Your oil glands are either producing enough, too much, or not enough oil. Although truly dry skin and dehydrated skin feel the same, their causes are totally different, and the treatment of each separate condition is also very different. With truly dry skin the treatment is fairly basic. The skin needs to be kept moisturized at all times. Because the sebaceous glands are not producing enough oil, you want to provide a sufficient amount of oil through product application.
Exfoliation is also important to keep dead cells buildup to a minimum.
But truly dry skin is a condition where your oil glands are not producing enough oil to lubricate your outer skin. Simply put, truly dry skin does not produce enough oil to keep the outer skin moist. The causes can be genetic, age-related or related to the menopause. Many women think that just because they are getting older, they will automatically have drier skin, but this is not necessarily the case. Sebaceous activity is not solely determined by age.