Combat Dry Skin!

Especially, with the freezing temperatures kicking in, dry, flaky skin has never been worse. So to battle dry skin here are a few tips...

So before I do anything to my skin, I do a scratch test. Which in this case, is easier done than said! Just scratch one of your arms and if you are left with a white trail, that means you have dead skin cells lying around, in other words, you have dry skin.

First of all, limit your showers to 10 minutes and keep the water warm rather than hot, and even better, go with cold water. Long, hot showers can strip the skin of natural oils and dry it out even further.

While you're in there, you might as well make the most of it by exfoliating your skin with a body scrub. For best results, use at least 2 times per week. For really smooth and supple skin, I recommend going with a scrub with exfoliating beads, which will really remove all those dead skin cells and other pollutants like dirt and sweat. As gross as it seems, you actually shed about one million skin cells a day! When you dry yourself off, don't rub your skin, pat it dry, to retain as much moisture and making the moisturizing job a whole lot easier.

To step it up, slather on a body butter rather than a regular moisturizer. Body butters are more concentrated and will really nourish your skin. The reason that you want to do this straight after your shower is because your pores will be open and will absorb more product, so you might as well make the most of it! If you want to give your skin a real treat, slip into a cotton robe which will lock in your body heat and help the body butter absorb faster and deeper, moisturizing your skin better.

 While we're talking about moisturizing, well you should moisturize often to seal in moisture and keep water from escaping. Using a rich cream or lotion will really do the job well.

Drink, drink, drink! This is a tip that everybody knows but not everybody follows. But drink water, not soft drinks. These sugary drinks don't us any justice, they just de-hydrate our skin more.

Trust me, your skin will thank you one day! Now, after doing all that moisturizing do the 'scratch test' again and see what your skin has to say!

What are your thoughts?
Love, Shoba