NIVEA Creme launched in December 1911 in yellow packaging. Beiersdorf says Dr Oscar Troplowitz, working with chemist Dr Isaac Lifschutz and dermatologist Prof. Paul Gerson Unna, developed the first stable skin cream based on a water-in-oil emulsion. The name comes from the Latin for snow, because the cream was snow-white, and the company says it was the first cream that could be exported worldwide without losing quality.

The emulsifier doing the work was Eucerit, a wax derived from sheep's-wool lanolin, which Lifschutz isolated in 1898. Nivea did not invent it. It just put it in a tin and made it something everyone owned.

What I like about that story is how little has changed in the question. Dry skin wants water and wants something to keep the water in. Every lotion for dry skin since is a variation on that answer, and the differences are mostly texture and smell.

So I sorted this edit by texture. The first grid is lotions and creams, the ones that spread easily and disappear in a minute. The second is body butters, thicker and slower, for the nights when a lotion is not enough.

Here is a test I like: after a shower, pat dry and wait two minutes before you moisturize. If your skin already feels tight, you want the second grid. If it feels fine, the first grid will do.

Kiehl's is here twice. Ultra Body Mega Moisture is a squalane cream with pro-ceramides that the brand says absorbs in three seconds and is suitable for eczema-, rosacea- and psoriasis-prone skin. Creme de Corps is the older, richer one, a non-greasy body lotion with cocoa butter and beta-carotene for particularly dry skin.

If you want something with a job beyond moisture, Nécessaire's Body Lotion is fragrance-free with five peptides and 2.5 percent niacinamide, and it has earned the National Eczema Association Seal of Approval. Topicals' Like Butter is a cream with 1 percent colloidal oatmeal and madecassoside, made for dry, sensitive, eczema-prone skin. First Aid Beauty's Ultra Repair Cream is the plainest: dermatologist tested, suitable for all skin types, even sensitive, and the brand keeps a long list of ingredients it leaves out.

The rest are the ones you choose partly by scent. Sol de Janeiro's Body Badalada is a fast-absorbing lotion with hyaluronic acid in the Cheirosa '62 scent, with notes of pistachio, salted caramel and vanilla. Rare Beauty's Find Comfort is a non-greasy niacinamide lotion with a warm woody scent. Moroccanoil's Body Lotion is the lightest of the group, a lightweight liquid blended with argan, tsubaki and evening primrose oils.

Moisturize while skin is still slightly damp. It holds more.

What I would skip: a strongly scented lotion on cracked or itchy skin. Go with the fragrance-free ones first, then add the fun scent when things calm down.

Thicker textures, so use less than you think. Sol de Janeiro's Delícia Drench is a whipped body butter with bacuri butter, made to lock in moisture and calm redness. Moroccanoil's Body Butter is a rich cream with argan oil, shea, cocoa and mango butters and hyaluronic acid, and the brand says it absorbs without a greasy feel. 54 Thrones' African Beauty Butter is a hand and body butter made with two types of shea butter.

Glossier's Crème de You Dry-Touch Body Butter is the one for people who like a scent, in the Glossier You fragrance, with shea and jojoba oils. Josie Maran's Pink Algae Pro-Retinol Body Butter is aimed at rough, bumpy skin and uses a pro-retinol the brand describes as gentle. Youth To The People's Superberry Firm + Glow Dream Body Butter has niacinamide and hyaluronic acid in the name, though the listing says little else. amika's Big Embrace is a smoothing whipped body butter, and that is all the listing tells me.

Kate McLeod's Body Stone is the odd one, a solid cocoa butter lotion bar that melts on contact with skin, in scents called Daily, Sleep and Grounding. I would keep it in a bag for elbows and hands.

Here is a trick I like: warm a butter between your palms for ten seconds before you touch it to your skin. It spreads with half the effort.

What I would skip: a butter on your whole body in July. Keep it for shins, elbows and heels.

I think most dry skin advice is about timing. A lotion works best right after a shower, while skin is still a little damp, and a butter works best at night, when you are not going to rub it off on your clothes.

My rule: a light lotion in the morning, a butter on the rough spots before bed, and fragrance-free whenever skin is cracked. Nivea worked out the basic idea in 1911, and I have not found a reason to overcomplicate it since. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Eucerin Cream and Richer Moisturizers for Very Dry Skin and JVN Air Dry Cream Comes From a Stylist Who Sorted Hair by Concern.