water actually does something apparently

Hot take: I used to think the whole 'drink more water for your skin' thing was just something brands say to avoid accountability for their bad products. Like yeah cheers, very helpful. But honestly this time of year the difference is kind of undeniable. The heating's been on for a few weeks now and my skin just… tightens up. That specific feeling where it feels like it's two sizes too small for my face, right. I started actually tracking my water intake — not for wellness girlboss reasons, more because it's the kind of thing we do in biotech and habits carry over — and I'm drinking way less than I thought. When I pushed it up, not even loads, just to a more consistent amount throughout the day, the tightness backed off a bit. To be fair I also added collagen back into my routine around the same time so I can't say for certain which one did what. But I feel like the hydration thing was pulling more weight than I gave it credit for. Less is literally more with seasonal skin anyway. I keep trying to add stuff when it gets cold and then wondering why everything feels congested.