Winter climate does frightful issues to pores and skin, typically inflicting it to dry out and develop into susceptible to cracking, flaking, itching, and extra—however that’s truly not the rationale why I’ve dry arms this season. Positive, dry warmth and icy temps contribute to my mitt’s lack of moisture, nonetheless, they’re merely a supporting act within the hydration heist that happens every day.
As a ceramicist, I spend numerous my free time sinking my arms into clay, a cloth that’s surprisingly dehydrating. Similar to the oil-balancing and acne-clearing mud masks you’ve got sitting in your self-importance, pottery does a improbable job of sucking away grease and moisture—solely my already supremely dry pores and skin doesn’t want it. This typically ends in super-dry, tough, and itchy pores and skin. On the worst days, it may typically appear like my arms even have dandruff. Large yikes.
When winter rolls round, it’s a full-on struggle to maintain moisture locked into my thirsty paws. And, typically, it doesn’t matter what I do, it seems like an inconceivable feat. That’s till I made a decision to choose up one among my all-time favourite pores and skin lotions—Weleda’s Pores and skin Meals Unique Extremely-Wealthy Cream ($16)—and mess around with a each day routine that might truly revive my unhappy, raisin-like mitts.
Key components: Pansy, chamomile, and calendula
The Weleda Pores and skin Meals Unique Extremely-Wealthy Cream dates all the best way again to 1926 (that’s almost 100 years of hydration!) and is a staple in lots of skin-care arsenals, together with my very own. As a long-time fan of Weleda, I truly can’t keep in mind a time after I didn’t have a tube of this thick, lotion-like pores and skin salve in my drugs cupboard. Formulated with plant-based components, together with rosemary, chamomile, and pansy extracts and sunflower and candy almond oils, it’s a lifesaver for parched paws.
I adore it as a result of it has the consequences of a buttery salve however glides on and absorbs like lotion, so that you don’t have an oil slick sitting on prime of your pores and skin (and getting throughout every thing.) The fast-action formulation additionally works virtually immediately to replenish my pores and skin’s moisture barrier and thrust back the itchy sensations I expertise on my knuckles at their driest.
My dry-hands resolution
Whereas I’m a giant fan of the Weleda Pores and skin Meals Unique Extremely-Wealthy Cream as a solo act, there’s truly a trick to how I apply it to raise the formulation and make it much more efficient. Each evening earlier than mattress, I wash my arms with cleaning soap and water and apply both Pacifica’s Lavender Moon Physique Scrub ($13) or Hand in Hand Sugar Scrub ($13). (If my arms are in further dehydration-despair, I attain for Lush Ocean Salt Face and Physique Scrub ($21) which works by way of extreme dry pores and skin build-up with ease.) Then, I attain for Pores and skin Meals and slather it throughout, paying shut consideration to my knuckles and nail beds since these areas want probably the most TLC.
As on a regular basis scrubs, Pacifica Lavender Moon Physique Scrub and Hand in Hand Sugar Scrub each work wonders. Pacifica’s formulation options teeny tiny walnut shell particles that lightly and completely slough away lifeless pores and skin cells to disclose softer and extra supple pores and skin beneath. It additionally incorporates jojoba seed oil, which supplies a base layer of nourishment earlier than the Pores and skin Meals will get slathered on.
Key components: Jojoba, lavender, and vanilla
Hand in Hand is a sustainable scrub I preserve in my bathe always and adore it for head-to-toe exfoliation, particularly in the case of my arms. The scrub has a sugar base with deeply nourishing sunflower oil—which has tons of vitamin E—and coconut oils, so it additionally makes for a superb primer along with eliminating lifeless pores and skin build-up.
Key components: Sugar, coconut oil, and sunflower oil
Obtainable in six completely different scents.
Since my pores and skin will get so dry, it’s almost inconceivable to get cream to penetrate deep sufficient for lasting hydration by itself. Exfoliating the pores and skin is a mandatory step in my dry arms resolution, because it removes the layer of lifeless pores and skin on prime and permits for higher product absorption and longer-lasting moisture. Nevertheless, the pores and skin on my arms may really feel tremendous delicate as a result of lack of moisture and constant irritation. Exfoliating it may technically end in additional irritation, solely it doesn’t, because the Pacifica and Hand in Hand physique scrubs have such nourishing formulation.
Establishing this mini skin-care routine for my arms has labored true wonders and helps me preserve dry pores and skin at bay, regardless of how a lot time I spend getting my arms soiled in clay. By gently eradicating the barrier of dry pores and skin on my arms’ floor and making use of a thick and creamy salve (one folks have sworn by for almost a century, no much less), I can create my artwork with out the added discomfort of dehydration.
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