Want Healthy Skin? Keep Moisture In & Dry Skin Out

Alright, season to season our skin goes through lurking spells of dry skin. You soon feel like you must get out your chisel and hammer to slough off the thick layer that’s about comes upon you. Remember when your dry scaling heels snagged on the sheets last year? And what about the time your elbow caught onto the inside of your sleeve? Dry skin can cause ashiness, cracking, patchiness and incessant itching of the skin. Winter deals a cold hand to the body and does a doozy especially on heels, elbows and knees. Summer can also wreak dry havoc on your skin. Well it’s time to take a stand against it. We need to learn how to say goodbye to dry skin forever. Here’s a few tips to help you out.

Put Moisture Back in the Air

Oftentimes there's not enough moisture in the air. Buying a humidifier can help cure that. But to take a cheaper route you can try running your shower in the morning for 15 minutes. Or perhaps boiling a large pot of water in the mornings while you get ready for work. That can help put moisture back into the air as well.

Watch Out For Drying Soaps

Look for soaps that have extra moisturizers in them. Try soaps like Olay Body with Ultra Moisture, Dove with Hydrating Lotion, or Ambi Cocoa Butter Cleansing Bar. Also, avoid soaps with anti-bacterial protection. Anti-bacterial soaps will contain alcohols that can be rough on your skin.

Lotions and Body Oils

Using lotions and body oils right after you shower helps trap and keep the moisture into your skin. Lotions such as Vaseline Petroleum Jelly Cream, Deep Moisture, Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion and Lubriderm Advanced Therapy Moisturizing Lotion can help your skin stay hydrated.

Oils such as Neutrogena’s Body Oil, Vaseline Gel Body Oil or Burt’s Bees Mama Bee Nourishing Body Oil can give your skin that added moisture it needs. Even applying Vitamin E Oil can help keep skin moisturized and supple. Now don’t get carried away with this one unless you plan on getting out of a tight squeeze somewhere. Putting on too much will have you slicker than a banana pill on a freshly waxed gymnasium floor.

My regimen for my body isn’t that complex I simply shower with Softsoap bodywash that contains moisture beads then I lotion down with Lubriderm Advanced Therapy Moisturizing Lotion. For extra skin softness and moisturizing I apply my Neutrogena Body Oil which gives my skin a nice healthy glow. As for my feet, I jump through a few hoops to keep them from snagging my sheets. I use a foot scrub called Tree Hut Shea Sugar Body Scrub from Wal-Mart, 4-in-1 Foot File that I purchased from Target and Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Foot Cream that I also purchased from Wal-Mart. I also use the body scrub on my elbows and arms to shed off some of the dead skin. As soon as dry skin starts to display itself, I began my treatment. I may use the 4-in-1 foot file once a week or every two weeks. It contains a pumice stone, brush, file and buffer. But I apply my body scrub and foot cream daily. Anything to prevent having Fred Flinstone feet.

Give these ideas a try to see if you can bring back some of the moisture to your skin that the changes of the seasons so eagerly wants to take away.