10 skin care tips for dry skin
If you suffer from skin that is uncomfortably dry, it is completely understood if you have tried dozens of different products and home remedies on your face. Dry skin can be quite irritating and also lead to irritation and discomfort.
There are abundant home remedies available online, but the problem is that most of them do not seem to work too well. Here are some simple steps you can take, recommended by a clinical dermatologist, which are meant to provide you with actual relief. Honey and bananas will usually not do the trick; you may need different active ingredients and you may need a proper routine to deal with your dry skin in the long term.
Here are some things that will help you and you should definitely incorporate them into your lifestyle.
1) Use gentle cleansers. Gentle can mean a lot of things, so in the interest of not keeping the advice cryptic, let us be clear that by gentle, we mean SLS-free cleansers. In common parlance, these are often called soap-free cleansers as well. Although such terminology may not be the most accurate, that is what you are looking for on the label of your cleanser. SLS-free/soap-free
2) You need to keep your baths shorter. Avoid using hot water or steam. Bathe in cold or lukewarm water. Keeping baths shorter may sound counter-intuitive, because hey, my body needs more water if my skin is dry right? Not really, because your body has normal secretions to take care of dryness. When you are bathing in water that is too hot or bathing for too long, you are hampering the body’s natural mechanisms.
3) Use fragrance-free products, even cleansers on your face. Dry skin tends to be more irritable. Fragrances can be a trigger. It is hence best to avoid having any externally added fragrances in your cleanser.
4) Pat-dry your face after your bath or after washing your face. Why? The next suggestion will clarify this further. Slightly moist skin helps actives penetrate your skin better and we want to use some ingredients that help with dryness.
5) Use hyaluronic acid products on your face, right after your bath. Hyaluronic acid is a strong hydrating agent and we want your skin to be able to benefit from it.
6) Use a moisturizer on your skin while it is slightly damp. On your face, the moisturizer will also help ‘seal’ the hyaluronic acid when used afterward. This makes the action even more effective. On the rest of your body, the moisturizer is more effective when applied over damp skin.
7) When you are exfoliating, use gentler exfoliators like PHAs. PHAs include ingredients like galactose, gluconolactone, and lactobionic acid that are hydrating in nature and are less likely to irritate the skin.
8) In case dry sin is a constant irritant, it is safe to consider certain hydrating oral supplements. These include supplements such as collagen. These are often available over the counter.
9) A very basic advice on home care is to make sure that you are drinking plenty of water. Many studies say that 2 liters a day is ideal, but you can adjust this to the amount of water that makes you feel comfortable and healthy. Apart from this, you can also consider keeping a humidifier in your bedroom or office. They do help.
10) Dry skin can be quite troublesome. If all the remedies at home aren’t working, it isn’t a bad idea to visit a dermatologist (skin specialist doctor). Dermatologists have multiple tools and treatments in their arsenal that can help you. One is skin booster dermal fillers. The most popular one is the hydrafacial. You can choose to get such a facial once a month or every two months, depending on your convenience.
You may not do all of these things just because you have dry skin. These are all the options you have. You need to pick and choose what works for you based on your daily routine and lifestyle. In case you are in doubt, you can speak to one of the top dermatologists in Mumbai.
