Humectants draw moisture from the environment to the skin's surface, increasing the water content of the skin's outer layer. "They help keep the skin soft, smooth, and pliable." Look for ingredients such as lanolin, jojoba oil, isopropyl palmitate, propylene glycol linoleate, squalene, and glycerol stearate. "The slippery feeling you get after applying a moisturizer is most likely coming from emollients," Wechsler says. They fill the crevices between cells that are ready to be shed and help the loose edges of the dead skin cells that are left behind stick together. Wechsler says to cut through the clutter by remembering that just two types of ingredients do most of the work when it comes to keeping your skin soft and hydrated: emollients and humectants.Įmollients act as lubricants on the surface on the skin. You'll find many hand creams and body lotions on your drugstore shelves. "Nails can become dry, just like the skin of the hands," Crutchfield says. Remember to rub the hand cream or lotion over your cuticles and nails. To reach that goal, Marmur suggests practicing what she calls "good product placement." Along with keeping a big jar or tube of your favorite over-the-counter moisturizer in your bathroom, stow smaller sizes in your purse, gym bag and on your desk so application becomes a habit. Five or six applications a day, Marmur says, will provide round-the-clock protection. If you apply moisturizer more frequently, its effects last longer. "That's probably enough protection for about five minutes," Marmur says. Putting moisturizer on once a day is inadequate. "The best prevention is to begin using a moisturizer before your hands show signs of dryness," Marmur says. Start moisturizing before there's a problem. "It's the moisturizer applied directly to the skin that will keep water from evaporating and give your skin a healthy, dewy appearance," says dermatologist Amy Wechsler, MD, author of The Mind- Beauty Connection: 9 Days to Reverse Stress, Aging and Reveal More Youthful, Beautiful Skin. Drinking water, experts point out, won't do that. To treat parched, scaly hands, you need to replace the moisture that your thirsty skin is missing. If you had from chapped hands last year, you may be more likely to have that happen again every winter. Your hands are also more likely to become very dry in winter. If you have a weak barrier, you're more prone to symptoms of sensitive skin, such as itching, inflammation, and eczema. It protects your skin, and how good a job it does is mostly about your genes. The skin barrier is a mix of proteins, lipids, and oils. How well your hands can withstand winter's harsh conditions has a lot to do with the strength of our skin barrier, says Charles Crutchfield III, MD, a dermatology professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School. The good news, Marmur says, "is once you recognize that, you're halfway on your way to fixing the problem." Strong or Weak Barrier? "People will have fissures in their hands and they'll come to see me saying they can't figure out what's happening," says New York City dermatologist Ellen Marmur, MD, author of Simple Skin Beauty: Every Woman's Guide to a Lifetime of Healthy, Gorgeous Skin. That can leave your hands so dehydrated that they crack, peel, and bleed. If you're washing your hands frequently to avoid catching a cold or the flu, you could sap whatever natural oils are left in your skin. Inside, things are even drier, thanks to indoor heating. Smooth, supple, and soft in September, hands can turn red, chapped, and rough by February.ĭuring winter, the humidity in the outside air plunges.
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