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The Ordinary

Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA.

The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA
Moisturizers

About this product

A lightweight moisturizer combining natural moisturizing factors, hyaluronic acid, amino acids, and emollient lipids to hydrate and support the skin barrier.

Full ingredients

Guru Score

69%

Mixed

13 experts · Strong agreement
13Gurus
9Yay
1Mixed
3Nay

What they liked

  • Lightweight yet hydrating texture
  • Affordable for the bottle size
  • Soaks in without greasy residue

What they flagged

  • May not hydrate enough for very dry mature skin
  • Can pill under certain sunscreens

What the gurus are saying

This lightweight lotion absorbs quickly without stickiness or greasiness, making it a standout choice for oily and combination skin year-round and a solid summer option for drier types. Dermatologists and cosmetic chemists praise its barrier-repair ingredients (natural moisturizing factors that mimic what healthy skin makes naturally, plus hyaluronic acid and emollients) and note it works especially well for eczema-prone and acne-prone skin where the barrier is compromised. A few gurus found it didn't hydrate enough for very dry or mature skin in winter, and one reviewer had pilling issues under certain sunscreens, but the consensus is that at $6.50 it delivers genuine results for most people, layers beautifully under other products, and earns its reputation as an affordable workhorse.
Synthesized from 13 expert reviews · most recent take September 2026

What the gurus are saying.

Every take we've logged from this product's reviews across YouTube. Click any row to watch the moment they said it.

