What is the best dry skin treatment? Dry skin can get the skin feeling tight, rough and uncomfortable leading to low self-esteem. In some more severe instances, the skin can feel flaky and, worse still, it can culminate in visible cracks on the skin. So, what can be done about dry skin? Read this guide to find out some ways in which you can cure it.
How to Cure Dry Skin
Dry skin most often occurs during winter when the humidity level in the air takes a plunge. This leads to loss of moisture from the skin thus making it dry. Some products such as soaps and cleansers can also take moisture from the skin resulting in a dry-out of the skin.
Relieving the dryness in your skin is not just a matter of what substances you put on it but also how you clean it, and the environment you expose it to. Here’s how to cure dry skin:
Stop Further Moisture Loss
The first step in curing a dry skin is ensuring that it doesn’t get worse. Since regular soaps remove moisture from the skin leading to a dry out, you should start by replacing that soap with a mild cleanser that is ideally soap-free.
If the cleanser has moisturizing ingredients such as glycerin and lanolin, that is a plus. The bathe time should ideally be not more than 10 minutes as prolonged showers deprive the skin of its oils. The water should ideally be warm as well as opposed to hot.
After bathing, dry your skin in the right way by patting the towel on your skin until it gets dry rather than rubbing it across the skin. Rubbing the towel across removes excess moisture from the skin.
Add Moisture
You should also apply a moisturizer immediately after shower before your skin dries completely (ideally within 3 to 5 minutes). This helps your skin by sealing in the moisture in it. Some moisturizers also help by drawing moisture to the skin. You can use any moisturizing lotion or cream for this purpose but if you like you can as well use baby oil. Petroleum jelly such as Vaseline is also good for your body (but not face).
The level of humidity in your living environment is also important as low humidity and hot air often dries the skin by taking away its moisture. You can prevent this by having a small humidifier in your bedroom at night.
After a week, the dry skin should have cured, but if not or if it gets worse, you should consider seeking the advice of a doctor.
Dermasil Dry Skin Treatment
Dermasil Dry Skin Treatment is a skin care product designed for severe dry skin treatment. Developed by the Dermasil Labs, it comes in table size (8oz) and family size (16 oz) and has 4 systems that revitalize and soothe even the very dry skin.
- Occlusives: This creates a protective barrier on the skin to guard against loss of moisture
- Humectant: this helps by binding moisture into the outermost layers of the skin
- Skin lipids: this enhance the natural ability of the skin to keep in moisture
- EFA’s: this is a core constituent of the skin’s moisture barrier
As the manufacturer puts it, this product is not only ideal for revitalizing severely dry skin but is also great for managing rough, flaky, chapped, red, itchy and sore skin. Dermasil Dry Skin Treatment is recommended for use on hands and body.
It contains petrolatum, mineral oil, glycerin, acetylated lanolin and a whole lot more beneficial skin care ingredients. It also protects against the harshness of winter weather and has just a faint fragrance that clears very quickly. It also absorbs rather fast when applied.
Best Treatment for Dry Skin
The best treatment for dry skin is everyday hydration with a moisturizer to restore skin moisture. There are many moisturizing lotions and creams on the market to choose from.
Most light moisturizing lotions such as Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion and Olay Complete All Day Moisturizer SPF 15 will work great for dry skin, but if the skin is severely dry, you may want to look for lotions with a thicker formula such as Aquaphor Healing Ointment Advanced Therapy. Vaseline is also good for dry skin since it acts as an emollient (substances that form a barrier on the skin to trap in moisture).
The overall goal of treatment is to stop moisture loss from the skin, attract water to the skin, and manage itching if any.
Topical steroid creams such as hydrocortisone and clobetasol can also be administered for treatment of dry skin.
Dry Skin Treatment for Face
Dry skin treatment for face also revolves around hydration of the facial skin with appropriate face moisturizers to restore its moisture. While topical steroid creams can also be administered for treatment of dry skin, strong creams such as clobetasol should never be used on the face (the same case applies to the groin and underarm regions) since the facial skin is typically thin and sensitive. Hydrocortisone creams are generally advised for use on the face since they are usually mild.
Dry Skin Treatment for Men
There is nothing spectacular or special about dry skin treatment for men. In essence it is all about restoration of skin moisture while preventing further loss of moisture through skin care best practices. However men generally prefer fragrance-free or subtle skin moisturizers. CeraVe Moisturizing Cream is one such option. Dermasil Dry Skin Treatment might also a good option since its subtle fragrance clears very fast despite being rather feminine.
Dry Skin Treatment for Women
The goal of dry skin treatment for women remains the same; moisturizing the skin and protecting it against causal elements, but women tend to be more accommodating to fragrances than men and most women will be comfortable with most moisturizers unless their fragrances are really offensive.
Dry Itchy Skin Treatment
In some cases, drying of the skin is accompanied by itchiness that can make you uncomfortable. It can also be embarrassing when the urge to scratch the affected area becomes irresistible. Oral antihistamines such as cetrizine and hydroxyzine can be administered to relieve the skin of itchiness.
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