Winter Skin

[susiestar]

Every winter my skin gets really really dry. My hands often crack and bleed in the winter.

A couple of years ago I started using the CO Bigelow line from Bath and Body Works. It has no artificial scents and is one of a very few lines that does not trigger my migraines.

This line has a chapped hands cleanser that is wonderful!! I gotseveral jars on sale a couple of years ago. This year I actually remembered them before my hands got really bad!

My hands are nice and soft now - the best they have been in the winter for years!

For Christmas I am making a sugar scrub for the ladies on my list. I mix coarse sugar (like sugar in the raw) with regular sugar about 1:1 and put it into small jars. I then add essential oil to canola oil and pour it into the jar with the sugar just until it makes a paste. I fell in LOVE with the lemon sugar scrub in the Bigelow line but HATE the cost. It really gripes me to pay so much for something so very inexpensive. I tinkered with the recipe until I came up with this.

It really leaves your hands feeling wonderful, doesn't burn like the salt scrubs can, and makes a nice gift. It CAN be used all over your skin if you want. I like to use either lemon oil or cinnamon oil with it. Neither one seems to fight with other product scents for the most part.

What do you use to help avoid the winter "alligator skin"??

 

[1905]

I use something called Shea Nickolita from a company called Shea Terra Organics. The always have codes for 30% off. But I love your sugar scrub idea. I want to try that. How much canola oil do you use with the sugar? What kind of container do you use? Where do you get essentail oils?

Right now, my skin is very soft and smooth from the shea butter. This is the first winter that my hands aren't dry and cracked and bleeding from the cold weather.

 

[HaoZi]

I love Vaseline Sheer Infusion, it feels like a serum, not too heavy, and doesn't irritate my skin. St Ives stuff is great, too, love their whipped silk lotion, and I use the apricot scrub on my hands and feet instead of face. Avon's Skin So Soft line and Yves Rocher scented lotion when I have some extra money and it's on sale.
If my hands get really bad (since I have to wash them often at work) I splurge and get some Gold Bond lotion.

 

[muttmeister]

My skin isn't particularly sensitive so I can use about anything and I put whatever I have ALL OVER every time I shower. The one neat thing I found is a deal on a long handle that lets me put lotion on my back. It has a round deal about 4 inches in diameter at the end of the handle. It unscrews so you can fill it with lotion and then it has lots of little round balls about 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter and as you roll it over your back the balls turn and you get lotion. It is great for somebody like me who lives alone. I haven't trained the dogs to rub lotion on my back yet so this is the next best thing. I got it from one of those cheap catalogues that come in the junk mail. One year I gave them to all of my friends for christmas. Wish I could invent something like that.

 

[ML]

I love your sugar scrub idea!

My skin gets like this in the cold dry winters as well. Believe it or not A&D ointment as a handcream isn't too bad. I will try the sugar scrub. Thanks.

 

[trinityroyal]

I use Glaxal Base as a moisturizer. It is the base compound that pharmacies use when mixing prescription skin creams and ointments. It has no perfume, no lanolin (to which I am violently allergic), and is intended for very sensitive skin. It made my usually rough, barnacled feet soft and smooth, and does wonders on my hands, elbows, knees etc. It's available at Costco in giant tubs.

Another thing I use is baby oil. I put baby oil on my hands and feet and then wear cotton gloves and socks to bed. I pull off the socks and gloves in my sleep, but it gives the oil enough time to soak in and prevents the sheets from getting all oily. Works wonderfully.

 

[susiestar]

To make the sugar scrub I don't really measure. I use a fairly small jar for gifts (baby food or small peanut butter jar, or one of the smaller size gladware type containers) and pour in just enough canola oil to make a paste. If you get too much you can add more sugar. You can use just plaain granulated sugar, but I like the texture with the bigger sugar crystals like sugar in the raw or turbinado sugar and regular sugar mixed. I get essential oils in craft stores (soap making/candle making section), natural food stores, ebay and other online places. For some reason the oil does not dissolve the sugar - not sure why but I have kept the mixture for up to a year with no bacterial growth or smell changes and the sugar doesn't dissolve. I only had it that long because Jessie wandered off with it and I didn't know we still had it, lol.

If my skin gets really dry all over in the winter I use baby oil or neutrogena rainbath oil after a shower. I put it on before I towel off and then the excess ends up on the towel and not my clothes or sheets. My mom once did this using some organic body oil that was actually just vegetable oil. She ruined several really nice towels because they never seemed to come clean and in about two weeks smelled really rancid even after washing in really HOT water and bleach. I have found that with the baby oil, skin so soft or rainbath oil this doesn't happen and it washes out just fine.

Have any of you tried gloves in a bottle? You use just a tiny bit and it will stay on after you wash your hands. It is wonderful if you do handwork because it does NOT rub off on your fabric or thread. I use it a lot when I am doing cross stitch. It is about $5 for a very small bottle but it lasts a very long time.

 

[DammitJanet]

My dad used to get really dry hands that actually bled because he worked with paper in the winter. His fingers were just awful. I got him Bag balm or Utter balm at the feed store and that worked wonders. Its meant to go on cow teats to keep them supple and it works great on hands.

 

[HaoZi]

Renew is a really good one, but a bit expensive. A woman I know gave me some she had, it's not available in stores. When I went looking for it it was one of things you joined and paid for monthly, but I found people selling it on ebay and got it that way. I should get some samples of that Gloves in a Bottle you mentioned, I know someone that reacts badly to the dish soap we use at work and even hydrocortisone creams only help her so much.

 

[trinityroyal]

My dad used to get really dry hands that actually bled because he worked with paper in the winter. His fingers were just awful. I got him Bag balm or Utter balm at the feed store and that worked wonders. Its meant to go on cow teats to keep them supple and it works great on hands.

Bag balm is wonderfully emollient. However it's filled with lanolin, if allergy is a concern. Otherwise, it's great. My husband uses it because I broke out in hives the one time I tried it.

 

[GoingNorth]

I cannot tolerate most fragrances. They either make me sneeze or wheezer, or I break out in rashes and hives. I use Aveeno oatmeal body lotion right after I've bathed and am still damp. It soaks right in by the time I get the towel yanked down and unfolded. I've had no problems with staining or rancidity with this product. I also use their liquid bath soap with no problems.

FYI, baby oil is nothing more than light mineral oil with fragrance mixed in. You can buy the plain oil, add the scent of your choice and take it from there. Interestingly, light mineral oil is also the active ingredient in many furniture polishes.

 

[trinityroyal]

GN, I didn't know that about baby oil. I received buckets of the stuff when the babies were born so the current supply will likely last another few years. Once it runs out though, I will consider mixing my own.

 

[SRL]

I'm very scent-sensitive also. Three fragerance free products are Gloves in a Bottle which I use for light moisturizing, Aveen Skin Relief (fragerance free with the blue lid) and Glysolid Cream (not the body lotion--it has fragerance).

http://glysolid.com/

I've been hearing that people are having good results with Coconut Oil, but haven't tried that yet.

 

[trinityroyal]

I've been hearing that people are having good results with Coconut Oil, but haven't tried that yet.

I've been using coconut oli-based products for years, but on my hair not my skin. It's very goopy, so it feels a bit unpleasant on skin, but my hair is so dry that it just absorbs right away with none of the stickiness or goopy-ness.