Unless you are truly tough (or the owner of lots of fleece or flannel shirts), you probably have been toying with turning on your home's heat. (Maybe you already gave in to temptation some cold morning.) If you haven't turned that dial yet, you soon will as November chilly winds start blowing. And you know what that means (besides the smell of burning dust in your ducts and a heating bill that will cross your eyes)...dry skin.
As the moisture leaves your epidermis, it causes little cracks and eventually you start getting itchy. Besides keeping a long-handled back scratcher beside your bed and favorite chair (find one here www.backscratcherworld.com) what can you do about that itch?
Here's a few tips:
Buy a humidifier: Either go for a whole-house one (expensive, but it helps your whole family) or at least one by your bedside that will run quietly for eight-hours or more. Most importantly, buy one that is highly-rated for being mold resistant. A great selection can be found at www.allergybuyersclub.com.
Keep fats in your diet: Smart fats with omega-3 oils like those in walnuts, salmon, sardines, soy, flax and eggs can help keep you hydrated.
Water yourself like a thirsty plant: Oils and creams can't produce moisture, only help it stick around. Drink water constantly. It's not only good for your moisture levels, but helps flush toxins out of your body and every part of you benefits from that.
Stop parboiling yourself: Cut down on those great-feeling-but-tough-on-your skin steamy showers and long hot baths. You are stripping your skin of oils each time. Make the water less hot and the showers or baths shorter. Use soap only on the truly necessary areas and just warm water wash the others. If you are a bath lover, soak a few minutes before you add bath oil to the water. You need some moisture to be absorbed before you seal off your pores.
Use moisturizing soap: ZUM's Dragon's Blood is a perfect choice. It breathes life into scaly skin with the restorative resin of the Dracaena tree,and infused olive, coconut, palm and castor oils, in a goat's milk base. With pure essential oils, it even smells earthy and sweet while it's slaking your dry skin's thirst. (Yes, we sell it at Believe.)
Slather yourself with moisturizer: Don't let more than a few minutes pass after that bath or shower before you fill all those open pores with delightful moisture. For your body or face, we recommend ZUM Organic Body Lotion with essential oils.
Exfoliate weekly: Get rid of the little pieces of skin (often invisible) that keep any moisturizer you apply from soaking into your skin. Slough it off with Zum Sea Salt Soap. Invest in a long-handled loofah to scrub your back (just make sure to dry it thoroughly between uses.)
Take menopause into account: If you're a “woman of a certain age,”menopause may be part of your dryness problem. As estrogen diminishes and the ratio of hormones change, not only does your body's oil production slow down, so does its ability to retain moisture. (You'll probably see this first on your elbows or the T-zone of your face—but it may show up on your legs, scalp and nails.) Talk to your doctor about HRT therapy if the problem gets bad or consider natural alternatives like adding Black Cohosh to your diet.
Don't forget the sunscreen: Just because its getting colder and the sky looks overcast, don't think those harmful rays went away. Put an ounce of broad spectrum sunblock SPF 15 or higher on all exposed skin.
Start now and get a jump on those winter winds. You'll be able to face the season silky, smooth and much-less itchy (and we all need a little more comfort.) See you soon at Believe.
