Korean Moisturizer for Oily Skin: 3 Ingredients I Look For

I'm Dr. Hongseok Kim, a board-certified Korean dermatologist with 21 years of practice and the medical director of VOS Dermatology Clinic in Gangnam, Seoul, in front of Dosan Park. At VOS I see every patient myself, from the consultation to the treatment.

Patients with oily skin often ask me which Korean moisturizer for oily skin will hydrate without feeling heavy, and many assume they can skip moisturizer altogether. I filmed this video when the weather suddenly turned cold and dry, and in it I explain the three ingredient jobs I look for in any moisturizer. They answer the oily-skin question well, because the right choice is about what each ingredient does, not about richness. This page is based on my YouTube video from December 2024, rewritten for readers abroad, and the video above can be watched with translated captions. I will not name brands here; the ingredient list is what matters.

Why skin feels drier when the season changes

Short answer: skin is used to the previous season, and a sudden drop in temperature and humidity leaves it unable to adjust, so your usual products may stop being enough (in the video at 00:52).

When I filmed this, it was late November and it had just snowed heavily. That was the first day of the season I needed the car heater, and I immediately felt how dry the air was. Skin behaves the same way: it adapts to the conditions it has been in, and an abrupt change in humidity and temperature is more than it can keep up with. That is why people find their skin gets drier even though they are using exactly the products they always use (in the video at 01:08). Nothing about the products changed; the environment did. The answer is to adjust the routine slightly, not to throw it out. Oily skin is not automatically exempt: shine on the surface does not tell you how much water the skin is holding.

Step one: hyaluronic acid draws water in

Short answer: hyaluronic acid is one of the main water-holding structures in the dermis, and in skincare it draws water into the upper skin, but it does not refill the dermis (in the video at 01:35).

Apart from fibres such as collagen and elastin, the dermis contains structures whose job is to hold water. Hyaluronic acid is one of the most important. Attached to it are brush-like proteoglycans, and each bristle is made of glycosaminoglycans, all of which pull in water as well, so together they hold a large amount of it (in the video at 01:50).

The common misunderstanding is that putting hyaluronic acid on your face increases the hyaluronic acid in your dermis and plumps it from inside. That cannot happen (in the video at 02:34). Skin absorbs molecules of about 500 daltons, while hyaluronic acid is at least 200,000 daltons. That is why cosmetics split it into low, medium and high molecular weight forms, so it can be taken up in the upper layers (in the video at 03:00). The glow you see after applying it is real, but it is not the dermis filling up.

Why a hyaluronic acid serum alone can leave skin drier

Short answer: drawing water in is only half of moisturizing; without a layer that stops evaporation, that water leaves again (in the video at 03:37).

Moisturizing has two basic steps: pull water in, then keep it from escaping. If you use only a hyaluronic acid ampoule, it feels good at first, but later your skin can end up drier (in the video at 03:48). So always follow it with something, whether a lotion, a cream or an oil. For oily skin this is the key point: the follow-up can be light, but it should be there.

Step two: glyceryl glucoside opens the water channels

Short answer: skin has water channels called aquaporins, and glyceryl glucoside is an ingredient that has been shown to activate them so water moves through more easily (in the video at 04:01).

It used to be thought that water seeped slowly between cells, but experiments showed it passes through far faster than that (in the video at 04:11). Cell membranes have pores, and the ones that let water through are proteins named aquaporins, from "aqua" for water and "porin" for pore. They also let very small water-soluble molecules such as glycerol pass. There are 13 types, and aquaporin 3 is the most common in the skin; it is linked to how skin cells mature and to several other functions, which is why it is getting a lot of attention (in the video at 04:58). When glyceryl glucoside is used, these channels become more active, so the epidermis can take in more water (in the video at 05:16).

Step three: seal it with barrier lipids and squalane

Short answer: once water is drawn in and the channels are open, you need a film on top, made of barrier lipids such as ceramides, cholesterol and fatty acids, and squalane is one I emphasise when skin is dry (in the video at 05:48).

Ceramides, cholesterol and fatty acids are the core materials of the skin barrier, so a sealing step that contains them makes sense (in the video at 05:50). The ingredient I want to highlight is squalane. On ingredient lists it appears as squalane, not squalene (in the video at 06:05). Squalene is reactive; it is also one of the components of our own sebum. Squalane is the same family made stable, so it no longer reacts.

This is where oily skin comes in. The squalene in sebum reacts with pollutants in the air and with oxidation in the body, and oxidised squalene can trigger inflammatory substances. That is one of the reasons acne gets worse, pores look wider and inflamed spots appear (in the video at 07:02). When squalane is applied, the skin receives something very similar to its own oil, and my explanation is that it may then make a little less sebum (in the video at 07:25). Squalane also repels water, so it forms a film that stops moisture from escaping, yet it feels fresh rather than heavy or stuffy (in the video at 08:05). How much your sebum changes varies from person to person, so treat this as a reason to try it, not a promise.

Which moisturizer steps to add, and which to keep

Short answer: you do not need to change every product; if skin feels drier than usual, add the missing step, often a light squalane as the last layer (in the video at 08:17).

If your routine works and you do not feel dry, keep using it. If you notice more dryness than usual, flaking, or a sense that something is missing, add what your routine lacks (in the video at 08:52). So when you compare any Korean moisturizer for oily skin, check whether it, or the products around it, covers all three jobs: draw water in, open the water channels, and seal it with a light film. If you are not sure whether your skin is truly oily or dehydrated underneath, skin type analysis with VOS Skin MBTI is how we read that at the clinic before choosing products or treatments.

If your skin is dry rather than oily, my page on how to choose a Korean face cream for dry skin goes through richer textures. When breakouts are the bigger concern, my note on what Korean face care can and cannot do for acne explains where home care stops, and my overview of which skin care steps need a dermatologist covers the clinic side. You can also read creator experiences at VOS.

Results vary from person to person, and the right plan for your skin is decided at an in-person consultation.

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Results, swelling and recovery vary from person to person. This page is general information from VOS Dermatology Clinic based on Dr. Kim's video and does not replace an in-person consultation.