Skincare Flooding Is Trending on TikTok: Should You Care?

Ahh, #SkinTok...How we love your ever-changing skincare trends! Okay, okay. We admit it’s hard to keep up — there’s the K-beauty classic slugging, the “clean girl” aesthetic, glazing your face, and now, skincare flooding. 

So what’s the buzz around this latest TikTok trend? And should you test the waters of skin flooding? Covey’s on the case 🕵️

First, What Is Skincare Flooding? 

Though the name sounds a little spooky, the premise of skincare flooding is sound — it’s all about layering your skincare products properly for maximum absorption of hydration. 

In a nutshell, here’s the entire process of skincare flooding: 

1. Wash your face with a gentle cleanser, like Covey’s First of All Cleanser. 
2. Layer on a humectant—aka your hydrating heroes—to pull water into the skin. Common humectant ingredients include hyaluronic acid or glycerin (you’ll find these in tons of water-based serums and lightweight moisturizers). Just remember: derms recommend you apply a humectant to slightly damp skin. 
3. Layer any additional products in your routine from thinnest to thickest texture.
4. Then, lock everything in with an emollient, aka your favorite moisturizer. When choosing an emollient, it’s important to consider your skin type. While you might want to slather on a heavy night cream, this can cause breakouts in acne-prone skin. 

(P.S) Need a refresher on emollients vs. humectants vs. occlusives? Read alllll about it.) 

How Often Should I Do This? 

Like slugging, you kind of have to feel out what your skin likes best. Start with once per week, and if you struggle with particularly dry skin (for example, seasonally-influenced skin problems), you can go up in frequency. 

For some dry skin types, "skincare flooding" can be part of your nightly routine. For sensitive or oily skin, you'll want to take this for a couple of test drives before you commit. 

(Also, it's a great idea to ask your derm. They know everything.)  

Other Considerations Before You Flood Your Skin

Skincare flooding does not mix well with actives like AHAs or BHAs. It's also a good idea to skip your anti-aging ingredients like retinol on the nights you flood your skin, as locking in harsher ingredients can irritate the skin and damage your skin barrier...Hard pass on that! 

Wrapping Up 

If the concept of skincare flooding feels familiar, that’s because it is. Layering a humectant with an emollient is a long-standing skincare practice, and perhaps even basic skin health in the eyes of derms.

Skincare flooding is simply the latest name it’s been given in the social media world (again, like glass skin and slugging before that). Still, for dry skin girlies and winter skin sufferers, skincare flooding can be extremely beneficial to keep the irritation and dry patches at bay.

We're big fans of simplicity. If skincare flooding helps raise awareness to building uncomplicated, science-backed routines you can stick to, then we're all for it. 

Try Covey's simple Face And Body Routine. It's formulated with humectants like hyaluronic acid and emollients to lock in all that hydrating goodness.