The other day my wife said she was going to the store to by some hydrator. I asked what it was for and she said, "To hydrate my skin, of course."
"But what is hydration?"
She couldn't articulate the definition. But she said it was to moisten her skin.
"So you're going to get wet? Why not use water?"
But that product was only available in a costly bottle at the drugstore. And the funny thing about drugstore hydrators is you can buy bottles to rub on your skin, or buy bottles that you can drink the contents from. Amazing product. Excuse me, my kitchen hydration spigot is leaking valuable commodities.

I've never heard it called a "hydrator." I'd maybe say "hydrating lotion" or something similar. Indeed, I don't see "hydrator" used that way on the web. Perhaps she is like me and makes words up for things. My kids hate it when I do that. For example, they used to want me to buy the Pepperidge Farm Gold Fish that were "blasted with cheese." I shortened it to "Blasters." One day my son said, "Don't forget the Blasters. Oh, Mom! Now you have me saying it that way!"

She may have said "hydrating lotion" and I merely heard "hydrator" (who listens?). However, I have seen commercials telling women to hydrate their skin, so it's not much of a stretch. I guess "wet" and "moisten" aren't technical enough to sell products.

Speaking of hydration, I was astonished to learn that one of the leading export from California is --- bottled water. However, due to the drought, they're dehydrating the contents so you have to add water to the water to make it potable, or "hydrate the hydrate.".

Simply putting water on your skin makes it drier in the long run.

Time scale, please.

If I wash my hands frequently for a few days, they dry out because I've washed all the oil away. Moisturizers have occlusives that keep the moisture in.

True goofy. On the other hand tests consistently show that there is little or no additional benefit to using expensive moisturizers rather than cheap ones.

This site disagrees with you, Bob.

Can't see where it disagrees with me... it doesn't mention cheap vs expensive at all

One could simply keep a sheep handy and wipe one's hands on it. Free lanolin.

I thought your point was that they were all the same. However, they are not.

My point was that there is no difference between cheap and expensive ones of the same type.

Well, here is where I am not sure - but I assume that the some of those ingredients that are better for different types of conditions are more expensive than others. For example, those lotions they talk about that have "more substance" (for extra-dry skin) may be more expensive products.

But then I am getting out of my area of expertise - I just don't know.