Super Dry Winter Weather!

Us New Englanders have been having a pretty difficult winter! We've gotten three or four blizzards so far, but more importantly, we've been having truly nasty cold, dry weather. I think it's gotten above 25 degrees F about twice in the past two and a half months. My humidifier broke, too, so I've been in the coldest, driest weather in years with no sign of reprieve.

My skin is so upset!!

To combat the dryness, I've been patting water into my skin before I put my lotions and potions on, many of which I do before I leave for work, when I get home, and before I sleep. I also spot-moisturize between these times when I feel particularly dry or just when I think about it. I just can't get enough moisture, nutrients, or oil in my skin!

Here's what I've been doing lately. I've just been adding skincare product after skincare product to my routine... I know that the summertime is so much less painful, but I'm starting to feel a little hopeless.

I've been using my Paula's Choice skincare routine in the morning and at night, though I've stopped using the serum during the day. Using the retinol really helps cut down on my flaky spots, but if I use it more than once or twice a week (and even then, only a few drops for my whole face), it turns my face bright red for hours. It doesn't help that when I'm at work, I tend to turn red because I'm running around and going from super hot (next to the oven) to super cold (the walk-in freezer) in a matter of minutes. I'm dry and irritated to begin with! The days I've used it in the morning before work, I've actually had people ask if I'd vacationed in Florida recently because I'd "...tanned." How embarrassing. Because of that, I only do the serum the nights before I have a day off.

The serum, while it has retinol, really made the difference between feeling dry after I washed my face and feeling dewy, so I needed something else. I'd been using my Lierac Hydrachrono before the PC moisturizer, but I'd like to phase that out when I'm done with it. The jar packaging isn't hygienic, it's old (so the antioxidants are all expired), and it has fragrance. It still packs a moisture punch, though, so I'm happy to use it up. Even with both of those heavy duty moisturizers, though (and sometimes with two applications each), I still feel dry.

I started using the Argan Magic Argan Oil before and after my moisturizer, and that seems to help seal everything in. It doesn't help at all, though, when I'm in the middle of the day and I feel dry as a bone. I need some moisture in my skin for it to seal in. My skin feels so soft and moist when I use this to lock water into my face.

On my way to work, I've been putting Albolene on my face and forearms to combat flakiness for at least a little while, and I keep it in my car for when I'm on break or when I get out of work. I basically keep it near me at all times. It's also helpful because the skin on my upper lip tends to crack very badly, and Albolene and Aquaphor are basically the only things that don't make me feel like I'm tearing my skin even more when this happens. At the moment, I have a crack going into the upper left side of my lip (think the cracks you get on your knuckles when the weather's like this) as well as a crack on my right-hand "laugh line." Goy-geous.

When I'm at work, I've kept the argan oil in my purse and put it on over the Norwegian Hand Cream from Neutrogena.

On my body, I've been using The Body Shop Shea Body Butter, and it seems to be doing a pretty decent job. I'm not nearly as strict about keeping my body moisturized as my face, but it also doesn't flake or get irritated as often. My body is always dry, but since I wear long sleeves and pants almost all year round, there's very little sun damage, and the clothing helps keep some of my moisture in.

All of this just makes me more excited to go to Florida in March for spring break!

How are you guys fighting the winter weather?

Method: Allergies and Allergy-Proofing Your Home

People who have recurring eczema, especially since childhood, should get checked out for allergies. There's a documented link between allergies and eczema, because both are symptoms of the same immune system problems. If you can afford it, try to get a blood test from your GP for allergies, or see an allergist (even one time can help!). You may need a prescription antihistamine to keep your immune system at bay. This can help your eczema immensely.

If you find that you're allergic to anything, you'll want to get that out of your house immediately. Common allergies are to dust and mites, not to mention pets. If you're allergic to your pet but unwilling to get rid of him/her, you'll have to be extreme about cleanliness. Any hair should be vacuumed up immediately (sweeping can just push it back into the air). Dander (which is often what people are allergic to) comes right with the pet fur, so you'll need to make sure that someone else in your household brushes your pet often, if not daily. This removes dead hair and dander, making less shed in your home. For best results, have them do this outside. If you can't, have them do it in a room when you're not home, and then have them thoroughly vacuum the entire area.

Another thing that can help is putting a case on your mattress and pillow. Mites are a common allergen, and they can and do live in pillows and mattresses. To combat this, you can buy cases for both. I have used the same pillow case for years, and I only wash it every few months.