All takes Yay takes Nay takes Mixed takes Hide sponsored
~Yay
"One of these most difficult parts. So can I not pick one. I think both it's worth it. So if you guys are oily combo girlies wanting to try the milky toner but hate something super sticky, please please. This is amazing for milky toner beginners, not too heavy. And if you want more hydration, like please layer it. It's great. But this smells so weird because I think because of the fermented item, but between all 15 viral toners, this is the only one has a little exfoliating. So I think for me I feel very comfortable because for me I don't react to the ferment ingredient, but some people does. So if you guys are really sensitive skin, reacting to ferment ingredients, check that out. But I think I was just going to keep this and use it sometimes because I can feel the texture. I love it. It's feels more like a watery toner like lowfat lowfat milk also."
~Yay
"I love this moisturizer. It's got a wonderful gellish texture to it. The natural moisturizing factors plus HA is the lighter one on [...] the gel side, which seems to be not quite as moisturizing as I feel like I need right now with how dry everything's feeling. Everything feels nice and soft and smooth and feels good. Like I'm going to wake up with nice clean skin that feels so soft."
All 5 takes from No BS Beauty
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"This one I've repurchased multiple times. It's a great one to mix in with other products. The original is really wonderful. Since this came out they've released a couple different versions of it, the phytoceramide version and the beta glucan version. The phytoceramide version seemed very greasy to me, but the beta glucan one has a nice gel texture. These are all pretty friendly for acne prone skin overall. When people ask me for a moisturizer for acne prone skin, if you're looking for something very budget friendly, the Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA seems to do the trick for a lot of people and work well. It's really darn affordable and it's in a big bottle too."
The Ordinary Moisturizer Versus - Which Ordinary Moisturizer is Right for You?!?!
"The original version has a lotion texture, a little bit thicker than the other one. [...] A little bit of it goes a long way, it soaks in pretty nicely, and it sets to a matte finish once it soaks in. I will say under certain sunscreens it can pill up occasionally. You [...] can see the shininess and the matteness on that."
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"I love this moisturizer. It's got a wonderful gellish texture to it. The natural moisturizing factors plus HA is the lighter one on [...] the gel side, which seems to be not quite as moisturizing as I feel like I need right now with how dry everything's feeling. Everything feels nice and soft and smooth and feels good. Like I'm going to wake up with nice clean skin that feels so soft."
Budget-Friendly Alternatives To Expensive Skincare Products - The Ordinary Dupes - Frugal Friday
"The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA is a really nice duper alternative at 11 bucks for a big 3.3 oz size. It's still an alternative to the $69 Drunk Elephant Protini Polypeptide Cream, and honestly I prefer this one. [...] Every time I apply this it foams up unless I apply it on dry skin with nothing else on it, and even then it foams up. I don't know why something changed, but I used to love this stuff and would go through it so fast, and now I'm still working on the same jar for like [...] a year or two years because it just foams up every time."
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"Good molecules B5 hydrating body serum was good for summer but it's not quite hydrating enough on its own"
~Yay
"NMF plus hyaluronic acid is written as HA. So that's great for eczema prone skin. When you have eczema, you've already got less NMF than the normal population and that's one of the reasons that the skin barrier is compromised. So that's a fantastic product, especially if you have eczema."
All 6 takes from Dr. Vanita Rattan
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"NMF plus hyaluronic acid is written as HA. So that's great for eczema prone skin. When you have eczema, you've already got less NMF than the normal population and that's one of the reasons that the skin barrier is compromised. So that's a fantastic product, especially if you have eczema."
HYPERPIGMENTATION LAYERING
"After this we want to hydrate the skin. Remember we talked about how important it was to create a healing environment for the skin? Avoid all lotions, you want to go for a thicker moisturizer. So for example, the NMF from The Ordinary. If you feel like your skin is too dry for this particular moisturizer, I recommend you go for one with ceramides in it."
ACNE THE ORDINARY AM/PM LAYERING
"I love NMF because I find it actually very light on the skin but also very hydrating especially at night time when especially if you got air conditioning or you've got central heating you're going to find your skin drying out faster than even during the day."
RATING VIRAL SKINCARE - DR V
"The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA, you get much better hydration. You're going to get a full day of hydration out of it and the price point is much better at 12.80 versus 38."
TREAT TEEN ACNE & SCARS FAST
"I love them both for oily acne prone skin"
$3000 Luxury Skincare Vs Dupe that Works BETTER
"It's better to buy The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA than this, so save your money and buy yourself something lovely."
~Nay
"I think both of those moisturizers are streets ahead of this and practically the same price, so whilst this used to be an amazing product, I think The Ordinary have kind of made it a little bit redundant with their two new moisturizer launches. I would recommend those moisturizers to everyone. The phyto ceramides, the beta glucans are where it's at. I think the original Natural Moisturizing Factors might see its days numbered."
All 3 takes from Mad About Skin
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"I think both of those moisturizers are streets ahead of this and practically the same price, so whilst this used to be an amazing product, I think The Ordinary have kind of made it a little bit redundant with their two new moisturizer launches. I would recommend those moisturizers to everyone. The phyto ceramides, the beta glucans are where it's at. I think the original Natural Moisturizing Factors might see its days numbered."
WORLDS MOST EFFECTIVE SERUM - This Blew People Away
"I use it every single day in my evening skincare routine because as I sleep it's helping to repair everything. [...] As a result of using this I can definitely tolerate higher strength retinoids, higher strength vitamin C's and exfoliating acids to maximize the benefit whilst also keeping those side effects in check. [...] The reason this works better than seemingly everything else on the market is because they thought about that formulation, how to pair all these amazing beneficial ingredients together, the form of ectoin and just the base formulation in that emulsion means when you apply it to the skin, it's going to work quicker, more effectively. [...] This is the most effective barrier supporting serum I've ever come across and it's available for like £15. [...] If your priority is improving the skin barrier health, reducing sensitivity and irritation, restoring some calming and soothing to the skin, this is probably the product that I would default to. Really easy to access, super affordable, and [...] you can formulate topnotch products without expecting to spend a fortune."
