With the winter months come drier air and drier skin. A lack of humidity in the air can result in rough skin, peeling, and even cracking.

The following are some tips to help you get softer skin year-round.

• Drink lots of water. If you are not drinking at least 6-8 8-ounce glasses of water every day, you are not drinking enough. Keeping yourself hydrated will also keep your skin hydrated, making it softer and less dry.
• Don't use soap. Soap is actually one of the most drying things you can do for your skin. It contains a number of chemicals that dry skin and strip it of its natural moisture. Instead, use a pH balanced body wash that is soap free. You can also use a cream-based body wash. When washing hands, use a moisturizing antibacterial hand soap.
  
• Shower in lukewarm water. As great as a hot shower feels, it's actually damaging to your skin, stripping it of its moistures and making your skin rough and dry. Opt for lukewarm showers, and keep them quick.
  
• Use sunscreen. Sun damage or tanning dries out your skin and also makes it harder and more prone to wrinkles. Avoid excessive exposure to the sun, and if you are going to be in it, make sure you put on plenty of sunscreen.
  
• Exfoliate. One great way to ensure your skin stays soft is to exfoliate regularly. Get an exfoliating cream, or use a loofah in the shower. This will remove rough, dead skin cells and help your skin stay soft and healthy.
  
• Pumice rough areas. Many people's elbows and feet are rough and dry in the winter. A pumice stone (purchased in drugstores inexpensively) is a good way to smooth away rough skin.
  
• Pay special attention to hands and feet. In the winter months especially, hand and feet can get very dry. This trick will help your skin to stay smooth-before bed, rub a thick body cream, Vaseline, or lotion medicated for dry skin on hands and feet, then cover with socks or gloves (socks over the hands work well too). In the morning, remove them for soft skin.

• Moisturize regularly. Make it a point to keep your skin soft by moisturizing regularly. Keep lotion or hand cream at your desk or in your purse so you always have some. Put lotion or body cream on after the shower, after you wash your hands, and when changing clothes.
  
• Shave legs regularly. Many people put off shaving their legs in the winter months because they don't show as much, but shaving can actually remove rough and dead skin.
  
• Always use a shaving cream when shaving. Never shave with just soap or water. Get a specially formulated shaving cream that will moisturize your skin while you shave.
  
• Careful when choosing lotion. Some lotion actually contains so much water it will end up drying your skin instead of keeping it soft. Choose body creams, which are thicker and work at keeping skin softer, and lotions with ingredients like salicylic or alpha-hydroxic acid. These work to keep skin smooth and soft.

The winter months and extreme temperatures can rob skin of your natural moisture, making it rough. Keeping skin soft and supple year round is easy, however, if you adopt these simply habits.