10:12
- The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5Rated itWatch at 1:45
- CeraVe SA Cream for Rough and Bumpy SkinRated itWatch at 4:56
- Laneige Lip Sleeping MaskRated itWatch at 17:07
About this expert
See everything Dr. Somji Skin has reviewed
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This guide reflects what Dr. Somji Skin said across his videos about 33 products for dry skin, aggregated by The Guru Index. Sponsored takes are excluded. The approval rate is the share of these products he approved. It is general information, not medical advice.