THE PERFECT MOISTURIZER - The Ordinary Moisturizers Review
"I don't think anybody should be buying the standard Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA. There's nothing wrong with it. This is a moisturizer I've used for four years, has some really great results with, but this is the base formulation of the other two moisturizers and for basically the same price point you can get a whole lot more from the other two. [...] Whilst it was a holy grail for a long period of time, I think it's a case of nothing to see here. They've really outdone themselves with the new formulations, which means I think this kind of is a bit surplus to requirements."
~Yay
"It's their Natural Moisturizing Factors plus HA moisturizer that is super affordable at $6.50. I love this one because I think it's suitable for most skin types. If you have super dry skin you may not enjoy it as much in the winter, but certainly it's a great option for like the summer. It contains wonderful hydrating ingredients including hyaluronic acid, amino acids, natural moisturizing factors like PEA, CA and lactic acid that our skin makes naturally, which helps to hydrate the skin, and also contains lipids like fatty acids and triglycerides that act as emollients to help keep the moisture in. I love the fact that it is a lightweight emulsion, absorbs quickly, leaves minimal residue, is not sticky, greasy or heavy, and it just layers nicely in the morning under sunscreen. So it's suitable for oily skin to use all year round, and then for those that have more dry skin this would make a great morning moisturizer to use maybe in the warmer season. All around just a great, wonderful moisturizer that really is suitable for most skin types and at a very affordable price."
~Yay
"One of my favorite products [...] is Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA. When you look at the ingredient list, it's water-based with caprylic triglycerides in there, so derived from coconuts, fantastic for helping the skin barrier. Cetyl alcohol, which is one of the main ingredients of Cetaphil, so it's a really calming, really soothing formulation that's also got hyaluronic acid in there that's going to help retain the moisture. The reason why we're using NMF as opposed to anything like active or acidic for acne is because most of the time when you have acne you've got an impaired skin barrier. If you've got an impaired skin barrier that basically means you're losing a lot more moisture than you should be, and as a result of that loss of moisture you're overproducing sebum, i.e. oils within the skin. If you produce too much oil you get too much bacteria. If you get too much bacteria you get inflammation. If you get inflammation you get red spots. So if you repair that barrier you stop that chain of events."
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"One of my favorite products [...] is Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA. When you look at the ingredient list, it's water-based with caprylic triglycerides in there, so derived from coconuts, fantastic for helping the skin barrier. Cetyl alcohol, which is one of the main ingredients of Cetaphil, so it's a really calming, really soothing formulation that's also got hyaluronic acid in there that's going to help retain the moisture. The reason why we're using NMF as opposed to anything like active or acidic for acne is because most of the time when you have acne you've got an impaired skin barrier. If you've got an impaired skin barrier that basically means you're losing a lot more moisture than you should be, and as a result of that loss of moisture you're overproducing sebum, i.e. oils within the skin. If you produce too much oil you get too much bacteria. If you get too much bacteria you get inflammation. If you get inflammation you get red spots. So if you repair that barrier you stop that chain of events."
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"You can also use this which is the natural moisturizing factors from The Ordinary which will work very well with the serum that you put on over the top. It's a nice cream based formulation so you can put this on and then you can put even a thicker moisturizer on afterwards."
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"I like the ordinary NMF, it's really pretty cool. You can use slightly more kind of like lighter moisturizers."
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"The natural moisturizing factors are fantastic. This is great at repairing the skin barrier. It's got loads of essential fatty acids, triglycerides, glycerin in this product, which is fantastic for nourishing that barrier and just calming the skin down."
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"One of my favorite products [...] is Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA. When you look at the ingredient list, it's water-based with caprylic triglycerides in there, so derived from coconuts, fantastic for helping the skin barrier. Cetyl alcohol, which is one of the main ingredients of Cetaphil, so it's a really calming, really soothing formulation that's also got hyaluronic acid in there that's going to help retain the moisture. The reason why we're using NMF as opposed to anything like active or acidic for acne is because most of the time when you have acne you've got an impaired skin barrier. If you've got an impaired skin barrier that basically means you're losing a lot more moisture than you should be, and as a result of that loss of moisture you're overproducing sebum, i.e. oils within the skin. If you produce too much oil you get too much bacteria. If you get too much bacteria you get inflammation. If you get inflammation you get red spots. So if you repair that barrier you stop that chain of events."
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"The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors, I kind of like this because it just feels really nice on the skin and it's great after I've used certain acids. You've got some lipids to also kind of repair the skin after you've done that kind of intense treatment, so that's quite nice."
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"You can put on just a little bit more of a moisturizing cream such as The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA, which are fantastic just to help seal the skin barrier and repair the skin."
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"You've got to be putting something that can draw moisture in, so you've got for example The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA, that's pretty good to put on the top. There's multiple different types of hyaluronic acid that can go at different depths, so you can hydrate that whole area."
~Yay
"The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA moisturizer is a really nice midweight moisturizer. It has super nourishing ingredients in there, has a ton of different amino acids that help to strengthen and support your skin barrier, and it just feels nice and creamy but not too heavy. It doesn't leave your skin looking greasy, so I find that it's just a really nice moisturizer for most skin types but especially for someone with dry skin."
~Yay
