Dry Winter Skin

 

Winter in Minnesota: lots of lotion, itchiness, and no incentive to bathe (sorry, AA!) as it’s cold, dry, and just all around bad weather here. I know, I know, it’s been a mild winter. That’s nice. But it’s not SoCal, okay? What to do for your dry winter skin?

1) Hydration & nutrition.

First off, stay hydrated. Water moves from the inside out. So drink up, H2O that is, especially if you’re a soda, coffee, or tea drinker as those are dehydrants. And what you eat has a HUGE impact on your skin. I’m no expert, but it’s things you’d think of, like berries, good fats (avocado, nuts), beans, dark chocolate (yes!!!). Google it up (as my dad says).

2) Lotion.

Secondly, lotion up. And with real stuff, not the icky smear-around-cheap-crap. Go buy something that is a little more expensive, but has real and penetrating ingredients. I love any variety of things I find at the Coop, but stick with lots of great oils as well. My mom got a few gallons of this Goat’s Milk lotion from some little vendor in Vermont a few years back for all of us for Christmas (she thought she was ordered a far smaller quantity–and probably made this goat farmer’s year with her purchase order). It’s amazing. For pregnant mamas, the Mambino Organics Moisturizing Toning Oil is amazing (my sister gave it to me last pregnancy and I still have some left over for this one!) and a little goes a long way.

3) Treatments

Thirdly, check out these two blog posts on (a) itchy lower legs and (b) baby eczema: Pioneer Woman–who doesn’t love her?–wrote about a Cure for Itchy Legs, which I am hoping works before I go nuts! And Itchy Little World–awesome resource for our little eczema man, SuperBoy–wrote on healing up her daughter’s mild eczema. SuperBoy has tiny patches under his lips on his chin that don’t seem to want to go away. We’ve battled this last winter (talked about here), and hate seeing it this winter as well!

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My skin gets the winter blues. Vitamin D drops seem to help a little, but really I just need a baby moon to a warm weather getaway! Hopefully you are better about really taking care of your skin and aren’t struggling at all this winter!