Winter can wreak havoc on your skin: the cold and wind can chap your skin, indoor air can dry and crack it and the constant hand washing makes things worse. There are tons of products on the market that promise to keep your skin moisturized, healthy and glowing, but they can also be pricy. Instead, try some home remedies that are much less expensive and just as effective.
Exfoliate your skin
Exfoliation is the first step to any quality skin care treatment plan. If dry, dead skin isn’t removed, anything you put on your skin to soften and moisturize it won’t be absorbed. By exfoliating, you remove the dry, dead skin and allow fresh, thirsty skin to surface and absorb the rest of your skin care regimen. Make a simple sugar scrub at home using a half of cup of sugar, a half a cup of olive or coconut oil, and a few drops on an essential oil of your choice. Mix all the ingredients together and put in a mason jar. Scrub your skin with a tablespoon of your mixture in the shower and wash it off for baby soft skin.
Use a hand mask for dry hands
A homemade hand mask made with yogurt, crushed herbs and honey is perfect for slathering on dry hands. Yogurt has lipids that our skin loses in the dry winter months, and the honey is a humectant, which means it helps the skin retain moisture. The herbs you choose to use will determine what benefits you gain, for example, mint is soothing and rosemary is filled with antioxidants.
Try almonds and milk for a softer, fresher face
An almond and milk face pack can exfoliate your skin and leave it feeling less dry and soft. Almonds have vitamin E, an essential fatty acids that your skin needs, while the acid content and enzymes in the milk exfoliates your skin. This two ingredient face pack, is super easy to make and use.
Use yogurt and buttermilk to soften skin all over
Though this recipe is called a face pack, it can actually be smoothed over the whole body and left on for 15-20 minutes. The yogurt will cleanse the skin and lighten blemishes. While the buttermilk has lactic acid which has a mild peeling effect on the skin and will help clear dry, dull winter skin. If your skin is itchy, it can also help soothe itchiness.
Use breakfast to relieve dry skin
A cup of uncooked, plain oatmeal, ground finely in a food processor, can relieve the itchiness of dry skin and adds moisture back to your skin when added to bath water. After your bath, liberally apply grape seed oil to your body to help retain that moisture. Oatmeal baths are also great for relieving hives, chicken pox and other skin problems.
Olive oil makes a great moisturizer
Olive oil is the base ingredient for many of store-bought moisturizers that you see. By using olive oil by itself, you can skip the chemicals and other ingredients in lotions and moisturizers that may counter the effects of the olive oil or irritate your already sensitive skin. Olive oil can repair dry, inflamed or irritated skin, and it can also help prevent or repair damage that causes wrinkles and sun spots. Simply rub it into dry skin, or soak cotton balls in it and apply them to dry patches for several minutes before rinsing.
Coconut oil can soften skin
Coconut oil is another oil that has moisturizing power. Slather it on your skin, use it on cuticles and joints, or even add some to your bath.
Butter your face
A homemade butter mask made of a teaspoon of softened butter mixed with a teaspoon of water can hydrate your dry skin. Just mix the two ingredients, apply to your face and leave it for 15-20 minutes before rinsing off with warm water.
Take a milk bath
Add a cup of powdered milk to your bath to relieve and soften dry skin. Just make sure that the bath water isn’t too hot, and that you don’t scrub too vigorously when you wash up, both of these things can further irritate dry skin.
Petroleum jelly is an all-purpose skin protectant
You’ve probably used petroleum jelly as a diaper ointment on your kids or to protect the scrapes and bumps. Maybe you’ve even used it to prevent chafing. But petroleum jelly also works when smoothed onto feet, elbows and hands, dry lips and cuticles and cracked nails. It will soften and smooth the skin and help it retain moisture.
Take a baking soda bath
Add a cup of baking soda to a tub of warm water and soak for half an hour to an hour. This can relieve itching. It’s important to pat your skin dry when you get out, instead of rubbing it, air dry if you can. For localized itching, make a paste of 1 part water to 3 parts baking soda.
Don’t suffer from dry skin this winter, there are plenty of things in your own home that can be mixed and matched to ease itching, dryness, chapping and redness that comes with the cold, dry winter air.
