We don’t just add moisture. We stand in for the barrier.
From the microbiome to occlusion: what’s really going on with very dry, cracked, eczema-prone skin, and why moisturizing often falls short. Every fact on this page links to a peer-reviewed source.
Your skin is a wall, not a sponge.
The top layer of your skin, the epidermis, works like a wall of cells and fats that keeps water in and irritants out. Scientists measure how well that wall seals with transepidermal water loss (TEWL): the amount of water that quietly evaporates through the skin, in grams per square meter per hour.
Low TEWL means a healthy, well-sealed barrier. When the barrier is damaged, TEWL goes up, the skin loses water and turns tight, flaky and irritated.↗︎
You can’t fill a bucket
that leaks.
Light creams add water to the surface. If the barrier leaks, that water simply evaporates.
What really changes the game is occlusion: a layer that physically seals the surface
and stops water loss while the skin underneath recovers.
A stand-in barrier, layer by layer.
Chicatella lays a flexible protective film on the skin that takes over the job of the skin’s moisture barrier until it can recover underneath.
An intact epidermis holds in moisture and keeps irritants out. The skin is calm and protects itself.
Moisture escapes through the cracks and irritants get in. Adding moisture to an “open bucket” doesn’t help: the skin stays tight and irritated.
Chicatella lays down a flexible film that does the barrier’s job: moisture stays in, irritants don’t reach the skin, and the skin underneath can recover in peace.
Why oil and water
aren’t enough.
Most creams try to moisturize what can’t be moisturized: they mix water and oil in the same jar and use strong emulsifiers to force them to stay together. For a cracked barrier, that just isn’t the right approach.
An emulsion only moisturizes the surface and breaks down quickly. The strong emulsifiers that hold water and oil together can loosen an already weakened barrier even more.
Instead of an emulsion, we combine a gel and fats, the way the skin’s natural moisture barrier is built. The result is a flexible, occlusive seal that actually stands in for the barrier.
Purified until completely neutral, formed from ancient organisms. It creates a flexible, occlusive seal that holds in moisture without irritating. Research on petrolatum itself has found that it raises the skin’s own barrier proteins (filaggrin and loricrin) and antimicrobial peptides (Czarnowicki et al., JACI 2016). That’s an ingredient-level finding, not a measured claim for our finished product.
The natural waxy protector in sheep’s wool. Just as it shields sheep from the weather, it softens and cares for the most cracked spots. Lanolin is both an emollient and an occlusive, and its makeup is close to the skin’s own lipids (Purnamawati et al., Clin Med Res 2017). Again, an ingredient-level finding from research, not a product claim.
Two botanical soothers (bisabolol comes from chamomile) that soothe the look of irritation and support the skin’s natural renewal.
Together they don’t just add moisture. They stand in for the barrier until your skin can rebuild it on its own.
And no… there’s nothing wrong with you. Your skin just needs the right ingredients and a little more love.
The barrier gives way from the inside out.
Healthy skin is home to a diverse microbiome, billions of helpful microbes that help hold water and fats together and keep harmful species in check.↗︎
In eczema-prone skin this balance is thrown off. Diversity drops, and one species, Staphylococcus aureus, can take over. A less diverse microbiome means a leakier barrier, more water loss and more irritated, itchy skin, and the drop in diversity is linked to how severe the condition is.↗︎
That’s why we don’t just care for the surface. A calmer, protected environment lets the skin and its microbiome find their balance more easily.
Don’t wash away a healthy microbiome.
We all love that “squeaky clean” feeling after a shower. But that squeak is a sign we’ve washed off too much: along with the dirt, also the oils, enzymes and helpful bacteria that make up your skin’s protective moisture layer in the first place.
The fewer of these helpful microbes there are, the more room harmful bacteria and even molds get. They don’t hold on to water, so the barrier gets thinner, water evaporates and the trouble keeps coming back. That’s how the wrong kind of washing puts you back at square one every day.
Cleans away impurities, keeps the barrier.
That’s why our cleansing isn’t built on soap but on activated charcoal. Its surface is porous, full of tiny holes that trap impurities, without stripping the oils, enzymes and microbes your skin needs.
Standing in for the barrier, and not wrecking it every day: only together do they make the whole story.
Occlusive care has measurable effects.
The values below come from independent dermatology studies on occlusive and cosmetic care, not from our own research and not from Chicatella products. They show what this kind of approach can do.
And what Chicatella shows on real skin
An independent user study with 127 people with atopic dermatitis (2026) and 3,415 customer reviews.
How we turn that principle into a product
Thick and nourishing on purpose. It stays on the skin and forms a flexible stand-in barrier instead of evaporating.
A short, carefully chosen list. The full list is on the jar, with no secret blends and no known irritants.
Creates a calmer environment where the skin and its microbiome can find their balance more easily.
Dermatologically tested on truly sensitive skin, under the supervision of a specialist dermatologist.