Urea Cream
Urea cream has an exfoliative effect on the skin, leaving it smooth and soft.
What is urea cream?
Urea occurs naturally within the skin and is a component of the natural moisturizing factors (NMF). The natural moisturizing factors produced by the skin are water-binding and help to keep the skin hydrated. Urea is a humectant, which means it can absorb moisture from the environment or a deeper skin layer, drawing it to the upper layers of the skin. In addition, urea is also an emollient that softens and smooths the skin.
What does urea cream do for the skin?
Due to the hydrating and humectant properties of urea cream, it is an ideal ingredient for anyone with dry skin. In particular, it can help soften and moisturize thick, rough, or callused skin. Urea cream is used in dermatology for the dual effect of gently exfoliating (at certain percentages) and hydrating skin.
As urea is part of the skin’s natural moisturizing factors, urea cream can be used to supplement and boost the effects of these factors and keep skin hydrated for longer as it draws in water from the environment. This makes it excellent for soothing dry skin.
Urea cream has a keratolytic effect (at certain percentages of at least 10% or higher) as it exfoliates the horny layer (toughened cells) of the outer skin (stratum corneum), leaving skin feeling smoother and softer. This allows the dead skin cells to fall off and more water to be retained in the skin.
Urea works well with other ingredients as it boosts their penetration into the skin.
