system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
On a cellular level, where does lotion go when you rub it in?

I wasn't able to find a lot of info on this. Best answer I could find is the lotion molecules move in between the skin cells. It didn't tell me how far they penetrate though or if our skin would just absorb lotion if it was left alone on our skin.
gpt
Most lotions are just emulsions of oil and water, and the skin the water and oil molecules do not actually penetrate very far, unless of course the skin is broken. The lotion will just saturate the stratum corneum  which is the topmost layer of the skin made of casts of dead keratinocytes. The reason why lotion can make skin look less "ashy" is because by saturating and hydrating the stratum corneum, it makes it more transparent.