Indoor Heating Causes Dryness
Heat from radiators and furnaces won’t help, but numerous things can cause dry skin in winter. Wind can cause skin irritation and less physical activity can cause poor circulation, keeping water and nutrients from adequately reaching the skin. This is why many people get dry legs first. To remedy this, it’s good to keep the heating to a minimum, but it’s also important to maintain plenty of physical activity.
Thicker is Better
Many dermatologists recommend thick, greasy moisturizers like petroleum jelly and prescription ointments to seal in moisture. While they do work well, they can irritate hair follicles, cause pimples and stain bedding and clothes. Furthermore, petroleum doesn’t penetrate skin very deeply. Instead, try using a ceramide-based moisturizer.
Use Moisturizer After Showering
Many people believe that you have to use a moisturizer immediately following a bath or shower in order to protect your skin. However, research has proven this statement to be false. It’s good to moisturize frequently, but you might want to change your bathing habits. Consider taking baths that aren’t so hot since they dry out the skin.
Allergens Cause Eczema
When people think of eczema, they think of allergies. Although it’s an immune reaction, it’s not always caused by chemicals. Dry wind can also cause it. If you suffer from eczema, try using hydrocortisone cream to minimize inflammation. If it doesn’t get better, see a dermatologist.
Lip Balm is Addictive
The idea that lip balm actually makes dry lips worse is old, yet persistent. It suggests that lip balm becomes addictive because you have to keep using it to maintain any positive results. However, this is false. Lip balms are an excellent way to moisturize and protect lips since there are no follicles to irritate or pores to clog.
This article is a nice review as to the causes and treatments for dry skin especially in the winter months. It is interesting that they call these myths since the majority of these actually are true. Indoor heating does increase the heat of, otherwise, dry air which further decreases the humidity level of this air and allows for dryness of anything that has moisture in it including our own bodies and skin, so in essence, that myth is actually true and we need to have an adequate amount of water intake and to lock in that moisture it is a good idea to use a moisturizer and I certainly agree with the article in recommending a ceramide-based moisturizer over a petroleum-based moisturizer but, nonetheless, these are essentially a barrier type of a moisturizer to prevent the evaporative loss of water from the skin. Overall, it also is relatively helpful to apply a moisturizer after you dry your skin from a bath since your skin will actually absorb water from the bath and shower and it is a good time to lock in this moisture. Another myth that allergens cause eczema may or may not be true. Certainly, the majority of people do not significantly react to the majority of topical products that they apply to their skin and, therefore, these have nothing to do with their eczema. Their eczema is an inflammatory reaction and most likely an autoimmune type of situation where their bodies are becoming inflamed for really no good reason at all. Fortunately, in most circumstances, a steroid cream can minimize this inflammation and improve their skin condition, but I would highly recommend that people see a dermatologist if they have this disorder. Lastly, I had not heard that lip balm is addictive but certainly, if you like moist, luscious lips more than likely you are going to want to use some sort of protective barrier on your lips pretty much year-round, so in that respect I would agree that any sort of lip balm or lipstick can be addictive since when you are not using it you feel that your lips can be drier and less attractive.