Treat your dry skin right
Even if we love the chill of winter, we do not love what it can do to our skins. Our skins gets dry due to cold weather or lack of humidity, which causes the moisture from our skin to disappear. The most common symptoms of dry skin are that it becomes itchy, is easily irritated, and turns reddish. Often we carry this dryness over into spring. The itching cause's flakes and scaly patches which make the skin lose its natural glow and softness.
To avoid feeling uncomfortable with itchy and flaky skin, try to moisturise it with a good body cream or petroleum jelly. How does moisturising help our skin?
Healthy and hydrated skin is able to repair and protect itself, and defend against damage inflicted by the elements of nature. Everyday factors like the dry weather or long hot showers with artificial cleansers can cause our skin to dry out because harsh body cleansers weaken the skin's barriers and allow more moisture to escape. Without proper moisturisation, our skins become dry as the skin cells tighten and get damaged.
Moisturisers restore the balance in the skin cells and softens it. Petroleum jelly helps repair the damaged cells in our skin and locks the moisture in. After the process of moisturising is complete, healthy new cells begin to form and the natural exfoliation of the skin begins.
To acquire excellent skin, it is important to concentrate on every dry part of our body.
A few areas that dry easily are the elbows, hands, knees and feet. These are the places that require a lot of moisture. The elbows are the most used and exposed parts of our skin. They turn thick and dry if not properly moisturised. They sometimes even become discoloured and scaly. To get smooth elbows, cleanse through the area with mild soap and water and then apply any moisturiser of your choice.
Our hands too are always exposed since without them our daily activities would remain undone. The skin of our hands is much thinner than the skin of our face. During dry season, palms begin to dry, white lines are visible in the flap between our fingers and the skin feels tight.
Excessive hand washing with strong soapy hand-washes and hot water steals the moisture away. This deprives the skin of its ability to producing natural moisture since the protective layer is damaged. Another areas to focus on are the knees. The skin of the knees is similar to elbows since knees are used for a lot of bending. Our knees can also discolour and develop thick, scaly layers if it is left without proper moisturisation.
To maintain healthy knees, the first step is to clean them and then moisturise. Our feet too are usually very dry since they have no oil glands so the natural moisture comes from our sweat glands.
Even when this skin is dry, it can be further damaged by getting exposed to hot showers and dry weather. Extreme dry feet can lead to painful cracks around the heels and the foot pad. A good way to prevent this is to scrape off the dry skin with pedicure instruments and applying generous coats of moisture-locking lotions.
The skin is the most important part of our outer looks since flaky white skin does not look attractive. Proper care of the skin gives soft, hydrated and more elastic skin. The best time to apply moisturisers is after long showers and shaving since the skin is already damp. This sort of moisture helps pull in the creams easily.
By Rimjhim Huda
Photo: Sazzad Ibne Sayed