Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Dry Skin Tip: Baby Your Hands & Feet

Hands and feet can suffer terribly from dry, itchy skin. Put on moisturizer and gloves BEFORE you head outdoors in the winter, and consider lathering up your feet in thick moisturizer and sleeping in cotton socks at night.

Extra tip: Cover feet in a thick moisturizer, wrap feet in Saran Wrap, then pull on a pair of socks for a couple hours. Try to sit or lie down while the moisturizer soaks in or risk sliding into a full split and pulling your groin muscles. The same treatment can be done on hands, except try plastic bags and keep hands in a pair of socks. A half-hour should do you.

Dry Skin Tip: Skip the Drying Soaps

Soaps can be drying. Stick with a creamy moisturizing cleanser that contains glycerin or petrolatum, such as Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Body Wash for the body or Purpose Gentle Cleansing Wash (my current drugstore pick) for the face.

Extra tip: Simply can't skip the bath? Skip the bubbles, which can contain harsh foaming ingredients and opt for bath oils or oatmeal scrubs, which are great for soothing itchy skin.

Dry Skin Tip: Invest in a Humidifier

Ever notice how older people in desert climates look like leather? The moisture in the air is actually good for skin. If you live in a low-humidity climate or you are around furnaces in the winter, invest in a humidifier.

I once read that your skin needs more than 30 percent humidity to stay properly moisturized. A room heated by a furnace can have as little as 10 percent moisture. In the winter, consider sleeping with a humidifier in your bedroom. Keep doors closed so the moist air doesn't escape the room.

Dry Skin Tip: Exfoliate on a Weekly or Semi-Weekly Basis

Moisturizer is much more effective on properly exfoliated skin. Use a salt or sugar scrub in the shower and exfoliate your face with a mild scrub made for the face.

It's best to scrub skin when it's dry, according to Marcia Kilgore, the founder of Bliss Spa in New York, in InStyle Magazine. Apply scrub to dry skin before you turn on the water (mix with lotion if it's not moist enough). Massage the scrub into skin for a few minutes for best results.

Extra tip: Dry brush skin before a shower with a body brush to remove flaky skin (it's more effective than brushing wet skin).

See my list of the best facial scrubs and the scrubs for the body.

Dry Skin Tip: Moisturize After Showers or Hand Washing

Moisturizer is the key to soft, supple skin. Apply product when skin is slightly damp. For best effect, pat skin dry instead of rubbing with your towel before application.

The skin on my legs can drive me crazy with itchiness all year round. I find I prefer oils to lotions on for the body. Renowned makeup artist Pati Lubroff got me hooked on organic extra virgin coconut oil, which you can buy in health food stores or online. Simply massage the coconut oil all over the body. Trust me, this will get rid of dry, itchy skin and the oil isn't sticky like lotion tends to be.

Love lotion? Consider 100 percent shea butter. Gambian model Fatma Dabo swears by shea butter from West Africa. She even puts it on her hair! Buy it online.

Antibacterial soap in public places can be harsh on hands, so I keep hand salve in my purse (my hands-down favorite is Kiehls). To keep cuticles soft, massage in olive oil.

Extra tip: I love keeping facial moisturizer and Evian spray on my desk at work. I spritz Evian Mineral Spray (buy it online), and then dab on moisturizer. The water locks in moisture and leaves my skin refreshed even in harsh office heat

Why Do I Suffer From Dry Skin in the Winter?

In winter, low temperatures, low humidity and strong, harsh winds deplete skin of its natural lipid layer, which keeps the skin from drying out. The dry air from furnaces and other heating sources also suck the moisture out of skin. To keep skin soft and supple, your goal is not to add moisture to skin, but to keep moisture in. These 25 tips show you how to do this.

Dry Skin? 25 of My Best Itchy Skin Fixes

How to fix dry hands, feet, body, face & lips

There's nothing worse than dry, itchy skin. Dry skin can happen any time during the year, but is most prevalent in winter (hence the term, "winter itch"). Find out why your skin tends to be dry in winter and how to solve dry hands, feet, body, face and lips year-round.

keep my skin moist?

Does drinking 8 glasses of water a day keep my skin moist?

Question: Does drinking 8 glasses of water a day keep my skin moist?

Answer: No. Despite years of having this drummed into our heads, this is not true. It is good to keep your body, including your skin, hydrated, however the outermost layer of skin does not absorb water since it is made up of dead skin cells. Moisture level of skin is not determined by internal factors, but rather external ones, such as cold or hot air, dry heat and by the number of oil-producing glands you have. So if you want to hydrate your skin, exfoliate it weekly with a sea-salt scrub or other exfoliator to remove dead skin then apply a rich moisturizer while skin is still damp. Want to hydrate your insides then by all means, drink your 8 glasses of water a day