Moisture Maintenance: Keeping Your Skin Hydrate All Winter

By Ashleigh Gray

 O.K. BSU beauties! The cold weather is approaching. As a matter a fact it’s approaching in some of its rainy and chilliest forms. Other than that new winter nail color, comfy coat, furry scarf or your favorite sweater, a girl’s gotta keep her skin from going dry. Cold weather along with the harsh winter winds can cause a lack of moisture in your skin. It’s important to prevent your skin from drying out!

Now that we agree that moisture is the key, let me share with you some tips I use and others have shared with me to keep your skin smooth and silky despite the battle with the cold weather. Taking hot baths, or even a warm one, can dry out your skin. Moisturizing skin should be a part of your daily routine already, but implemented even more so during those cold seasons.

So where do we start? What is “dry “or “ashy” skin? Dry skin comes from the cause of build up in skin cells that lack in producing oils.  The stratum corneum (outermost layer of the epidermis) of our skin has the duty in creating a barrier in protecting the underlying tissues from dehydration. When there is lack of moisture in the stratum to help build its barriers skin becomes dehydrated. Even oily skin can experience dehydration.

Let’s get started before we get all dried out! O.K., so I’m a fan of all the smell good lotions, aroma therapy oils, thick creamy body butters and oil mist. However the main objective is to always find the most suitable moisturizer for my skin and keeping my skin from drying out and what researches say cause “premature aging.”

Knowing that we all have different types of skin here are some of the best tips we can all use when preventing our skin from drying out. First, upgrade on your body soap. Ladies if you haven’t heard, I’m telling you now! Finding the right moisturizing body soap is vital because regular soap can strip away the natural oils in your skin leaving you dry as ever. We shower in water that dries us out then we lather in harsh soaps. Try finding something with a more natural oil base.

My beauties, as I mentioned before, I love my “smell goods” but sometimes for us ladies with much more dry skin, non-scented lotions are best when keeping your skin from reaching the point of possible eczema. Just because it smells good doesn’t mean it’s good. Also take in consideration the level of your dryness. Sometimes dry skin can cause itchiness, irritating your skin even more. The best solution for this is using a calming lotion that relieves the itchiness of dryness.

Body butters are another one of my “go to favs”!! You can always find thick, rich, and creamy body butter to provide the most moisture out there. My favorite body butters are sometimes natural in shae butter and cocoa butter which always feel best after a shower before bed. You can typically find body butters in beauty and body and hair care stores.

 Another point of moisturizing is acknowledging the one part we over look: the moisturizing maintenance of our hands. Cold weather and the constant washing of hands throughout the day tend to be the ultimate combination of consistent dryness. Give your hands the treatment of intense hand creams that you can toss in your purse and go. Don’t forget your hands get “ashy” too.

So it’s pretty simple beauties, soaps with ingredients that don’t strip your skin of its natural oils and focus on moisturizers that best fit your skin. If you struggle with severe skin complications consult your doctor or just pop into a body shop retailer and ask away on help to further prevent dry skin. Stay warm and moisturized during these cold days. I wish you BSU beauties silky smooth skin from here on out!