I have always been plagued with dry skin. And as one might imagine, this situation becomes particularly worse in the cold weather months. Over the years I have tried many a product, remedy, etc. but no lineup has worked or proven to be the most beneficial for my skin as has my current aresenal, if you will, nor as successful at combating the maddening desire to tear my skin off.
So here you have it, my list of all natural cold weather skincare products:
Year round I use this on the roughest + driest parts, but in the winter I use this as an all over body moisturizer every night. Since it’s thicker and absorbs much more slowly than coconut oil, I still don’t like to use it before I get dressed in the morning. Plus using it at night before you “retire” is one of the best times if not the best time to moisturize since your skin replenishes itself while you sleep!
I recently added this back to my line up in part in an attempt to avoid stretch marks while pregnant. I used to use Palmer’s cocoa butter lotions but find the simplicity of this new one even more intoxicating. It’s even harder than shea butter or coconut oil at room temperature and honestly kind of impossible to use unless warmed up. So I usually sit it near the space heater we have in our bathroom (I would like to experiment with using a candle warmer) an hour or so before bed and then let it melt down. I use it in conjunction with the shea butter and vitamin E oil, concentrating the application on my belly. And you guys, it literally smells like chocolate! It’s deliciously intoxicating.
I apply vitamin E oil sparingly on the driest parts of my body: knees, heels, elbows and these random dry patches I get on my face — typically my forehead and above my eyes during the winter time. Of course I now use it as well all over my torso at night time to aid in the prevention of stretch marks, but also because with a rapidly expanding belly, it itches like crazy!!! Like, I’m gonna tear of my skin kind of crazy. Last time around it took me awhile to figure out that vitamin E oil was the only thing that was going to cure that sensation. So this time around at the first sign of the itching madness I started using it right away and haven’t felt the urge to scratch my skin right off at all ;)
Burt’s Bees coconut foot creme
This is the only item on this list that isn’t 100% natural (it’s 99.48%) and looking at the ingredients list I would say it’s because it still contains a fragrance… not sure why, but it does. The fact that I only use this once or twice a month after I slough off all the dead skin + callouses (yum, I know) leaves me feeling pretty good about it. Again I only use this before bed and put socks on right away because otherwise every piece of lint, hair, etc. sticks to your feet.
I think I may have literally said “hallelujah” when I found this stuff a couple years back. I think my hands are by far the roughest part of my body. If you shook my hand with your eyes closed you might think you’re meeting a true farmer with how rough my hands get sometimes. Unsurprisingly, the stuff that works the best on my dry hands is this slave nicknamed “a farmer’s friend” by Burt’s Bees. I keep it by the kitchen sink and apply it every time after I was dishes. It goes on thick, but absorbs in minutes and works through the next couple hand washing’s. #score
Coconut oil is handy for just about a ga-jillion things at this point in life, but we use it as a tried and true all over body moisturizer. I like to use this one during the day time because it is light and absorbs quickly. It is the only thing that keeps the red bumpies at bay on my baby’s cheeks too!
Medicine Mama’s, Sweet Bee Magic, All In One Healing Skin Cream
I was skeptical at first when purchasing this because of the price, but the jar lasts such a long dang time it’s actually a little ridiculous. This one is a super thick cream that I use sparingly on my face, before bed or after a shower when my skin is driest. And truly it is an all-in-one kind of deal. I believe that is this cream combined with the minimal amount of anything I put on my face that has left my skin clearer and smoother than ever before in my life (more on that in couple of weeks!)
And that’s all she wrote! What do you rely on to help alleviate the awesomeness (not!) that is dry skin?