The mattress cover helps just as much, if not more. The both of these only cost a few dozen bucks each, and you can keep them for years and years. You can wash them with your clothes if you happen to spill a drink on them, or just want to clean them over time. I don't have very oily skin, nor do I keep drinks in bed, so I only wash the covers maybe once every three months or so. If you have very oily skin, you might want to wash the pillow cover more often, but they can take a whole bunch of gentle cycles. I don't think I've replaced mine yet.

I think that that makes them a fantastic deal! Now that I think about it, I think I'm going to take my pillow cover with me when I travel!

Method: Nonirritating Detergents

When I was a little kid, I would hate sleeping over my grandma's house. I had a great time, I loved her cooking, and she would let me color till kingdom come, but every night, I would lay awake on the bed, unable to sleep. It was particularly bad on my scalp, and I would be so incredibly itchy that all I could even think about would be the burning pain all over my head. It would also be on my body, to a lesser extent, but I'd throw the covers off so early that the pillow would be my main area of contact.

I just wish that I'd taken an oatmeal bath treatment, and had felt comfortable enough to ask for help running a bath at 2 in the morning as a lod. It would have made my childhood so much less stressful.

More recently, I would stay over my boyfriend's house every once in a while, and while I loved holding him at night, I would start to get the worst itch in my arms, legs, and scalp. I would freak out in the middle of the night and have to walk outside while he was sleeping, just to sit in the cold and try to let that soothe the burn.

Does any of this sound familiar? I certainly hope not. It took me a little while to realize, because when I was a baby, my mother switched to a detergent that didn't irritate my sensitive skin. They're not as popular, though, so other people still use fragranced, harsher detergents and fabric softeners. They make sleeping more stressful than being awake, which it really shouldn't be. Here are the things that I've found are helpful when it comes to laundry detergents.

1) DO NOT USE A FABRIC SOFTENER. You should be wearing 100% (or close to it) cotton clothing, because that is the least irritating fabric. It also wicks off sweat, which can make you itchy. If you're using cotton clothing, your clothes are already soft enough. Fabric softeners only add fragrance and irritation; skip them completely.

2) USE A GENTLE LAUNDRY DETERGENT. You can get a lot of specialty detergents, but why bother? You can get gentle detergents from your drugstore or Walmart. I use Tide: Free and Gentle.

Another detergent that I've heard good things about is All: Free and Clear. It's actually much cheaper at my local Walmart to buy that instead of the Tide, so I think I'll switch to that when my gallon of detergent is done.

After I moved in with my boyfriend, I just bought the Tide (though I'm going to try switching to the All), ad I've avoided so much irritation, frustration, and pain for myself. They don't leave a lasting smell on clothes, but they do make them clean, and they do make them smell clean. If you have recurring body eczema and you haven't tried these detergents, PLEASE TRY THEM. They may make all the difference.

Method: Oatmeal and Bleach Baths

I"ve had such severe eczema for so long that I feel like I've gotten so much advice on how to control it. Whether it be from my dermatologist, allergist, GP, or folk advice from the internet, I'd like to share with you what I've found helps. My Methods posts are all life changes I've made for my eczema, and while I can't guarantee that they'll work for everyone, they've worked for me.

Today I'm going to talk about baths. When your skin is really flaring up, showers can be painful. If your skin is very raw, then the stream of water hitting your skin can hurt so incredibly badly. In those cases, and cases where I really need to cool my skin, I like to take a bath. A lot of my eczema stems from stress, and baths are very emotionally soothing. If I add skincare ingredients to my bath, I'm killing two birds with one stone.

NOTE: Do not take hot baths. The hotter it is, the more it can cut into the barrier on your skin that you've been able to form. Take lukewarm baths, and only take them for about 20 minutes. That will let the ingredients in them soak into your skin while not letting all of the ingredients that you've been putting on your skin wash away. If you're getting white and wrinkly, it means that your barrier has been washed away, and you are bathing for too long.

Colloidal Oatmeal Bath Treatments

Whenever I feel super itchy and raw, this is the thing I add to my bath. It's very easy to have an oatmeal bath -- you just open the packet under the running faucet while you run the water. Often, if I've had a very stressful day, I won't be able to sleep at night. That, or I'll wake up scratching like there's no tomorrow, and I'll be so upset about being so itchy and sensitive that I can't calm down. In those cases, I run an oatmeal bath. It's so soothing to just sit in the tub for a little while -- I like to put some earbuds in and listen to music, or read a little, or even do sudoku.

