By Wangeci Kanyeki
Frequency in handwashing and sanitising can cause your skin to excessively dry up to keep viruses away. Here are some tips to help keep your skin supple and moisturised.
There are millions of dry skin sufferers across the globe, more so now with an increased frequency in handwashing and sanitizing. The skin is being left in a dry state sometimes with visible cracks in the skin.
Dry skin remains one of the biggest unmet needs in skincare, so it must be assumed that many dry skin sufferers are looking for a better dry skin product.
Currently, dry skin sufferers use creams, lotions and body butters. These products are made from water – usually around 70%.
This water evaporates when coming into contact with skin and is of no benefit to dry skin. Bio-Oil has pioneered a way to replace this water with oil, thereby creating a product that is 100% active.
How to Help Dry Skin
The first and most important thing is to help stop moisture escaping by using an oil or a gel.
The second is to bind moisture to the outer layer of the skin by using an ingredient called humectant.
Humedants only dissolve in water, so if you want to include a humectant in a dry skin formulation it needs to contain water.
A good dry skin relief product contains 3% water; just enough to include humectants in the formulation.
All dry skin products contain oil or butter or waxes for occlusion (to hold in moisture and humectants to bind moisture to the skin.
Creams contain 70% water; however, the water evaporates when coming into contact with your skin, causing the cool sensation you often experience.
Creams, therefore, may not be your best solution for dry skins even though consumers often love their white appearance.
When using a cream, you need to apply a large amount because the water content in cream evaporates when coming into contact with your skin.
When using an effective dry skin solution, only a small amount needs to be used to cover the same body area as a cream.
A good dry skincare product should be 100% active. Most dry skin creams, lotions and body butters are made from water which evaporates when meeting skin and is therefore of no benefit to dry skin.
If you struggle with dry skin, it’s because this oily layer is not doing its job sufficiently well.
Supplementing this layer by using a dry skin product with lots of oil helps the skin hold in moisture and replace dry, flaky and ashy looking skin with a moisturised, supple skin, and pleasant looking appearance.
Once you wash your hands effectively, one is advised to use a clean hand tissue towel to wipe them dry and dispose of it in a closed bin. Moisturize your dry hands to nourish the skin with beneficial oils.
As part of self-care, Winnie Taylor recommends a weekly body scrub.
Dry skin can accumulate dead skin which inhibits the absorption of oils.
A scrub can either be purchased ready-made or can be a home-made recipe of sugar and a little oil.
Gently used the sugar mixture to scrub your whole body.
Be gentle with skin after a scrub and dab or pat dry and apply the oil thereafter and your skin will thank you later.
