How To Avoid Dry Skin (8 Simple Yet Effective Ways)

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When your skin lacks moisture, your skin gets dry. Dry skin feels flaky, irritable, swollen, and constantly itchy.

In some cases, your hometown’s geographical location and climatic conditions may also cause your skin to dry over time. While the list of reasons sees no end, you can always take precautionary measures to avoid dry skin.

As you continue to read this article, you will learn about the different ways of avoiding dry skin and restoring its health.

If you feel that this article speaks to you, keep scrolling to know more!

 

8 Ways To Avoid Dry Skin

Let us understand how to avoid or tackle dry skin for better skin health!

1. Avoid using harsh soaps on your face

Avoid using harsh soaps on your face

Your daily soap consists of harsh detergents that remove natural moisturizing oils from your skin. 

This takes place because soaps are alkaline, whereas skin is acidic. The natural pH balance of your skin is between 4 and 6.5, but soaps tend to lean on the other side of the scale.

Thus, applying soap to your face disrupts the natural pH balance, leaving your skin dry, irritated, and itchy.

To avoid doing so, you should switch to cleansers that work as gentle exfoliators for your skin and remove dirt without causing further disruptions.

 

2. Never skip body lotions and moisturizers

Never skip body lotions

 

Always apply your body lotion and facial moisturizer, especially after taking a bath!

Using body lotions and creams disallows water content from escaping your body. It somewhat acts like a protective layer that seals water, thus keeping your skin hydrated.

If your skin is way too dry for lotions and moisturizers, you can always try using body oils such as coconut oil, baby oil, etc. Oils are more potent than creams when retaining and locking in moisture in your skin.

However, before purchasing products off the shelf, consult your dermatologist.

 

3. Do not take a bath using piping-hot water

Whenever you take a bath, do not use hot water. Instead, use lukewarm or warm water.

Hot water tends to damage keratin cells located on the epidermis. In turn, this causes your skin to peel off, swell up, itch, and dry up immediately. In some cases, taking a hot water bath might result in feeling like your skin has been sunburnt.

The American Association of Dermatology also recommends not bathing with hot water and not spending more than ten minutes in the shower.

Always remember that warm water is the way to go, and if you feel brave enough, you can finish your bath with a quick 30-second cold shower to close the pores of your skin, which will seal some moisture too.

 

4. Avoid over-scrubbing or over-exfoliating

Another reason why you land up with dry skin almost all the time is due to over-scrubbing your body and over-exfoliating your face.

Undoubtedly, these two things are too dangerous and vulnerable for your skin as they can cause severe inflammation and redness. Not to forget, it makes your skin itchy too!

Over-exfoliation of the skin damages the epidermis. In turn, it loses its capability to retain moisture.

Therefore, while choosing your bathing products, ensure that they are free of harmful chemicals and do not create too much lather. Moreover, if you use a loofah, make sure you are not applying too much pressure on your skin.

 

5. Choose fabrics that are soft on your skin

The type of cloth you use to wipe the water off your body or the fabric of the clothes you wear play a significant role in managing how soft or dry your skin is.

Heavy and coarse fabrics such as synthetic, polyester, nylon, etc., may cause textile dermatitis. Textile dermatitis is a condition that causes itchiness, dryness, and inflammation on your skin.

Therefore, choose skin-friendly fabrics for clothing. Cotton is one of the best and safest options amongst all other fabrics. Other alternatives include linen and silk. 

In addition, you can switch to microfibre towels that protect the skin from damage.

 

6. Use a humidifier in your home or room

Use a humidifier in your home or room

An uncommon tip for people with dry skin is to invest in a humidifier. While this is not a necessity, people who can afford this device should get one for their homes.

As the name suggests, humidifiers help restore humidity levels in the air. In turn, it acts as an additional step to help secure moisture in your skin.

As mentioned earlier, humidifiers are not a necessity in terms of investment. Humidifiers can not substitute essential skin-care routines that hydrate the skin.

 

7. Avoid scratching or picking your skin

Avoid scratching or picking your skin

If you have dry skin, whether mild or extreme, you will always feel an urge to scratch your arm, leg, or elbow. Sometimes, you may even pick your skin if you see redness or flakiness.

While it is common knowledge to not indulge in such behaviour, sometimes you feel like you can not help yourself. But, no matter how intense the urge is, you must avoid harming your skin even more.

Slather some moisturizer on the itchy parts of your skin, instead. If the problem persists, consult a best dermatologist and schedule an appointment at the earliest.

 

8. Always drink water

Drinking Water

A seemingly ordinary piece of advice usually not accounted for is drinking adequate water throughout the day. Water is the primary source of hydration in our body, including our skin.

While many skin-friendly cleansers and moisturizers provide moisture on the epidermis, it is only through drinking water that your body remains hydrated and nourished from within.

 

You May Also Like To Read:

Best Smelling Body Washes In India

Best Face Serum In India

Best Face Packs For Glowing Skin

 

The Final Takeaway

Managing dry skin might feel like a never-ending task. However, you can manage this issue effectively by following proper instructions and avoiding certain habits.

The abovementioned methods are easy to follow and provide long-term results if done religiously. Moreover, they are safe and cost-efficient, so you need not worry about budgetary issues!

If you suffer from dry skin and have tried other remedies to control this issue, please feel free to mention them in the comments section below for our readers!

Make sure to share this article with others you think would find it helpful, and stay connected as we continually update this page with more insightful articles.

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