My grandmother used to tell me when I was a child, "You never use soap on your face." She never told me why, but today, we know that most soaps are alkaline. When you use soap, the skin loses the acid mantle (which we mentioned in the post on Skin). The cells shrivel up due to dehydration, and they don't line up nicely. When light hits the surface of dried-up skin, you see wrinkles. Generally, dehydration is a big factor, secondary to soap use. That is, increasing water intake alone does not give dramatic relief for wrinkles. It is also necessary to stop water loss by restoring the waterproof layer. This holds water in the cells and stops new wrinkles from forming.