The oatmeal makes the bath a bit beige and cloudy, so when you get out of it, you can still feel a little film on you. Don't worry about that, it'll only keep the itch away for longer. I've found, at my very worst, it can stave off the itch for a few hours, but when I'm at my worst, so little helps. I've found that this is the most effective treatment. For best results, follow with a colloidal oatmeal moisturizer as well as your normal cream.

I would say that for people who are prone to eczema breakouts, keep a box of this in your bathroom closet. When you're feeling the pain, this is the best, most lasting relief I've found. The name brand for this is Aveeno, though there's a whole bunch of drugstore knockoffs that work just as well. It comes in a box of 5-8 packages, and I highly recommend keeping at least one package around to put out unexpected fires.

Bleach Baths

Having eczema means that we're extremely prone to infection. All of the itching, the open wounds, as well as the fact that our skin barrier is compromised, means that we're very prone to staph, herpes, and other skin infections. I had a huge problem with recurring skin infections a couple years ago, and one way that I helped defeat them was decolonizing my skin with bleach baths.

A bleach bath sounds very scary -- we have sensitive skin already, and you want to put bleach on it?? But really, it's no different than swimming in a pool. You can put a capful or two of bleach under the faucet while running a bath, and it's actually LESS chemicals than they put in swimming pools. I was a little skeptical of even that, but what irritates my skin when I swim is the chlorine, not the bleach. The bleach, even at that tiny amount, kills bacteria that's living on the skin. This is very helpful for people who are prone to staph infections, like I am. When my skin is open for a long period of time, I try to take a bleach bath once or twice a week, and then once every two weeks after it's died down a little.

The downsides to a bleach bath are that bleach is drying, so you have to have a serious moisturizer afterwards, and then (I had to) put an ointment on top. I put Cetaphil cream (in the jar) on, for nourishment and then put some Aquaphor (jar as well) right on top, to seal in as much moisture as possible. This leaves your skin really sticky and ointment-y, so I recommend doing this after you get home for the day, and wearing loose cotton pajamas afterwards.

Another downside is that it makes you smell like a laundromat. I hate fragranced skincare items, because fragrance is so irritating to your skin. That said, I wish I could put something on to cover the bleach smell. As it is, I put my moisturizers and pajamas on, light a candle for the smell, and watch some television for the evening. I definitely wouldn't recommend this as a morning bathing option -- you need multiple hours to let the bleach smell fade off you, and the moisturizers that you should use afterwards don't soak in for a very long time.

Those are the two treatment baths that I take! Do you have any special bath treatments? I love baths because they're so soothing, and the amount of time that they take makes you slow your routine a little bit. As someone who's afflicted with seasonal, allergenic, and stress-related eczema, a little bath break is just what the doctor ordered!

Time-Tested Goodie: Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream

Neutrogena: Norwegian Formula Hand Cream (Unscented)

Man, oh man, this stuff is magic. I have honestly not found a better-feeling cream in my life. I use it on my hands, forearms, itchy/scaly parts of my face and neck, and as an overnight eye cream. It's super gentle and hasn't irritated a single part of me, which is really something to rave about. I get hour-long redness on my face when I poke my cheek!

These Norwegian fishermen sure knew what they were talking about when they formulated this (the story on the back of the tube says that fishermen used something like this to keep their hands healed even in the dry, windy snowy winter of Norway). It's super thick, and looks a little cloudy when it comes out of the tube. It spreads like a dream, and it's true -- only a little does what you need it to do! My peely, wrinkly, superdry hands need a few squirts, but if my neck is feeling a little tight, I only need the tiniest dab. I can't even compare it to a coin size, because it really is only a dab.

I would definitely recommend having this in your purse at all times for emergency itchiness and dryness. It's also just fantastic to use on your hands after you wash them, and it lasts a few washes. Get the fragrance-free kind; it's just as well-circulated as the fragranced kind. Even if your skin isn't particularly sensitive, fragrances break down your skin barrier over time. It doesn't smell like anything, so you don't have to worry about smelling weird. My only complaint is that it only comes in 2 oz tubes -- at the rate that I use it, it only lasts about two weeks! At this price and effectiveness, though, it's absolutely worth it.

Price: $5.62
Where to buy: Amazon.com, Drugstore.com, Neutrogena.com, CVS, Walmart, Walgreens

FANTASTIC for dry skin.
FANTASTIC for sensitive skin.
GREAT for normal skin (at this price, why settle for something less?)

