Dry Skin Fixes To Bring Your Entire Body Back To Life

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Growing up I learned to apply my lifestyle and home remedies to successful dry skin fixes. Be it winter or summer, I would use in-season berries, fruit and vegetables to care for my skin. Naturally, with more research and clinical trials of different skin care products and the active ingredients in them, the woman of today has advantages. Her skin care routine can be designed in a powerful and thoughtful way.

When it comes to your skin, you may think that lotion is enough to keep it soft, smooth and clear of flakes. Unfortunately, lotion alone may not always get the job done.

As we age, our skin naturally becomes drier. And harsh elements like the sun, wind and low humidity, not to mention stress, can compromise its ability to hold on to moisture, says Vermén Verallo-Rowell, M.D., a diplomat and fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology and American Society of Dermatopathology.

Thankfully, it takes just a few simple tweaks to your routine to enhance your skin’s ability to hold in moisture and win the battle against dryness. Can dry skin repair itself? Depends on the severity of your skin condition and your proactive steps.

Try these dermatologist tips for trapping moisture into the skin of your face, hands and body.

Exfoliate Dry, Dead Skin Cells

A buildup of dry, dead cells on the skin’s surface can block the water in moisturizers from fully penetrating, says Dr. Verallo-Rowell. Look for a mild facial scrub or cleanser to gently exfoliate once or twice a week.

Dry skin fixes don’t need to be expensive. Once you become aware of the situation, you can decide how to treat your dry skin on your face, feet, legs, hands and arms, and your entire body core.

Dry Skin Fixes for Your Face and Neck

For your face and neck, use gentle exfoliants like Activated Hydrogen Water skin cream. Uniquely designed around the needs of the skin, this cream is a very gentle cleanser that washes away the dead skin cells. Once the face and neck are rid of them, new skin cells are readily available to accept your skin care products with actives in them.

Also remember to lock in the moisture inside the epithelium, which could be a huge culprit for draining all the precious water from the deeper skin layers. Using Hyaluronic Acid as part of your regular skin routine could change your dry skin situation into a huge win.

Scroll down a bit where I give a link to the post that elaborates in details how hyaluronic acid could be of daily support to your skin condition.

Educate yourself on how different face washing mistakes not only dehydrate your skin, but also damage and age it.

Dry Skin Around the Mouth Fixes

First, you need to determine whether your dry skin around mouth is NOT any of these skin conditions: eczema, perioral dermatatis or contact dermatitis. A good indication that you need to make an appointment with your dermatologist is when this condition is persistent and is accompanied with more just a dry skin. It could be small wounds in the skin, bleeding and even pain.

Explore Nitric Oxide benefits for your body and skin. It is a chemical that makes life possible.

Once the above severe skin conditions are ruled out, then your skin probably needs more moisture inside to get the right nutrients in and toxins out. A very easy way to get your skin around the mouth to the conditioned and healthy level is to practice these steps in lip care.

– Exfoliate lips with a gentle exfoliator.
Do it regularly, at least once a week. But do not overdo it! You can make your own lip scrub with powerful antioxidants like Manuka honey.

Grab your recipe for Lip Sugar and Honey Scrub recipe to make at home

– Moisturize your lips to promote a healthy complexion.
You do know that the skin needs plenty of moisture to function properly. The skin on the lips is very thin and calls for moisturization regularly, no matter what climate you live in. Use natural ingredients like Manuka honey, fruit peptides, ceramides in the lip care! The key is to moisturize the lips several times during the day.

– Wear Sunscreen in your Lip Care Products
To avoid dry skin around your mouth, use sunscreen with SPF 30. The sun has its damaging effect on the skin, lips’ skin included!

– Hydrate yourself during the day
To provide moisture to the skin it is a must you drink enough water. It doesn’t take much to fulfill your body’s requirements for water. This could be your the first go-to solution when evaluating dry skin around the mouth.

Best Dry Lip Treatment Moisturizers List

Check out these quality products that have a truly amazing ingredients list to attack dry skin around the mouth.

Easy Dry Skin Fixes for the Entire Body

For your body, use a loofah, sugar scrub or even a washcloth. The light exfoliation buffs away the layer of cells, clearing the way for your lotion to do its job. 

More on skin exfoliation for the entire body is in Dry Skin Brushing Benefits.

Repair Your Dry Skin with Natural Salves

How long does it take to repair dry skin? Mother Nature has done something truly magical. When we put together the right ingredients upon the patches of the dry skin, it will respond to such cure in no time.

In fact, jojoba and shea butters, essential oils of Grapeseed, Calendula and St. John’s Wort are some of the best ingredients to sooth dry skin.

