The Best Treatment For Dry, Winter Skin
During the winter when colds and flus are lurking about, we all know that you’ve got to wash your hands often but doing this will dry your skin out. Having dry skin is not only a nuisance, it can become painful. Skin can get hard, dry and can crack and bleed. After washing, your skin’s natural oils are removed, so they need to be replenished. Most lotions don’t last; my skin gets relief from it for just an hour or so.
COCONUT OIL
Oil works better and coconut oil is one of my favorite products. It can last for several hours, if not all day. It is anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-parasitic.
I have been using coconut oil as skin care for years, and I love its versatility. You can use it on your face, body and hair. You can even use it as a skin cleanser. If you apply it liberally, dark impurities will come to the surface. You can actually see it, especially when scrubbing with exfoliating gloves.
After cleaning the oil and dirt off, little bumps and pimples disappear, leaving your skin smooth and glowing. Reapply a thin layer of oil afterward and more liberally at bedtime.
CASTOR OIL
A friend of mine explained her morning routine using castor oil as body oil. Her skin is absolutely amazing. She gets compliments from strangers when I’m with her, even though I’m 12 years younger! At first, I didn’t want to try it because I know castor oil is thick and a little sticky. But the key is use just enough and massage it into the skin well. It’s better to put a little on at a time, adding more as you need it.
When I finally tried it out, my dry skin felt completely nourished and supple. There was a healthy glow and it lasted all day!
If your hands and feet are severely cracked and hurting, apply castor oil on at night and cover with gloves and socks. If you have a hard time sleeping with socks on like I do, try loose fitting ones. You can also apply oil to wear with socks and shoes during the day. Even having it on for a short time helps.
Mixing castor oil with jojoba oil in equal parts makes it much easier to apply. It’s not as viscous and there’s no stickiness. Both oils can be found at your health food store or on amazon and are very reasonably priced.
But my personal favorite is to mix coconut oil with castor oil in equal parts. It ends up with a consistency that’s just right, not too slippery and not too thick.
STEAM
Turning on a heater will remove moisture from the air. You can wake up with your whole face dry; dry eyes, dry nostrils, dry mouth. To prevent this, use a humidifier or a mister. They are affordable and are good to have to help with colds and flus. This winter has been colder than usual and with the house heat on, I wake up a few times a night feeling dried out.
Having the humidifier has made a big difference, I can hover my face right over it to get instant relief. After shopping around for one, below is the humidifier I chose. It’s simple to use, looks good and is affordable. You can add essential oils too. (Since this post, I’ve found a diffuser also from VicTsing that I like better because of its larger capacity of 400ml.)
If you don’t want to buy anything, simply bring a large pot of water to a boil, then put it on simmer. Put on a timer so that you turn off the stove before all the water is boiled away. The steam coming off should help the dry air.
