Dry skin is an everybody problem in the winter. It can be caused from a shift in the weather system, in home heaters that aren’t counter-balanced with humidifiers, long, hot showers after a cold day, heavy, scratchy clothing, and even your eating habits which shift from fruit, veggies, and tons of water to carbs and hot chocolate.
In any case, dry skin is itchy and uncomfortable, not to mention embarrassing.
Here’s how to prevent dry skin this winter.
Turn Down the Heat
While it’s nice and cozy to be curled up on the couch with the heat cranked, your skin will rebel quickly. Turn down that heat a couple of degrees. Heat in all forms dries out the skin really quickly. No matter if it’s heat from the sun or from your space heater, it’s still damaging.
Take Shorter Showers
In the winter, you’re more likely to take long, drying showers. This sucks the moisture right out of your skin. First of all, hot water is damaging to your skin and can dry it out, as we discussed above. However, the longer the shower, the more it strips your skin of natural oils that keep it hydrated. Having a long, hot shower after getting in from a cold day is nice, but not for your skin.
Use Natural Moisturizers
It may be hard to believe, but moisturizer can actually do the opposite of what it claims to do.
Moisturizers can train your skin into not producing it’s own moisturizing oils, because it’s doing the job for your skin. Some moisturizers can damage your skin as they have a high alcohol content in them. Furthermore, many moisturizers are highly scented, which can dry your skin even further .
My favorite moisturizer that is natural, hands down, is olive oil. If I’m having a bad skin day, I have a warm shower, pour some olive oil on my loofah, and exfoliate with it. It solves all problems.
Put Down the Wine
Don’t shoot the messenger, but alcohol is extremely drying. Having a hangover is technically just being dehydrated. So switch your wine with water and juice and you should see a difference in your skin’s moisture level.
Caffeine has the same effect, but telling you to put down the coffee is just cruel.
Try these tips and your skin should be feeling better in no time.