In My Closet: Argan Magic 100% Pure Argan Oil

Argan Magic 100% Pure Argan Oil

This is a find from TJ Maxx! I got it for $10.00. I've heard so much about Argan oil that I've been jealously searching for something that I can get that's within my budget. I've heard so much about how cheap argan oil can be fake, so I'm not going to say that I believe the ingredient list: it reads only Argana Spinosa (Argan) Kernel Oil. For $10? And $20 on the website? 2 oz? I don't think so. I don't think that it's entirely pure, but it does do a fantastic job.

I've been putting this on after my moisturizer, though I'm thinking I might want to do it before I moisturize. It's a wonderful texture, it has a golden tint, little fragrance (though I only use about two pumps at a time), and it absorbs so quickly. I lightly pat it onto my cheeks, forehead, eye area, and neck, and if I have any left over on my palms, I rub it onto the backs of my hands. I can say right now that I've noticed a big difference from using this, though it has little to no effect if I use it when my skin is already dry. It only works right after I wash my face or get out of the shower; it seals in moisture as opposed to providing it. That said, I can say that it's helped me keep my flaking down in this cold, dry weather. It also keeps my skin "not feeling," by which I mean I'm not just constantly feeling tight, dry, oozing, what-have-you. My face feels comfortable. I feel like it also heals the open spots that I've itched faster than they would have on their own.

Bonus: It hasn't broken me out at all, and that's saying something. So many oils give me clogged pores or deep, cystic pimples, and I normally don't break out at all. Even extra virgin olive oil gives me whiteheads. This oil is light, super moisturizing, and hasn't given me a single clogged pore.

Bottom line: I don't think this is actually pure argan oil, but it sure does have some great effects. I keep it in my purse for midday itchies and flakies. It's only so-so as an emergency treatment, but it sure does moisturize when I use it in my regimen.

Price: $20.00

Where to buy: Ebay.com, Jocottbrands.com (Mine was at TJ Maxx)

GREAT for sensitive skin.

GREAT for dry, flaky skin.

GOOD VALUE for normal skin. You may not need to use this daily, but your skin can sure use a little TLC sometimes, and the nourishment in this is just what the doctor ordered. Especially at this price!

Just Acquired: Lierac Sensory Oil With Three Flowers

Lierac Sensory Oil with Three Flowers

My mother gave this half-full bottle to me when she told me she wasn't going to use it. I absolutely love the way oils feel on my face, but a lot of them are comodogenic to me. This one wasn't comodogenic, but it had so much perfume in it, as well as three different kinds of citrus. Citrus is a skin irritant and (personally) makes me more sensitive to sunlight. A definite no! It didn't seem to irritate my skin at first, but I noticed that I was definitely a bit itchier than normal during the day. After a few applications, though, it started to burn. Really, really bad. That, plus the fact that it didn't really hold in a whole lot of moisture, makes me want to throw this away. I've read that you can use it on hair... Maybe I'll just run the rest of it through the lower half of my hair. This is really a disappointment; I know that Lierac tends to use a lot of fragrance, but this is really too much. It smells like the perfume counters at a department store!

I've decided that I'm going to post the ingredients of each product I review. Here they are:
C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Diisopropyl Sebacate, Polyglyceryl-6 Dioleate, Peg-8 Caprylic/Capric Glycerides, Corylus Avellana (Hazel) Seed Oil, Water (Aqua), Propylene Glycol, Camellia Oleifera Seed Oil, Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil, Squalane, Fragrance (Parfum), Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Caprylyl Glycol , Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Jasminum Officinale (Jasmine) Flower Extract, Coleus Forskohlii Root Extract, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Extract, Polygonum Cuspidatum Extract, Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Germ Extract, Gardenia Florida Flower Extract, Tocopherol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Limonene, Linalool, Benzyl Salicylate, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Butylene Glycol, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Citrate, Citric Acid.

I was a little iffy about taking this from my mother because of the Hazel seed oil (I'm allergic to hazelnuts), but I was also a little concerned that fragrance was so high on the list. I was right. It's definitely very fragrant, and therefore irritating. It's so unfortunate, because this oil was a nice supplement to my moisturizer, and it didn't break me out! Oh well, I guess my dry hair can use it.

Price: $25.99
Where to Buy: Amazon.com, Drugstore.com, Skin1.com

BAD for sensitive skin.
DECENT for normal skin (I can see this being a fantastic massage oil!)
OKAY for dry skin.