Ever been out for a hike in the wet? Notice how your boots can really soak up the moisture. Of course, how saturated they get depends on how well protected they are. Neglect them and you can bet your blisters they'll be sopping wet, especially if they're made of leather.

It's not so different with your own skin. The dryer your skin becomes, the thirstier it gets. Give that parched skin the chance to absorb some moisture and it'll lap it up like a cat in a desert. But is water what your skin really needs?

There's a lesson to be learned from those boots. Make a habit of drowning them and leaving them to dry out and pretty soon the very same leather that was once so soft and supple will turn hard and rigid and start to crack.

How do you give those boots TLC? You give back one vital ingredient the leather had when it was protecting the animal it came from. Oil. Oil lubricates, softens, protects.

You'll have noticed that while the boots were wet, the leather was more pliable and softer than when it was bone dry. But the effect is short-lived. Worse than that, every time you leave those boots to dry out, they seem to leach yet more moisture into the atmosphere.

There's a parallel here with our own skin.

Sit in a bath too long and your skin will wrinkle as it drinks in water. Yet that moisture doesn't get further than the outermost layer of the epidermis, the stratum corneum. Your body is waterproof. The only part that allows water in is that outermost layer. It's here that free amino acids, lactic acid, urea and salts mingle to form what is known as natural moisturizing factors (NMFs). It's these NMFs that suck in water at every opportunity. Man, they can't get enough. See, their job is to keep the stratum corneum soft and plump by seeking out and holding onto moisture.

In a nutshell, that's why the first rule of skincare is Apply a Moisturizer.

But wait. There's more to learn from that wizened old pair of boots.

Just as leather ends up drier than it was before it got wet, so repeated use of a water-based moisturizer can result in skin that is drier than it would be if you left it alone. It's only the repeated use of the moisturizer that keeps the skin healthy and glowing. This is because too much water applied to the surface of the skin can dilute those moisture-loving NMFs to the point where they start to evaporate.

The answer? Look to those boots one more time.

Your body produces its own "oil" - a waxy substance called sebum. Unfortunately, as we age, our sebum-production "factory" starts to slow down. The net result is that the stratum corneum can no longer hold onto moisture the way it did when we were fresh out of high school.

What to do? You guessed it. Give it the same loving care you'd give your faithful footwear. Put the oil back in. A good dressing with cold-pressed, plant-based oils, preferably organic will work wonders.

And keep you in great shape for decades to come.

(c) Copyright Alexa Charmant 2010. No unauthorised reproduction.