"My absolutely favorite high street moisturizer of all time is The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors. It's basically a tick list of everything your skin needs to hydrate itself. It's got a beautiful mix of humectants to lock in water, emollients to keep your skin smooth and soft, and then it's got a little bit of an occlusive in it to lock everything in place. It's beautiful. You can use it morning and night. You can sandwich all of your retinols with it from the 0.2% right the way through to the granactive right the way through to the 1% right the way through to the brand new retinol. You can put it underneath, you can put it on top. Personally I put it on top. They really are gold standard products for me. They are always in my beauty cupboard."
~Yay
"This is the Natural Moisturizing Factors plus HA and this is a great moisturizer. It has ingredients that your skin naturally uses and produces like hyaluronic acid and it's inexpensive and lightweight. It has a nice fluffy texture but it's not the most moisturizing, so if you have combo skin you can use this, which also means if you're oily or if you're dry this is a great choice. It won't treat acne but it supports a healthy skin barrier."
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"Moisturizers like the Natural Moisturizing Factors, the original, if you're a little bit more oily to dry, or if you're super dry, the Firce Ceramides, so gentle, so calming, it's like a ceramide sheet for your face."
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"The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors was a moisturizer that I liked but it wasn't my favorite. [...] They finally have a fantastic moisturizer. It's so good, and I'm an oily print person, so [...] this really impresses me. It has like five ingredients and it is literally a gentle foaming facial cleanser. It's meant to not strip your skin's barrier, which it holds up to you very well. It has [...] maybe three cleansing ingredients that don't strip and then vitamin E, so it's like a very very mild antioxidant cleanser. This works so well, and for my oily skin it gets rid of the oil, it gets rid of the gunk."
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"This is the Natural Moisturizing Factors plus HA and this is a great moisturizer. It has ingredients that your skin naturally uses and produces like hyaluronic acid and it's inexpensive and lightweight. It has a nice fluffy texture but it's not the most moisturizing, so if you have combo skin you can use this, which also means if you're oily or if you're dry this is a great choice. It won't treat acne but it supports a healthy skin barrier."
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"As a moisturizer to keep this inexpensive and really effective, I love The Ordinary's Natural Moisturizing Factors. It's five or six dollars, so it's really not the best deal since a couple cents off a five or six dollar moisturizer isn't that much, but if you're trying to keep this under fifty dollars, that is what I would recommend."
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"Natural Moisturizing Factors are also great if you have super dry skin, but they won't be enough if you tend to be oily. It's a good one. I love this one."
~Mixed
"This is one of their newest moisturizers that they came out with early this year. I don't feel like the [...] original Natural Moisturizing Factors + Hyaluronic Acid [...] is moisturizing enough, although that one is great for those that have dry skin. This one is even better if you're looking for that really rich moisturizing cream. [...] This is very satisfying to use when you need it. It has glycol lipids and also contains ceramides which help to strengthen and repair the skin barrier. There's urea, amino acids, and hyaluronic acid as well, so very plumping and very hydrating. This one contains oil whereas the Natural Moisturizing Factors + Hyaluronic Acid is oil-free, so depending on what you're looking for and whether you like that oil ingredient or not will determine which one to go with. Because this has that oil, this really is moisturizing. [...] A little bit goes a long way, it spreads really nicely, and you will get this nice glow to your skin. It doesn't [...] dry down matte, you will have a little bit of that glow."
~Nay
"The other one was from The Ordinary, their Natural Moisturizing Factors. This is not going to be a repurchase for me. It's just not hydrating enough for my dry mature skin and it just didn't do the trick. I felt like I always had to reapply and reapply, so this will not be a repurchase for me."
~Nay
"I find that for me this didn't rub into the skin very well. It just kind of moved around my skin, got all caught up in my eyebrows, my beard, my hairline. Whilst this isn't super heavy in any way, it felt kind of suffocating on my skin. I didn't really enjoy it, but I know loads of people love this. It's a moisturizer that moisturizes with hyaluronic acid to hydrate, super super simple. This is 6.50."
~Yay
"After cleansing, this has to be like my all-time new favorite hair treatment serum. This is a barrier-fortifying serum for the scalp that's so good I want to use this on my face, and the only reason why I don't is because my face already gets so much. The texture is super lightweight, very milky but lightweight, very hydrating without the use of alcohols, which actually is in the majority of hair serums that I've tried. It just sinks into your scalp but at the same time you really feel the hydration happening. It's like I can almost feel my scalp sort of bouncing out, just plumping out, and it does not weigh the hair down at all. I do not feel any heaviness around the roots even when I use this multiple days without a hair wash in between. This has the natural moisturizing factors and of course the hyaluronic acid, which seems to be a theme throughout my scalp care routine. The texture of this really is kind of superior to anything I've tried."

What the evidence says.

Independent of what the gurus think, this is what the published research supports about the main active ingredients here.

Urea

Urea both holds water in the skin and gently loosens dead surface cells. At higher strengths it has good evidence for very dry or thickened skin.

Source: DermNet

Humectants and emollients

Ingredients like these draw water into the surface layers and slow how fast it leaves. The evidence is for comfort, softness and hydration rather than for changing the structure of the skin.

Source: DermNet

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is an antioxidant, and it is often in a formula to keep the other ingredients stable rather than as the active itself. It pairs well with vitamin C, though on its own the evidence for visible change is limited.

Source: NIH, National Library of Medicine

Frequently asked.

What is The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA?

A lightweight moisturizer combining natural moisturizing factors, hyaluronic acid, amino acids, and emollient lipids to hydrate and support the skin barrier.

Is The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA worth it?

The gurus are split. 9 of the 13 gurus give it their stamp of approval while 3 would skip it, which lands it in the middle at a Guru Score of 69%.

What is The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA's Guru Score?

The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA holds a Guru Score of 69%. That is our read on how warmly the experts talk about it, based on the verdicts of 13 expert reviewers we have collected.

Who is The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA best for?

The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA is generally suited to dry skin and sensitive skin.

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