I like to use different salves and butters that are based on the above ingredients. Using just a small amount of such salve or lotion will bring a quick relief to the irritated and dry skin.

Here’s my favorite list of salves and butters made with all-natural ingredients. You can use these formulas on any part of the body. They work wonders for the skin.

Seal in Hydration to Avoid TEWL

When choosing a lotion for your body, look for such ingredients as plant oils like coconut or avocado. These will help form an invisible seal on skin, preventing moisture from escaping. Thus, you are effectively preventing TEWL aka TransEpidermal Water Loss.

“Plant oils, in particular, contain fatty acids that are similar to the skin’s natural lipids,” says Dr. Verallo-Rowell. “So they also help replace the natural oils that are missing in dry skin.” 

Apply Lotion After a Shower

When you apply moisturizer to your skin, you seal more water inside. The best time to apply cream or lotion is right after you shower or wash your face, when skin is slightly damp. Lightly blot skin dry, leaving some moisture behind. By doing so, the moisturizer also acts as a sealant, holding that extra water in skin.

Check out this informative post on Hyaluronic Acid Benefits for Women. You will be surprised and informed at the same time.

Hyaluronic Acid is a polysaccharide, i.e., a carbohydrate consisting of many sugar molecules bonded together. A truly magical feature of such molecule is to retain moisture in our skin. And where there’s moisture inside the skin, there’s a more vibrant, tighter skin.

TRUE FACT: One gram of Hyaluronic Acid holds approximately six liters of water!

Boost Ceramide Levels

For your face, look for the skin care products niacin or niacinamide, a form of vitamin B3. The ingredient increases the skin’s moisture from the inside. It works by bolstering the skin’s ceramide levels. 

Ceramides are lipids that coat individual cells, helping them maintain moisture.

A study published in the International Journal of Dermatology found that a cream containing niacinamide moisturized and prevented water loss better than did petrolatum, a form of petroleum jelly and well-known moisturizing agent.

Besides, any petroleum-based ingredient is an oxidant! It means that after an application of a lotion or any skin care product onto the skin, such ingredients will become a cause of production of free radicals. And free radicals damage the skin at a speedy rate.

This is why I switched to the skin care products free of any petroleum ingredients, PEGs, any GMO-sourced ingredients about 15 years ago.

Check out my post on Ceramides in Skin Care to learn more about these truly magical chemicals inside our body.

You will find my product recommendations that contain ceramides. All of my recommended products are going through a rigorous vetting process.

Frankly, I stay away from the petroleum-based skin care products. They give a smooth feeling first, followed by a more severe skin dehydration. In fact, they create free radicals in inside the skin, contributing to skin’s aging.

Humidify Indoor Air

Cold temperatures and dry heat means little or no humidity in the air. Result: The air will suck moisture from wherever it can get it, including your skin. Sleeping with a humidifier near your bed helps prevent the hydration drain, keeping you from waking up with flaky and tight-feeling skin, says Dr. Verallo-Rowell. 

Limit Bath Time and Take Short Showers

A long steamy shower may feel great in the moment, but don’t be seduced by the heat: It’s setting you up for dry, flaky, itchy skin later. Lengthy – and hot – shower sessions break down and wash away the natural lipids on the skin’s surface.

Then, as the water evaporates off skin, it can draw out moisture from deeper within the skin, causing you to feel especially parched, says Neil Sadick, M.D., a dermatologist in New York City.

Wear Gloves During House Work

Whether you’re washing dishes, cleaning the bathroom or doing some other chore, always don rubber gloves to protect vulnerable hand skin from harsh cleaning agents. Household cleaners contain degreasing chemicals that, while useful for a shipshape home, can strip your skin and allow moisture to escape.

Also try applying a thick coat of hand cream before putting on the gloves. Occluding moisturizers with rubber or even cotton gloves help them penetrate better. Aside from making your handshake softer, this will also help hands look younger. Because hands are one of the first areas to show signs of aging, if they’re dry and flaky, wrinkles may look even more pronounced, says Dr. Sadick.

Use Soap Selectively

Most solid bars have a high pH (between 8 and 9). This may disrupt the natural proteins in skin, which have a low, more acidic pH of about 4. This compromises the skin’s protective barrier, allowing moisture to escape and opening the door for irritation.

Instead, opt for creamy, non-soap cleansers for both face and body. They sport a lower pH and usually deposit moisturizing ingredients while breaking down dirt.

However, you can find soaps that are super gentle, made of plant base and deliver non-toxic, non-drying ingredients to the skin. Just need to find such!