Dry skin tips

Home › What is dry skin › Dry skin in winter › Tips for dry skin.

Dry skin tips
Following the tips for dry skin can help you to prevent xeroderma from occurring and if xeroderma condition is already existing, these tips can show you how to treat, cure and manage it.

Tips for dry skin (xeroderma or xerosis)

Following the basic skin care routine, giving attention to our food habits and taking certain precautions regarding sun exposure and winter, can go a long way in preventing and relieving dry skin conditions. However in conditions due to diseases, treatment of the disease is the first priority.

Tips about food and drinks

The first and foremost of tips about preventing and healing dry skin condition is fulfilling our body's water requirement.
Depending upon the weight, a normal adult under normal conditions require up to four litres of water per day (very important tip).
People consuming insufficient water tend to be in a chronic state of dehydration are most likely to get dry skin.
As sufficient water is not supplied to epidermal cells from the blood, they get dehydrated.
Aerated soft drinks and coffee tend to dehydrate the body and their consumption must be reduced.
Alcoholic beverages also increase the water requirement and their consumption must be controlled to get relief from dry skin.
Our diet must contain sufficient essential fatty acids so that sebum secretion is normal. Add fish, flax oil, fish oil, eggs and omega fatty acid rich vegetable oils in your diet.
Omega-3 fatty acids help in hydration of the skin (very important tips).
Our food must be balanced containing sufficient proteins, vitamins and minerals. Insufficient proteins and vitamin C makes the skin to develop wrinkles and become dry.

Dry skin tips about cleaning and bathing

If your water supply is from local facility check the water for chlorine content.
Chlorine in the water strips the skin of its protective cover.
If this is the only source try removing chlorine by allowing it stand in a container for a day and if chloramine is being added use some dechlorinating agent.
Better solution will be to use chlorine free packaged water.
One of the important tips is reducing the amount of time spent on bathing. Even ten minutes is too long.
Long exposure to water makes the epidermis to be more permeable and the protective sebum barrier gets damaged.
Do not take bath more than once in a day. Frequent wetting damages the protective oil layer.
Use very mild soap with pH at 7 or less. Never use alkaline soaps. Alkaline soaps react with acidic protective layer and destroy it (very important tip).
Use warm water for bathing and avoid hot water. Hot water removes the oily protective layer.
After bath dab the skin and immediately apply moisturizer to lock in the moisture.

Dry skin tips about moisturizers and cosmetics

Clean your skin with alcohol free cosmetic milk, cleaning lotion, cleansers or toners to remove grime, epidermis debris and remnants of makeup, to open up and clean pores and make it ready for application of moisturizers.
When using commercial products take care to evaluate their suitability. Many commercial products contain harsh chemicals.
Products containing natural ingredients and oils are the best. Alternatively you can make your own homemade moisturizer (very important tips).
If you are over thirty years, use a gentle scrub to exfoliate and remove skin debris, at least once in a week.
The clinging dirt and grime make the moisturizers ineffective.
Use all other make-up cosmetics only after the application of moisturizer.
As lips also get dry skin, moisturize them often with lip balm. Please note that licking lips makes them drier.
When you shave use shave cream or gel and shave in the direction of hair growth. After shave apply moisturizer.

Dry skin tips about protection from sun and weather elements

Take care to protect yourself from sunlight. The sunlight between 10 am and 4 pm is intense and much of the skin damage happens during this period (very important tips).
Wear sun protective clothing and wide brimmed hat to avoid the UV rays and keep you cool. Use sunscreen on the exposed areas of the skin.
If the exposure is going to be for a longer time, apply sunscreen every two hours.
Cold dry winds dehydrate the epidermis and take away its moisture. Avoid exposure to cold winds.
Similarly getting exposed to rains for a long time also removes the protective coating on the skin. Use rain coat/umbrella to protect yourself.
Air travel can also dehydrate your skin.
On long flights the humidity inside the aircraft can be very low. So prepare yourself with ample application of moisturizers.
Do not forget to moisturize after the flight.

Tips for winter care

Winter weather usually tends to worsen the condition, as dry skin is usually sensitive.
In winter, as the humidity tends to be low, epidermis layers dry up fast. If you are using room heaters, the warm dry air also can be devastating for the skin.
One of the tips for maintaining the moisture in the room air is using humidifier.

General dry skin tips

Do not scratch the itchy dry skin. Apply moisturizer to soothe it. If it is cracked and inflamed consult a dermatologist as it might have got infected (very important tip).
Cut down on alcohol as it is a drying agent. Further alcohol prevents proper absorption and utilization of vitamins, so vital for a healthy body.
Smoking also dehydrates the body and the epidermis. It also interferes with absorption and utilisation of nutrients.
It is found that mental and physical stress has effect over the skin secretions leading to xerosis.

By following these tips, much relief and cure can be achieved and dry skin condition may become a thing of past.

Interesting topics in natural skin care tips:
Cosmetic Laser.
Types of urticaria.
What is a hemangioma.
Hemangioma treatment.
Nevus simplex.
Blisters on hands and feet.
Hypodermis function.
Reticular layer.
Papillary layer.
Layers of dermis.

Current topic: Tips for dry skin - How to protect yourselves from xeroderma

the dynamic natural skin care

Tuesday, July 13