Winter Skin Woes

Fight Winter Skin Woes

Has your skin suddenly turned into a dry, itchy mess? Ah, it must be wintertime. When the outdoor temperature drops and indoor heating cranks up, your skin is officially under assault. Chronic low humidity levels and wintertime habits such as long, hot baths can make your delicate dermis crack, peel, and itch -- not a pleasant feeling. Winter-stressed skin is also less effective at providing a barrier against infection -- severely dry skin can split and even bleed, creating tiny havens where bacteria can take hold. So what can you do to save your skin? Launch a counterattack.

Your Battleplan
One square inch of your skin is packed with about 100 oil glands. The oil they produce keeps your skin from losing moisture and makes it supple and soft. But every time you wash your skin, you strip away much of this oil, letting moisture evaporate and drying your skin. Your mission: remove less oil and moisture, and add extra oil and moisture as needed.

Creams, lotions, and oils protect your skin by trapping moisture in and sometimes by pulling moisture from the inner skin layer to the outerlayer. Skincare ingredients that prevent moisture loss include petrolatum, mineral oil, and lanolin. Ingredients that pull moisture to your outer skin layer include glycerin, propylene glycol, proteins, and certain vitamins. Check labels -- and remember, the higher up an ingredient is listed, the more of it the product contains.

The Weapons
Prepare yourself with a skin-saving arsenal that includes:

An emollient-rich beauty bar, such as Dove or Oil of Olay, to replace your usual body soap
A tub of petroleum jelly
A big bottle of therapeutic lotion that contains petrolatum or mineral oil
An alpha hydroxy acid lotion (if your dry skin is really flaky)
Body oil, such as Neutragena Body Oil or Rainbath Dry Oil
A winter-weight face cream, with at least SPF 15
A humidity gauge for your home ($20 or so at hardware stores)
A humidifier ($15 or less in many drug stores) -- be sure to clean the filter frequently to prevent mold from growing

The Strategies
Now that you're armed with battle gear, take the offensive:

Take warm -- not hot -- showers. Hot water is more efficient at emulsifying (breaking up) body oils so they can be easily washed away, leaving you high and dry.
Take fewer and shorter showers.
Don't take lots of hot baths, which also strip your body oils. If you MUST languish in a hot bath, add almond oil, sesame oil, or other bath oils to the water.
Ditch your usual soap and use an emollient-rich beauty bar.
Cleanse gently and don't soap up dry parts such as legs and arms.
Shave using lotion or hair conditioner instead of shaving foam.
Exfoliate severely dry parts with a washcloth or an AHA moisturizer to remove dead, flaky skin.
Smooth on body oil or lotion as soon as you get out of the shower, to trap in the shower's moisture.
Dab petroleum jelly on problem areas to seal in moisture and heal very dry skin. This includes your face -- petroleum jelly is noncomedogenic (it won't clog your pores) and very soothing.
Try night therapy: Rub petroleum jelly on severely dry parts and cover them with cotton cloth (a piece of an old T-shirt, thin cotton gloves or socks, etc.) to keep your sheets clean.
Steer clear of astringents, which are very effective at stripping your skin of oil.
When you wash your hands, slather on hand cream immediately afterward to trap in moisture.
Wear gloves when you're outside, to protect against cold, dry air that evaporates moisture from your hands.
Wear rubber gloves when washing dishes to protect against hot, oil-stripping water and detergent.
Use a humidifier to maintain at least 30 percent humidity in your home
Try sticking a pan of water beneath your radiator -- the water will evaporate with the heat, adding more moisture to the air. Drop in a dash of chlorinated laundry bleach to keep mold from growing.

Don't Discount The Sun
The sun may not feel as hot during winter as it does in summer, but it can still do the same damage to your skin. Sun exposure at any time of year ages your skin prematurely, and is responsible for about 80 percent of wrinkles and three different kinds of skin cancer, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. While the sun's UVB rays (which make you burn) are strongest in summer, damaging UVA rays are constant year-round.

Choose facial and body lotions with a sunscreen of at least SPF 15. Use higher SPF numbers for prolonged exposure, or if you're skiing or hiking in higher elevations. A recent study showed that UV levels at noon on a sunny day in Vail, CO, are equal to or stronger than those in Orlando, FL. And don't think that an overcast day is an invitation to skip sunscreen -- if it's daylight, sun rays are active. You don't need direct sunlight to develop sun damage.